First house

[ChshreCat]

Just got pre-approved for a mortgage to buy out first home. I'm not sure if I want to celebrate that we're buying our house, or if I want to throw up at the thought of going into debt for hundreds of thousands of dollars for the next three decades.

We have three or four picked out to go look at so far.

 

[Zen_Brew]

Congratulations. Not bad timing either with low mortgage rates and somewhat lower home prices. It's a great feeling having your own home. I had a home a few years back but ended up having to sell as my job changd states and now I can't afford to buy back in.

I know you'll be mapping out the brewing and serving areas closely as you go out to view the potential homes.

Happy hunting.

 

[eschatz]

I Say its' a rtap! Those things with aobama and Simulus are sneekely. LOOK SOUT!!!!!!!!!

 

[ChshreCat]

Oh, every house I've looked at has had brewspace as one criteria. One of the places has a detached shop with power and heat in the back yard. Can you say BREWHAUS?!?

 

[Joos]

Get ready for the most bureaucratic bullsh!t you've ever had to deal with.And good luck!I'm supposed to close next week:rockin:


EDIT: then again I live in MA.Tings are so ass backwards here.

 

[beerkrump]

Congrats! Owning beats renting by a 100 miles.

 

[CodeRage]

Congratulations man! There is nothing like unlocking the front door for the first time.

 

[ChshreCat]

Congratulations man! There is nothing like unlocking the front door for the first time.

Even freaky sex on the kitchen counter for the first time?

 

[TMet]

Congrats! I close the 24th on my first house so I know how you feel. The rates are NUTS right now. I was able to pull a brand new house for cheaper than I'm paying for rent on an apt half the size. Exciting!

 

[CodeRage]

Even freaky sex on the kitchen counter for the first time?

Yeah! because it's YOUR counter now!

 

[ChshreCat]

Wish i could do that. For less than I pay in rent, I might be able to get a 40 year old mobile home that smells like cat pee... maybe.

 

[gplutt]

Where are you buying at?

 

[ChshreCat]

Looking at the camano island area.

 

[MikeFlynn74]

You are going to love your house and hate it at the same time. And even when it is paid off its only technically yours.

But its the biggest investment in your life both emotionally and $ wise. Good house hunting!

 

[Domminigan]

I bought five years ago.
Negotiated like a mofo, picked up a 5 bedroom 3 bath American Craftsman foursquare built 1910 for little of nothing.
Love this house!

The greatest thing about the house is I can do whatever it is that I want to do with it and nobody has a say in it but me.

 

[ChshreCat]

Prices are insane here, even though not as insane as a couple years ago.

 

[Rick500]

I bought my house 7 years ago. I've never regretted it. As I heard someone say, the grass feels better under your toes when it's yours.

Congrats!

 

[TMet]

They're still steep here too. In my case I did leave a really nice area in the city and moved about 25 minutes out of the city. So I was paying a lot for rent. Still in a nice area but its kind of in the sticks, which I don't mind.

I was able to talk the builder down 15k on an already really discounted price, they upgraded all appliances, payed all closing, and bought my interest down below 5%. Going with a VA loan as well I pretty much made out like a bandit. It's a new subdivision where the houses they had built just stopped selling.

Already thinking of where to put the man cave

 

[MeatyPortion]

Have fun. I bought a house last year. It actually wasn't nearly as stressfull as I'd thought but there are some bad days.

 

[Zen_Brew]

Even freaky sex on the kitchen counter for the first time?

Oh bro that's half the fun. You've got to christen every room in the house, and when your done with that find the secluded areas of the deck. It's way better than unlocking the door for the first time.

I think there are still some semi reasonable areas on Camano, as long as you don't have your heart set on a water view.

 

[captianoats]

I bought my first house last year, trust me it's worth the headache. Just hope you enjoy honey do projects, because SWMBO will make you work your ass off changing that "perfect" house to meet your standards.

 

[eschatz]

I Say its' a rtap! Those things with aobama and Simulus are sneekely. LOOK SOUT!!!!!!!!!

Sorry bout that. Last night was interesting to say the least!

Congrats on your first house!!!!!!

 

[marubozo]

Congrats! Buying your first home is an awesome experience. We bought ours about 4 years ago... right at the absolute peak of the real estate bubble. Oh well, nobody can predict the future.

We're waiting to our pre-approval from the lenders next week and we're going to be buying another one. But selling what we have now in this market is going to suck.

 

[ChshreCat]

We have an agent now. Going to go look at some houses next week!

 

[Yooper]

Wish i could do that. For less than I pay in rent, I might be able to get a 40 year old mobile home that smells like cat pee... maybe.

Well, if I come across a deal like that, I'll be sure to let you know!

It's exciting, that's for sure. In my area, housing has always been affordable so we're not in the same sick-to-my-stomach price range you have in mind. Still, it's the biggest personal investment you'll make at one time and it's not easy. My latest house is definitely my favorite, but I've owned four total (still own the last two I bought and probably will until I die!).

Good luck with the search, and post pictures of what you find!

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Oh, every house I've looked at has had brewspace as one criteria. One of the places has a detached shop with power and heat in the back yard. Can you say BREWHAUS?!?

It helps to notice whether or not the lights work in teh rest of the house too.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Even freaky sex on the kitchen counter for the first time?

Thats over rated. The counters are never at the right height and you'll always wonder about the stain.

 

[HoppyDaze]

Congrats...that is very exciting. This is a very good investment as well. It will be your biggest investment to date no doubt, so be careful...

Ive bought a couple houses in my short time here and my advice is to look at as many houses as you can before you decide to make an offer. We must have looked at over 60 houses before we bought the current one we are in now...

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

Good luck with the house. I am currently house poor. Sometimes I love it, and sometime I hate it a lot. I have expressed my anger about lack of disposable income here before but at least we have a good place to vent!

Most of the time I am very happy I bought my house and in 12 years it will be an awesome place to live. My only piece of advice is to keep a reserve stash of cash around for when you need something done on the house or something breaks.

Good luck

 

[MMW]

You'll look at more than three or four, guaranteed. When Mrs. MMW and I bought our first home we looked at somewhere close to 40 condos on the north side of Dallas. 9 grand down on a $45k 900 sq ft condo...those were the days. I spent the first two weeks putting in new floors, painting, and leveling doors.

You'll know the right house when you walk in-- we've bought three now and made up our minds within 5 minutes on all of them even though the first and third both required lots of cosmetic work. We did a $70k renovation on our current house that started the second we moved in (still came in $10/sqft under market ), but we still knew it was home after the first quick walk around.

 

[ChshreCat]

Well, we don't actually have that many to choose from in the area we want to buy in. My wife hasn't been at her current job for 3 years yet, so they weren't able to take that into account for our loan, so we don't have a ton of money to work with. Then taking out everything under 1000 sq ft, everything on the flood plain and everything that needs too much work, that only left us with 8 or 10 places to check out at the moment.

 

[MMW]

Then you will look at all of them, guaranteed. We had that same situation with our current house. We looked at everything within 60 miles in our price range (and even up to 50k above ) and the last house we looked at was the one we bought.

Good thing too, since it was the last home within our price range. :cross:

Don't be afraid of work, btw...sweat equity can be a very good thing. We made 20k on the 45k condo after 2 years. Just get a good inspection and don't fear the easy fixes.

One last bit of unsolicited advice: skip the home warranty when you buy the house. Bank the $300 or so that they cost; they're just not worth the money or the hassle.

 

[ChshreCat]

Ya know, you never realize how much you dislike living in apartments until you see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'll be so happy to get out of here! I don't even really care about the deposit anymore! I just want out!

Looking at houses on Friday! Talked to my agent and a few of them on my list have offers on them, but the one we're most interested in is still up for grabs.

 

[TMet]

Have fun on Fri! Looking at places was half the fun for us.

We closed this afternoon, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Now I just can't wait to actually move, I said screw it and took next week off so I could play with the house.

 

[wild]

Crongrats! I have 6 bids out and am still looking.

 

[Zen_Brew]

Ya know, you never realize how much you dislike living in apartments until you see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'll be so happy to get out of here! I don't even really care about the deposit anymore! I just want out!

Looking at houses on Friday! Talked to my agent and a few of them on my list have offers on them, but the one we're most interested in is still up for grabs.

Hang in there. There has been a bit of buying activity as of late but I think it is still a buyers market. Aug/Sep aren't the best negotiating months as other buyers are looking to settle their families before the start of the school year, especially if they are moving into a new district.

I assume you are going for the $8000 first time buyer credit as well. That's a nice little boost and lets you actually get some of your tax money you've been paying into the system back.

Good luck on the home you have your eye on.

 

[ChshreCat]

Checked out houses today. Saw the one we were most interested in from our online searches. It's off our list now. Smelled kind of funny when we walked in, so we started looking around. Went into one of the bedrooms that shares a wall with the bathtub on the other side and the wall looked water damaged. Then down at the bottom the baseboards are COVERED in black mold. House cancer. Looked like it was likely all through the wall and possibly under the floor.

But we have two so far to choose from. Right now we're having to decide on low price with lots of work to be done, or higher price with much less work to do on it.

 

[bob1852]

Crongrats! I have 6 bids out and am still looking.

Ain't the Phx market rediculously strange the last couple years?

 

[carbon111]

Congrats!

Just look at your mortgage as "paying rent to yourself" instead of to some other guy (who will just waste it on n-scale model trains and rasberry gummy bears).

 

[Zen_Brew]

Yep, Black mold = bad juju. A lot of contractors won't even do work on a house that has large amounts. The ones that will will ratchet up the price to cover all the health and safety precautions. Sorry to hear.