Ghost_of_P34 t1_ivuppc3 wrote on November 10, 2022 at 7:16 PM

If school for kids is a factor, then Princeton, West Windsor, Plainsboro are your best bets (and towns that feed into any of those districts... Cranbury?

If school is not a factor, then avoid those towns due to high property taxes. Or any town with high property taxes.

If you don't want to deal with the house itself and are looking for more of a starter type home, consider a condo/townhouse. Should be cheaper, less to do, and nice way to build up equity. Wife and I did that before moving to a house in the area.

Generally, you need to put down 20%, so if you have 65k total, you are looking at homes in the 300-325 range. Correct?

Most house listings are fed to various sites by NJ's central real estate data base. I don't have any specific realtor recommendations, but I guess any of the better reviewed realtors on Zillow or Realtor.com should be ok. I'm sure someone will recommend a specific individual or firm.

[deleted] OP t1_ivuqa03 wrote on November 10, 2022 at 7:20 PM

[deleted]

ansky201 t1_ivv3mgt wrote on November 10, 2022 at 8:48 PM

If you can't put down the full 20% you may qualify for an FHA loan. With an FHA loan you put down less than the 20% and the bank charges you mortgage insurance (PMI). With my FHA loan many years ago it worked out to about $150/month in mortgage insurance. Once you start making your mortgage payments and reach the 20% threshold the bank can remove the mortgage insurance. I recommend paying extra money towards your loan each month so the mortgage insurance will go away sooner. It will all depend on the specifics of your lender and your loan.

obsessedsolutions t1_ivwjp37 wrote on November 11, 2022 at 3:16 AM

You can also pay mortgage insurance all at once, that’s what I did.

infl1ct1on t1_ivxtch4 wrote on November 11, 2022 at 12:26 PM

Just as a heads up (I also have FHA loan), FHA loans have MIP not PMI. If your initial down payment is <10%, the MIP can not be removed unless refinanced to a non-FHA loan. If your initial down payment is >10%, MIP falls off after 11 years. There is no 20% rule on an FHA loan like there is on conventional. However, I still strongly recommend FHA because the MIP really isn't that high, just note it can't be removed unless you refinance.