Me and the hubs have rented for a very long time now, and we have finally bit the bullet and decided to buy a home. We saved the very minimum, and I think if we would have started saving sooner, it may not have been as difficult.
Lesson one: SAVE, SAVE, SAVE!
Our credit was shot. We've been working with a mortgage broker for the past year, who has helped us get where we needed to be.
Lesson two: Don't be an idiot and screw up your credit at a young age!
So we got the approval and started house hunting. You'd think this would be a fun process, and maybe for some people it is...but for me, it wasn't. First, we want to stay in the same school district we currently rent our house in. Sadly, this school district is expensive, so our options were limited.
House one; It was the first house we looked at, and I fell in love. It was a foreclosure, in a beautiful location. BEAUTIFUL! I wanted it for the sole reason of it's location. The outside needed TLC, it hasn't been tended to in months. The first floor needed new carpeting and some paint, the basement needed a complete renovation. But it was in our price, and the upstairs was livable until we got the money to do the downstairs. We put in an offer, the bank accepted, but our lender would not loan the money due to the fact the house was mobile home(even with a full basement and one acre-they don't care). I was devastated. The only way we'd be able to get the house is if we had 10k to put down, and we don't, so we(Me, mostly) were forced to walk away. Strike one.
With no more options in our area, we went looking into a few towns over. House one, was nice, cute, a little small ranch home...and it would have been an option until I saw the kitchen. It was so small, I don't even know how the three of us stood in it. (Me, the hubs, and our realtor) That house was out..my morale was plummeting. We moved onto the second house, it was very high in our price range, but it was beautiful. A beautiful brick ranch, with a two car garage. Inside was outdated(pink 60's bathroom), shag carpet. Huge basement. I fell in love again. I had high hopes! We went onto the third house, and the pictures online made it look much nicer than it really was. The family was home, which was really awkward, and people kept appearing out of nowhere. There had to have been 10 people living in the house. I did not get good vibes and I ended up telling our realtor I wanted to leave, and he seemed relieved. Me and hubs talked, we decided to put an offer in on house two, I was excited! It was a pre-estate sale, the lady was 92, and her family was handling the sale. We were suppose to get a response within 24 hours, they said they didn't agree to our offer, but they didn't disagree. I thought, it's been on market for a while, why wouldn't they take our offer. I was hopeful. THREE days late, 3 agonizing days, and they said 'No' to our offer, flat out no. Our realtor was pissed, and wanted to tell them to 'fuck off', but of course didn't. We walked away from another house..again.
We looked at a handful of other houses, and each time I left I felt depressed. This was no longer fun. We were getting at the bottom of the barrel. The house we currently rent, the landlords want to sell it. We had planned to buy it, but decided we needed more room, and mostly a garage(my husband is a car guy, and details cars on the side). I wanted to be moved in by the end of summer, just in case the kids would have to attend another school.
I love ranch homes, and that's the type of houses I was looking into. We currently live in a townhouse, and I really wanted to stay away from them. Not that they're bad, I just wanted something one story. Having to drag laundry down two flights of steps isn't fun, especially when you have four people worth.
As a last resort, we decided to check out a townhouse in the same district we live in now. It's much bigger than our house now, and has a garage. Three very important factors to us. We both have been in one, but every house is different. The garage isn't huge, but we have a small drive way. We walked in, and my husband fell in love. I found it hilarious. All the houses we looked at, he never, not once had that reaction. Oh boy. The house is only 12 years old, it was taken care of, the appliances are the expensive kind, small backyard, but no one behind us, just a big field. It's move-in ready! After we left, my hubs looks at me and says, I want it. Almost like it's a car. I was hesitant, I didn't want to live in another townhouse, but it's beautiful. We talked it over, and decided to put in an offer. They countered, we countered, they agreed.
Lesson Three: Lower your expectations.
We are a week from our closing, and at the end of the month we will be moving in! We are going to be first time home owners! This has been on hell of a ride, and I cannot wait until this is all over. I don't want to do this again, unless we're moving to the beach!
Now for some pictures, because if I just read a post like this, I'd expect some pictures! We will painting a few areas in the house :)
Picture 1: Front of house. 2: Foyer/Stairs/Hallway to 1st Floor. 3: Living Room. 4: Kitchen(some granite counters will really nice!) 5: First floor.
It is an exciting but stressful time but so worth it in the end in our 20's my husband and I well at the time engaged we bough a house a very old house for a great price but in the end too much to deal with so we put the house up for sale and looked for land and built found a builder but that was a process but like I said so worth it built a ranch been living in our home for 11 years as of Oct.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good lesson. Don't screw up your credit when you are young. I did not get the memo. Buying a home is a big purchase, and it can be a taxing on your energy. I heard it's important to not get attached to homes when you are in the process of buying because you can not get it.
ReplyDelete