Hellobee Boards

Well I don't know anything on the Home selling side, but DH and I are buying a house right now and we are first time home buyers. We actually decided against the FHA loan because the interest rates are a lot higher, so I would suggest going with a traditional loan instead. We actually are able to do a 15 year loan, with 5% down, and we are locked in a 3.375%

Has anyone sold their home? Yes

What is the process like.
Tedious, to say the least. There is a lot of paperwork, a lot of bank statements needed and a lot of time during the day working with many different people to make it all come together. Also, you have to consider selling yours and buying a new house. What are your plans for that? Are you going to buy a place, then sell your house? Are you going to sell your house then try to find a place? Would you consider living in short term apartment for a while if you did sell your house and couldn't find a house you loved just yet?

What commission does the agent make?
That's up to the agent. Ours was 3% because we used her to buy the other house.

Did you sell at a gain or loss?
Gain. I didn't make much but I did make back all of my closing costs, commissions and a little extra on the side. I would not move if we were selling for a loss.

We know this isn't the best market but have done major renovations and are hoping it might be enough to make it a good decision.
Depends on where you live, your neighborhood and what houses in your area have sold for. Do you have a tax and assessment website for your county you can look at to see recently sold homes near yours?

Also, how much do you have to put down on a mortgage?!
In my first home, I put down 3% and had PMI. When we bought this house, we put 20% down so we wouldn't have PMI or a second mortgage. I would HIGHLY suggest you only buy if you can put 20% down. And if you can afford it - do a 15 year mortgage. It's so going to be worth it in the end!! (Our $204k house will be paid off in a total of 16 years - we have a 30 year mortgage).

When DH and I got married in June 2008 we both owned a house, we opted to live in his and try to sell mine so this is based on my experience. Relator commission is negotiated but typically both commissions fall to the seller, our realtor told us that 6% is fairly standard with 3% going to each realtor; however if the same realtor is representing both the buyer and seller they will take a smaller commission (can't remember exactly how much smaller).

We put our house on the market in May 2008 and were unable to sell it (tried to do FSBO, had a really bad agent for a couple months then found a good agent but the market stunk). When we found out we were expecting in June 2009 we knew we couldn't afford two house payments and daycare so we petitioned the bank to allow for a short-sale (where they accept less than remains on the loan), our bank agreed but had a few conditions (one of which was I take a reasonable 0% interest loan with them for a portion of the difference); we received an offer in July 2010 and closed in October 2010.

As for how much you have to put down on a mortgage, I suggest talking to either a mortgage broker or a couple different banks as there are several types of loans out there which have differing criteria and down payment requirements.

We currently have our house on the market again but have not been having much luck because there are so many houses available. Good luck!

@Nskillet: When you sell at a loss, you bring a check to closing to cover the balance due.