Tell me about buying a home for the first time

[kandrathe]

They certainly can't be any worse than the neighbours I have now :angry:

There are many definitions of "bad" :P

[DeeBye]

AW CRAP!

Today I found out that about 2 weeks ago a home was sold in the area we are hoping to buy. I don't have the listed specs, but from word-of-mouth from the neighbours it is (was) exactly what my wife and I were looking for. Out of morbid curiosity I drove by it today. It is a really nice house with a really nice yard. The neighbours say it is absolutely immaculate inside. We obviously didn't get a chance to tour the inside, but the exterior is absolutely gorgeous.

The kicker is that it apparently sold for $15,000 under our maximum budget :(

Does this sort of thing happen often when looking for a new house?

[--Pete]

Hi,

Does this sort of thing happen often when looking for a new house?

Yep. Get used to it. Buying a house is an emotional roller coaster. The ones you like will be sold before you get to them. The ones you get to see will be all wrong. The perfect ones will be beyond your budget. The almost perfect ones will have some fatal flaw. The ones without a fatal flaw will be ho-hum. After a while, you'll be ready to just say, "The hell with it."

That's when it'll all come together and you'll find the right house, at the right price, in the right place. And then it'll all have been worth it;)

--Pete

PS Take your time -- good or bad, you'll probably have to live with it for a while, and little things are like a toothache. The longer you put up with them, the more they bother you.

[Munkay]

Today I found out that about 2 weeks ago a home was sold in the area we are hoping to buy...

Sounds like Murphey and his wife moved in;)

About 15 years ago my parents were looking for a new house, there were a number of close calls that were either snatched before they put an offer or outbid by another couple. They finally came down to signing papers on a house, but they let it fall through. The next day they went on a drive North to clear their mind, and that very same day they found the house they live in now. For the same price it was nearly 25% bigger, in a better town (community wise and location), and since they purchased it the value of the house has nearly doubled.

So don't be too discouraged, and hopefully you'll find a streak of luck in your favor.

Cheers,

Munk

[kandrathe]

It might be thought of as good news. You know you can afford one of the best houses in that neighborhood. There is another, just be patient.

[DeeBye]

PS Take your time -- good or bad, you'll probably have to live with it for a while, and little things are like a toothache. The longer you put up with them, the more they bother you.

Yep, we do have time. There is a timetable at play, but we still have well over a year before we absolutely need to buy something. The last thing I want is to be forced to settle on something we don't really care for.

I hope this whole house-hunting thing goes quick, but I suspect that it will drag out for a long time.

[DeeBye]

Bump for update!

And good luck. May you stumble into a great deal:)

This might very well be happening tomorrow *crosses fingers*

Late last week our agent notified us that a property was in the process of being listed. She emailed us all of the details, and within minutes we called her back and asked for a tour of the home. It's officially up for sale tomorrow, and we will be the first to view it.

Everything about the house seems absolutely perfect to us. It's exactly in the neighbourhood we are looking in. It has 3 bedrooms (13' x 10', 12' x 10', and 10' x 10'), 2 full baths and a half bath, finished basement with a 19' x 13' rec room (POOL TABLE TIME!), sliding doors off the kitchen to a backyard deck, central air/forced air gas heat, and lots of other nice features. The listing also shows an optional aboveground pool, which I'm not too sure about yet. I like pools, but I'm unsure if I'd just rather have a bigger yard for my son to run around in. I'll decide when I see it. The lot is nice and deep (about 125').

I've driven by it twice now (once at night and once in the daylight) and it's very nice from the outside. The front yard is very well-maintained. If the current owners have taken as much care of the interior as they have the exterior, it should be a peach.

Price-wise, it's at the upper end of our budget, but it's definitely do-able. It's certainly more house than we thought we could afford. The asking price is low compared to equivalents. This is likely due to the fact that they are looking to close a deal in 30 days, which is probably good for us due to the fact that we rent and can be out of our apartment pretty quickly. The 30 day closing also works against us financially since it's at the upper end of our budget. We have enough set aside for the down payment (we've nixed the no downpayment mortage idea), but we were short a bit on the closing costs if it goes for the asking price (which it probably will). Fortunately, my dad stepped up to the plate and offered to help us out with whatever we need to seal this possible deal. Oh dad:wub:

If we like what we see tomorrow, we are well-prepared to set things in motion very quickly. We could conceivably even close the deal tomorrow (conditional upon financing and inspection), which we might have to do to block out other potential bidders. Like I said, the asking price is below market value in my opinion. Our agent is bringing an offer sheet and our lender has been notified and will be on STANDBY YELLOW ALERT! My dad will be wiring us the $$$ early tomorrow, with a few extra $$ thrown in "just in case".

My wife and I have been :unsure::unsure: since last week.

[DeeBye]

If we like what we see tomorrow, we are well-prepared to set things in motion very quickly. We could conceivably even close the deal tomorrow (conditional upon financing and inspection), which we might have to do to block out other potential bidders.

..and that is exactly what happened.

We viewed it at 9AM, and were blown away. We put in an offer ABOVE the asking price with a minimum of conditions. The house was so much more than I thought we could afford, and the asking price was artificially low because the current owners wanted a quick sale. Given that there were at least 5 other showings today, my wife and I did not want to take a chance on this. Our offer was good until 9PM. At about 8:45PM, our agent called and congratulated us. Ours was accepted.

Our agent suggested that the relative lack of conditions on our part was the deal-maker. She didn't know for sure, but she guessed that a few of the other offers were also above the asking price.

Closing date is September 15. Do any of you guys have a truck? I'll supply beer and pizza.

(I have 3 bathrooms now. I told my wife that our entire family could have a poop at the same time.)

[--Pete]

Hi,

Closing date is September 15. Do any of you guys have a truck? I'll supply beer and pizza.

No, but I can haul a lot in my Explorer -- make mine Sam Adams and pepperoni:)

OK, you're on the roller coaster now and the ride doesn't stop till closing. Go to Costco, get the super sized bottle of Tums. And try to keep an even strain. Buying a house, I once read, was one of the four or five most stressful experiences.

But it sounds great. Congratulations. May the transaction be smooth and may you enjoy it for years.

--Pete

[DeeBye]

No, but I can haul a lot in my Explorer -- make mine Sam Adams and pepperoni:)

How about a case of Alexander Keith's and some extra cheese on that pepperoni 'za?

Our new home is only about a 5 minute drive from our apartment so I plan on shipping as much as I can in my trusty Toyota Camry. We have a 15 day overlap between the day we take possession of the house and the day we have to be out of our apartment. I figure that I can move all of the boxable stuff in my little car in as many trips as it takes, and bug one of my co-workers into letting me borrow his truck for a day to move the large stuff. Either that or we just rent a cube van.

OK, you're on the roller coaster now and the ride doesn't stop till closing. Go to Costco, get the super sized bottle of Tums. And try to keep an even strain. Buying a house, I once read, was one of the four or five most stressful experiences.

I have a membership for Costco so your advice is do-able. I think I need to buy the double-packaged 1,000 tablet thing of Tums. I don't think I'll be sleeping for the next month and a half.

As for stressful experiences, this one ranks right up there with getting married and having a child.

(p.s. We offered a mere $200 above the asking price)

[Munkay]

Closing date is September 15. Do any of you guys have a truck? I'll supply beer and pizza.

Nice choices Pete, pepperoni and a Boston lager? Or are you more of a Sam Seasonal man?

I do have a pickup truck with a nice bed for hauling things around. But the last time I was in Ontario in a Ford truck I ended up doing two full rotations on the QEW going 65 MPH just outside of St. Catherine's :angry:

A big congratulations on the new house DeeBye. As it's been mentioned before in this thread, I don't envy the next 6 months of your life, but it's definitely worth it. Goodluck on the future goings, keep us posted!

Cheers,

Munk

[LochnarITB]

Huge congratulations on a life step that I was only able to get this -->| |<-- close to before the fates said no. I envy you even for the sleepless nights and the moving hassles. I hope the water pressure is up to the tricky simultaneous triple flush with concurrent yee haw!

[kandrathe]

The stages of home acquisition...

1) Oh boy! -- While you are looking, up until you make an offer and have it accepted.

2) Oh no! -- Closing on the loan, packing, moving, unpacking, and then seeing your old stuff in the new house.

3) Oh well -- When you settle in and accept the new place, warts and all.

[--Pete]

Hi,

Nice choices Pete, pepperoni and a Boston lager? Or are you more of a Sam Seasonal man?

With pizza, I like a lager because it seems to complement rather than overpower the pizza taste and it's less filling than a stout, so I can pack away more pizza. Sam Adams is a pretty good lager, much better than the big names that need another trip through the horse to build up some flavor:)

Of course, if the mission for the evening is to drink beer, then there can be only one -- and it speaks with a brogue;)

--Pete

[Munkay]

Hi,
With pizza, I like a lager because it seems to complement rather than overpower the pizza taste and it's less filling than a stout, so I can pack away more pizza. Sam Adams is a pretty good lager, much better than the big names that need another trip through the horse to build up some flavor:)

Of course, if the mission for the evening is to drink beer, then there can be only one -- and it speaks with a brogue;)

I definitely can't argue with that:)

I apologize for the quick OT, but I was wondering how widespread Sam Adam's is across the country. I'm thick in Sam country (splitting my time between Boston and an hour away in the suburbs), and at any bar you can get a Lager and Seasonal on tap. And most bars carry more Sam's depending on the crowd. I knew Sam made a deal with Budweiser to brew in their facilities, but am in the dark to it's actual popularity. How's it received up in the WA way?

Cheers,

Munk

[--Pete]

Hi,

I apologize for the quick OT, but I was wondering how widespread Sam Adam's is across the country. I'm thick in Sam country (splitting my time between Boston and an hour away in the suburbs), and at any bar you can get a Lager and Seasonal on tap. And most bars carry more Sam's depending on the crowd. I knew Sam made a deal with Budweiser to brew in their facilities, but am in the dark to it's actual popularity. How's it received up in the WA way?

Well, I can't really say much other than I've found Sam Adam's pretty much everywhere I've traveled (heck, even in Boston:)) but not always (or even usually) on tap. Here in the Seattle area, I've always been able to get it at grocery stores when I wanted it and at most restaurants and pizza shops. So I guess it is doing alright given the vast number of local micro-brew products. My bar hopping days are a bit behind me, so I can't really speak on that front.;)

--Pete

[DeeBye]

The home inspection passed with flying colours today. The grizzled old ex-contractor was all business and closely examined the foundation, roof, electrical system, plumbing, heating and air conditioning, windows, attic, insulation, structure, and a hundred other things.

He had VERY minor gripes about our new home. Some of the caulking on the exterior of a few of the windows was aged and brittle and should be replaced. I can fix that with a trip to Home Depot and about 30 minutes of my time. The attic could use more insulation, which isn't a surprise because it gets goddamn cold here and everyone needs more insulation. The final suggestion was one I expected. None of the electrical outlets in the kitchen, bathrooms, or exterior are GFI (ground fault interrupt), because our house was built before the building code mandated it. Again though, it's a relatively cheap and easy fix.

I was very happy with the inspection.

The current owners were present for the inspection, and my wife had a nice chat with them while I followed the inspector around. The reason that they are selling is because the elder husband has a heart condition and he can't handle stairs anymore. They bought a bungalow. My wife shrewedly negotiated a deal for the dishwasher. She gave them a cheque for $100, and our real estate agent agreed to rebate us the $100 upon closing out of her commission since it was such a fast and easy deal. She also asked them to leave the swing hanging from the red maple tree in the front yard. My son loves it and the inspector gave him a few good pushes on it after the inspection was done.

So we signed the condition waivers today, and the house is ours as of September 15.

[--Pete]

Hi,

So we signed the condition waivers today, and the house is ours as of September 15.

Yippeeeee! And congratulations.

Magi just said that at any moment you'll have the "Holy sh*t, what the hell have we done?" moment. I remember it well;)

Have fun packing and moving. And enjoy those hours of planning in the next month and a half, because after the move you'll be too busy.

--Pete

[DeeBye]

Hi,
Yippeeeee! And congratulations.

Magi just said that at any moment you'll have the "Holy sh*t, what the hell have we done?" moment. I remember it well;)

Have fun packing and moving. And enjoy those hours of planning in the next month and a half, because after the move you'll be too busy.

--Pete

I am now six figures of dollars in debt! Holy crap! This kind of thing is hard to take.

I've been announcing to friends and family about our purchase, and I've been careful to leave subtle messages about things we'll need. Since we have spent over our budget, we are poor. I believe that I have procured the following in the form of "house warming gifts" - lawn mower, gas can for said lawn mower, three (3) recycling bins, various garden tools, and my wife says that her girlfriends are going to do a "makeover" of our kitchen. I dislike the sound of that last one.