I work in Morrisville and my lease ends in July so I am looking to buy a place around Cary. Does anyone own a condo or townhome there and have any suggestions? Thanks yo.

I know absolutely nothing about buying and how much mortgage will be and bills etc... so any help would be fabulous!!

Oh btw... I'm not looking for a real estate agent on TWW or anything... just want to talk to a regular buyer like me and learn from their experience.

[Edited on January 19, 2006 at 11:28 AM. Reason : hmph]

1/19/2006 11:23:30 AM

If you're still a NCSU student Dr.Huggard may be willing to talk to you. I had him for Personal Finance and he does some real estate on the side. He was a great prof., in the business school of course. But there are some TWW ppl that have bought houses so you might get what you need to know from here.

1/19/2006 11:34:02 AM

Quote :

"I live in cary and I know there is a new townhouse right by me for sale or you could try http://www.triangle.com/realestate/"

From the thread http://www.thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=380466

[Edited on January 19, 2006 at 11:35 AM. Reason : ]

1/19/2006 11:35:18 AM

with current interest rates, every $10,000 = $70/mo mortgage...i'm closing on a townhouse in north raleigh next week and that rule of thumb proved pretty close in my case. it all depends on how much $$ you have to put down (and i didn't have a ton since i'm a first time buyer)

i didn't really look in the cary/morrisville area so I can't help you there... but get a realtor and see as many properties as you can. the more you see the easier it becomes to pick out what you do and do not like, and you get better at spotting quality or lack of in a home.


[Edited on January 19, 2006 at 11:42 AM. Reason : .]

1/19/2006 11:39:30 AM

ncsuGALxcPaC check your PM

[Edited on January 19, 2006 at 12:14 PM. Reason : .]

1/19/2006 12:13:54 PM

QUEEN ELIZABETH off harrison ave in cary. those are pretty nice. i actually had one unit under contract to buy a few years ago, but I went to the tax accessor website and found a trend in the previous sales of the units. they fluctuated too much. after researching the builder had trouble selling the units at the set price of 149K. so they auctioned them off and some sold for low 100's, etc . . . . if you can find one in the low hundreds it's a steal. really nice condo's and a great building.

1/19/2006 12:18:44 PM

I bought a house about 6-8months ago in Cary/Raleigh border...new construction, still some 2 and 3 bedrooms available that are still being finished.

meadowoodcrossings.com

1/19/2006 1:13:54 PM

Quote :

"I know absolutely nothing about buying and how much mortgage will be and bills etc... so any help would be fabulous!! "

So you either have a high paying job, or have a big down payment to use sense you apparently have no clue at this point what all the costs are? In short, around 150k with a mild downpayment (say up to 10%) your payment + taxes is going to be a little more than a grand a month, then factor in utilities. More or less downpayment changes the per month from there. Go to bankrate.com and use a calculator and figure it out.

1/19/2006 1:51:41 PM

Quote :

"Oh btw... I'm not looking for a real estate agent on TWW or anything."

This is a BIG investment for you, please make sure when you get serious about it you go ahead and talk to a realtor. When you are spending $100,000+ tdub advice is just not good enough to bank on.

As far as the mortgage goes I can give you a very rough idea of how to figure up your payment. If you get a loan at about six percent you can multiply 6 by how many thousand your going to spend. (115,000 financed = 115*6 = 690 a month) you then have to add the property taxes, homeowners insurance, and homeowners dues. Also, if you finance over 80% of your purchase price most loans have PMI that you pay monthly as well.

For instance here is my monthly payment (This is about 113,000 financed over 30 years at 6.12%)
Principal & Interest $686.91
Homeowner's Insurance(s) $38.41
Mortgage Insurance (pmi) $87.61
County Tax $87.26
Total Scheduled Payment $900.19

^ that does not include homeowners dues which are $110 a month in my neighborhood so really the total payment is 1010.19

Most loans allow you to drop the PMI payment once you gain 20% equity in the property but if you have a question about this ask the lender to make sure.



[Edited on January 19, 2006 at 2:56 PM. Reason : ]

1/19/2006 2:54:55 PM

I agree-- there is no harm in working with a real estate agent; the seller pays the agent, not you. Here's a great tool to get you started on your search http://www.hpw.com. Don't necessarily have to go through them, but you can at least use their search tool.

If you're putting down less than 20% you can avoid PMI by taking out two mortgages-- ask your lender about it. Also, some builders have preferred lenders that sometimes contribute money towards yoru down payment ( as an incentive to work with them).

Have you considered renting out bedrooms to roomates? Great way to get help paying off your monthly mortgage.

I'm building a townhouse in Cary/Morrisville too btw!

1/19/2006 3:25:20 PM