Interstate Move and Buying a House?

[GirlBoyGirl]

My DH and I finally decided to leave our state and move to Pittsburgh. We are going to sell our house and then buy another house. We have one snag, though. The bank wants a pay stub from his NEW job before we can close on a new house. But that would mean he would have to go on ahead of us for at least a month and work until he gets that first pay stub. Which would mean I would have to quit my evening job. I know I would quit eventually but I would be losing 4+ weeks pay. This is pretty much the standard now (needing a first pay stub from new job) so I don't see any way around it but it kinda sucks! Has anyone else moved to a new state and bought a new house and if so, how did it go? Thanks!

[chel]

does your dh already have a job lined up?  it usually takes atleast a month to close, not to mention the time it takes to find a home.

is your current home on the market?  could you even get a loan for a new home while still owning your current home.

[GirlBoyGirl]

Thanks! We could go ahead and get pre-qualified. And yes I was thinking the same thing about how it takes a month to close, so fingers crossed the timing works out. The way I figure it is if it is chaotic and a mess now, it will be the last time this ever happens (hopefully!)

[GearGirl]

Without knowing more history I might be way off here, but are you guys very well off?  If you are looking to be pre-qualified for a loan while you still own another house then you basically need to qualify for a much larger loan (equal to both).  Before everything happened with the market this was pretty easy, you could own one house and buy another, and have a bridge loan for the overlap.  It is not as easy in todays market to do that unless your income is very high and pretty stable.  I'm not sure how a new job will look as far as that goes.  If it were me I would get your current house on the market ASAP if it isn't already, and see what happens.  In most (but not all) locations it is taking much longer than it once was to sell a house.  If you get a good offer and take it, I would look for something temporary like some sort of extended suites hotel in either the new location or the old one, and look for your new house once your old one is sold and you have cash in hand.  We got a great offer on our house last time we moved but the catch was they wanted us out right away.  We did have our new house already but with a month of the school year left we didn't want our kids to be pulled from school so we stayed in an all suites hotel for the month and it was so much fun.  We stayed in a one bedroom with 4 of us and the dog, but there was a pool, tennis courts, free breakfast (that we used to pack lunches!), it was great!  If you do this in your new city then you will have time for your dh to get the new pay stub and time to really look for a new house, plus you will know what you got for your old house and how  much $ that gives you in your budget for the new one.  If you have plenty of $ for a new down payment and to cover two houses if yours takes longer to sell than you think then none of this matters obviously.

[zebra15]

Well have you been to Pittsburg.  Do you know exactly where in the city you want to live?  I would really guard against buying a home before living there for a bit.  So while it would mean an extra move to a rental for a bit I think it would be well worth it.  There is so much to consider when moving, so many houses, location, schools etc that I wouldnt want to make a huge committment like that from states away.

[Denvergirlie]

My advice: Sell current house, move to a rental until you know where you want to live. Live in rental with bare minimum, move everything else in PODS until you've settled in a new house, then have PODS delivered to new house.

[GirlBoyGirl]

Thanks!

[redvlagrl]

Originally Posted by zebra15 

Well have you been to Pittsburg.  Do you know exactly where in the city you want to live?  I would really guard against buying a home before living there for a bit.  So while it would mean an extra move to a rental for a bit I think it would be well worth it.  There is so much to consider when moving, so many houses, location, schools etc that I wouldnt want to make a huge committment like that from states away.

This. I would never recommend buying a house until you've lived in a new city for a while.
 

[wandering]

Originally Posted by zebra15 

Well have you been to Pittsburg.  Do you know exactly where in the city you want to live?  I would really guard against buying a home before living there for a bit.  So while it would mean an extra move to a rental for a bit I think it would be well worth it.  There is so much to consider when moving, so many houses, location, schools etc that I wouldnt want to make a huge committment like that from states away.

Yep, I totally agree with this advice as well.  It would be terrible to move somewhere unfamiliar and end up in a less-than-desirable (for your family) neighborhood.  Good luck!