Lyle and I rang in 2015 with Liz and Alex, friends who used to live in NY, but now live in Mexico City. In town for the holiday, we met up with the two and a handful of other friends for dinner at DOC in Williamsburg followed by dance party at Cameo. We glided into the new year listening to Midnight Magic, optimistic over the twelve months ahead.
German tradition dictated our meal on the 1st. Pork and sauerkraut solidifies good luck for the year ahead and we certainly ate our fill.
Starting in January, my Where'sMy.House resolution is to properly do my homework. We've been talking lots about buying a house, but really how prepared are we? We already know that saving for a sizable down payment is a must, but I'm sure there's more to prep than being able to throw down a boatload of cash in the lending office.
I turned to 'AmIReadyToBuy.com' for some preliminary answers. (Yes, there's a AmIReadyToBuy website.)
The survey conducted by Amitree, a company founded Jonathan Aizen and Paul Knegten (and backed by numerous executives at Yahoo, Facebook, MySpace and Zynga), asks a few simple survey questions to determine a percentage of readiness. Following the survey, the site gives you suggestions on what to do and where to turn next.
Lyle and I? We're 31% ready to buy a house. I thought we'd be at least 50%, but apparently we have a long way to go.
In reading all we have to do, it's no surprise. In addition to piling up a down payment we need to:
- Formulate a realistic budget, not just a guesstimate
- Find an agent (this is on hold until we decide on a neighborhood, more tours to come!)
- Contact a lender and get pre-approved
- Keep current numerous documents including: employment/income history for the last two to five years, paycheck stubs for the last sixty days, W-2s for the past two years, two most recent bank statements, two months of statements from credit accounts, other asset statements and current landlord contact info (Amitree suggests creating dropbox and updating these docs often)
In all, no earthshakingly surprising information, but lots to consider, and gather, nonetheless. First step? I'm going to try to tackle the first bullet. Next week on Where'sMy.House...