Better First Time Home Buying Strategy?

what?

quote:

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think what he is trying to say is paying over the minimum payments on existing debts to pay off.

or pay minimum, use extra money to save for down payment on house and continue carting existing debt+mortgage.

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That's what it sounds like, but it would be nice to know how much debt he has, what % it is at, how many years he is expecting to be paying on that debt, etc.

These questions aren't an easy Yes/No.

A lot depends on the interest rate you're paying on debt as well. If you are talking about credit cards charging 20%, pay that off with the quickness. If you're talking about an auto loan charging 4%, I'd save for the down payment instead.

I'd pay off CC, have high credit to debt ratio as possible, then get preapproval for loan, negotiate price, pay as much over that number within reason to appraise, with the rest rolled back into closing costs AND prepaids, put 3.5% down, finance rest at 3.5 or lower over 30 years.

But this is for my lifestyle, my housing market, and what I know now vs then.

Crude example: if negotiate 200k sell price, I'd go 210k, with 10k towards closing costs and prepaids.