Make sure you do it all through a reputable escrow company - don't trust them to say ok, I'll sign it over after you pay me for the house. Also make sure you get all of your inspections and etc... Besides, what are you worried about? You don't pay any of the realtors fees anyway - your the buyer! The seller pays all of that... Don't be a nice guy with them - it's YOUR money at stake!!! The seller is the one that has a lot ot gain with keeping the realtors out - you don't.
Don't do any of those weird neg ams or etc. Just get a simple fixed interest rate loan.
80/20 or 100% is up to you. 100% loan you will have NO equity in the house for a long time and you can very easily get upside down in it. Say if the market turns in the next few years - which it will!!!! A lot of loans that were written after 9-11 are coming up on their 5 year mark, meaning that when the market was down 5 years ago, a lot of people signed 5 year ARM's and now their payments are sky rocketing like $500-800 month because of the higher interest rate. If they can't afford it any longer, they will be foreclosed on. That influx of open housing will cause the market to drop and if you're already in a house that you owe 100% on, you will be upside down. As for which I would prefer, it's really up to you and your finances. With the 80/20 deal, you will be making two house payments (primary and a second) for awhile - can you afford it? Where as with the 100% you won't. But with the 80/20 loan, you will still have 20% instant equity in your house, even though you have a second on it. You may not walk away with anything if you sold it, but there is still equity there. Also with the 100% loan, you can't use your house as an asset - it will be a huge liability for awhile. Meaning you won't be able to use it to pay your kids college by taking out a second or etc. With the 80/20 you will have more options.
Also, since you are going to stay there permanently, buy a point. The costo f the point will be better paid now than later in larger interest payments. But be careful here, if you refinance in a short amount of time, you will be losing money. You'll want to stay in that loan for at least 5+ years before refinancing.
But the key here is taht you plan on being in it for a long time... So make long term decisions. Fixed rates, etc. And remember, you pay a very large majority of the interest of the loan in the first 20 years (of a 30 year loan). Point being that after 20 years, you don't touch the loan, just keep making the payments. The first 10 is where you pay a large bulk of it, so if you are going to do anything with the loan, do it in the first 10 years. If you plan on being there for more than 10 years, might as well plan on 30.
