(Closed) Home buying status thread

• b00kbug
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: August 2012 - Sunset Harbour

1. What step are you at in the home buying process?

We are pre-approved, and just starting to look at houses.

2. Is this your first home? 

Yup!

3. What are type of home are you looking for? How many beds/baths? What are your other requirements or wants?  

We want a house that we can grow into when we have kids. At least 3 bedrooms, at least 1.5 bathrooms. We would like a basement since I had one growing up that functioned as the kdis play room. A large yard for our pups and gardening space. Otherwise, in our price range, there are not alot of deal breakers we can really stick to. We plan to do alot of updates, so as long as the house is liveable, we can amde do until we have the funds to update. 

4. How are you feeling? (Happy, anxious, pissed off… etc)?  

Excited, anxious, everything I guess. We just went to out first two houses today and we both like one of them enough to possibly put down an offer. 

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home? 

Not yet – I am learning as I go myself!

• kerpao
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: September 2017

1. What step are you at in the home buying process? WE CLOSED ON FRIDAY!! I cleaned like crazy yesterday and can’t wait to MOVE IN THURSDAY! WOOHOO!!

2. Is this your first home? Yes for the both of us so we go a rebate of $2000 for land transfer tax.

3. What are type of home are you looking for? How many beds/baths? What are your other requirements or wants?  It was a semi detathced home with 3 beds, 2 and a half baths and a finished basmenet. It was $10k more than what we wanted to pay for but it only needs a bit of paint touch up and it’s has very modern appliances.

4. How are you feeling? (Happy, anxious, pissed off… etc). Very happy and excited since we finally did it. Nervous since it’s our first time moving out of our parents home. Overwhelmed with all the packing. I have the smallest room in the house but it feels like i have the most crap! and pissed off since when i was cleaning the fridge once of the base glass thingies is cracked! there’s a few scratches on the glass stove top as well as burnt food >=( i expected that to be cleaned when we took possession!

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home? Don’t give up. I had 1 rejection, 1 acceptance but it had foundation issues so we had to walk away from the house after we told everyone we bought it since the seller was unwilling to fix it, then almost walked away from my current house for similar issues but don’t give up! There will be a home out there for you. This is obvious for more of you but I guess i’m dumb, WEAR GLOVES WHEN YOU CLEAN. My rubber gloves were cheapo ones from the dollar store and I accidentally bought a size to small. They were so hard to put back on when the inside got a little wet. My hands were SO DRY and TINGLY. and open windows, bleach makes you woozy. 

• monkeyinasuit
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: February 2013

1. What step are you at in the home buying process? We have zeroed in on locations and are out looking. We’ll get pre-qualed for the mortgage soon, we’ve just been a bit lazy about it. 

2. Is this your first home? Yes, for both of us. 

3. What are type of home are you looking for? How many beds/baths? What are your other requirements or wants?  2 bed/1.5 bath minimum, I’d like a 3 bed/2 bath (*fingers crossed*). Our very very strong preference is for a single family, but we’ll take a condo as long as the HOA is reasonable, and as my husband says, it has a “view of Manhattan.” That said, both towns we are looking in have very high property taxes so neither one of us is eager to pay HOA. 

4. How are you feeling? (Happy, anxious, pissed off… etc). Anxious. Inventory is very low. We’re lucky in that our realtor was a reference from my brother-in-law, who purchased through her so I know she’ll be patient with us. She’s extremely knowledgeable about the area, the properties and knows pretty much everyone in town. 

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home? Geez, no advice yet except I suspect that most of us bees in urban areas like Boston, NYC, SF etc. are dealing with same issue of low inventory! 

• unosmartcookie
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: June 2014

We are currently renting an appartment but have run into mold issues due to the neighbour above has a washroom with a leak in the wall. It looks like it might take a while before the issue gets resolved but we have water seeping in. So, in 2014, not only are we planning a wedding but planning a move too. 

1. What step are you at in the home buying process? We have just started to look at houses but have been pre-approved so it shouldn’t be a problem. 

2. Is this your first home? Its our first home, and were going to leaving the city to suburbia. Were going to raise our travel time from half hour to about an hour commute. 

3. What are type of home are you looking for? How many beds/baths? What are your other requirements or wants?  Were looking for 3 rooms and 2 baths. I’d like to have a nice basement with the washroom. Most of all having a nice patio. 

4. How are you feeling? (Happy, anxious, pissed off… etc) I’m anxious because there is damage with mold in our appartment but cannot wait to own our house.

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home?

• Ixtlali
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: August 2013

Well, we were just married in August. Found out two weeks later that the landlord was selling our house and moving to Mexico. Great. So husband and I have been tossing around continuing to rent or buying a home of our own. Denver is at 99% capacity for rentals, so in the last month, all I have been able to find is $400 more than what we are paying in rent now for half the size and falling apart. Buying has become a more solid option, we just wish we had more money to put down since we paid for our wedding ourselves.

1. What step are you at in the home buying process? Went to a morgage lender today to be pre-approved. We should have our lender letter within the week. Contacted a relator today as well now that we know our number with the intention to begin looking asap.

2. Is this your first home?

Yes, for both of us.

3. What are type of home are you looking for? How many beds/baths? What are your other requirements or wants?  One story, single family home, backyard, 2+ bd/1ba, up and coming neighborhood, gas stove (husband is a chef), has to have solid foundation/water heater/newer roof. We want to do updates but nothing too major. Our plan is to be in this house for about 7 years and possibly keep it as a rental when we upgrade.

4. How are you feeling? (Happy, anxious, pissed off… etc) Anxious mostly, but also very excited because I love house hunting. 

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home?

Nothing yet, but I’m glad I can continue my time on the bee even after the wedding is over.

• alt_bride
• 8 years ago

1. What step are you at in the home buying process? My SO and I have not been pre-approved. Right now we are in the process of saving while regularly looking online. Not yet seen any in person because we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves and fall in love with something before we can buy it since we know it will still be a couple months before we are in a position to put in an offer. We just really want to bulk up our downpayment — we have a goal of squirreling away at least another 5k before we seriously consider purchasing so that we can reach our desired downpayment of 30k. With that said, we have an appointment to go see a place this Sunday so we can get an idea of what we can get for our money considering our budget.

2. Is this your first home? Yes!

3. What are type of home are you looking for? How many beds/baths? What are your other requirements or wants?  We are hoping for a detached home — though, we are flexible on this — with enough parking space for two cars. We love open concept homes, especially if the kitchen opens up to the family room. Kitchen has to be spacious with lots of counter space as we are both foodies who love to cook (Plus, SO is a chef so this is very important!). Minimum of two bedrooms and one bathroom on main/upper levels (we have no preference of bungalow versus two story). We would love a fenced-in yard since we really want to get a puppy. Lastly, we are adament about a finished basement, either already an in-law suite with kitchen or with the potential for it so we can rent out the basement.

4. How are you feeling? (Happy, anxious, pissed off… etc) A little nervous, but mostly just super happy and excited. SO still has to look into jobs so that he can relocate as he presently lives 45 minutes away (almost 2 hours in rush hour traffic so commuting is a bad idea) and he is a little nervous about that, but we’re still early on in the whole home buying process so I’m not worried about that just yet.

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home? I wish I did, but I barely know what I’m doing myself!

• TheOkieWifey
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: November 2013

1. What step are you at in the home buying process? We are in the pre approval process and have been narrowing down which city we want to live in. We haven’t had children yet so we are trying to take in to consideration what school districts we like better.

2. Is this your first home?

Yes.

3. What are type of home are you looking for? How many beds/baths? What are your other requirements or wants?  We are looking for a single family brick or stone home. Preferrably we would like 3 bedrooms but would be okay with 2. Having 2 bathrooms is a MUST. Square footage wise we would like to stay around 1200-1600sqft. My DH is in lawn care so both the front and backyard will be a major selling point and we would prefer an established neighborhood with trees to help shade us during these Oklahoma summers! We do not want a pool or anything that would require too much extra maintenance.

4. How are you feeling? (Happy, anxious, pissed off… etc)
I don’t know about him but I am nervous and scared. But also excited. In my 25 years being alive I have never felt more like an adult.

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home?

I will have to get back to you on this one 🙂

• RoseyBee
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: July 2013

1. What step are you at in the home buying process?  Our offer was accepted! We are now waiting scheduling the inspection, and waiting for approval for our loan!

2. Is this your first home?
Yep!

3. What are type of home are you looking for? How many beds/baths? What are your other requirements or wants?  

Single family home. We wanted at least 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. We ended up getting 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths. We want to stay in this home forever if we can. I needed all of the bedrooms on the same level (check) a nice (hopefully fenced in) yard (check, check)

4. How are you feeling? (Happy, anxious, pissed off… etc)
Anxious, nervous, VERY excited.

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home?
Don’t give up! It can be frustrating but it’s worth it. This is our dream house and we initially lost it to someone with a better offer. Their financing fell through and about three weeks later here we are!

• TheHoneyWajr
• 8 years ago

• Wedding: October 2012

1. What step are you at in the home buying process? (looking at houses but not pre-approval, pre-approved and now visiting homes, offer submited, waiting to hear back, counter-offer received, home inspection, closing, keys received!… etc.)

We have been pre-approved for a couple of months, looking semi-casually and then more seriously, and last Sunday after looking at 9 houses we fell in love with 2 and had to make the decision on which one we wanted. We put offers in on both, received counters, countered back, and both were accepted! We decided on house #1 after 1.5 days of discussion. Our offer was accepted, and escrow is open. The bank has everything they need so far. We had a termite inspection last night, and tomorrow we have a house and pool inspection. Later in the week the bank is sending out an appraiser.

2. Is this your first home?

Yes.

3. What are type of home are you looking for? How many beds/baths? What are your other requirements or wants? You don’t have to share the price, if you don’t want to.

We were looking for a 3-4BR/2 bath single-family detached house with a garage and a pool, for $200k or under. The house we are in escrow on is 3 BR + a den, 2 full bathrooms, and an open concept eat-in kitchen with an open layout family/living room. It has a 2 car garage and a pool, desert landscaping front, pretty blank slate in the back, and about 2000 sq ft.

4. How are you feeling? (Happy, anxious, pissed off… etc)

I’m… tentatively excited. We’ve been through this process before and had to pull out after the inspection. I’m fairly confident that will not happen again, because this house is only 10 years old and has a brand new pool pump, and the last house was built in 1960 – but you just never know. I think I will feel better after our inspection tomorrow, but I also feel like I won’t be 100% happy and excited until I have the key in my hand and we close on 03/25. We’ve been in the market for almost 3 years now (with an 8 month break in the middle), and I’m a little jaded.

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home?

There is no such thing as a perfect house, unless you have an unlimited budget and build your own dream home. I’ve found that in house hunting, you need to just have a basic list (3 bedroom, pool, garage, general area) instead of being too specific (4 bedroom split floorplan with a pebbletec pool, open floorplan). Just look for a house with good bones that has 80% of your criteria, including (obviously) the things that are most important to you.

-House hunting is like finding someone you want to marry and then being broken up with and then recovering from it and then doing it all again. And again. You have to be prepared for sellers to accept other offers (especially if it’s anywhere like here, where the market is inundated with investors paying cash), or for offers to fall through, or for their counters to be outrageous, or things to come up in inspections, etc.

-If you do get an accepted offer, be ready to answer the same question from the bank about a $200 deposit twenty different times to 5 different people.

-Be open to making changes. It’s pretty easy to knock down or build a wall or change flooring or paint or moldings. I see so many people who are so set on something being move-in ready/turn-key and unwilling to make any changes whatsoever, and that just seems impossible to me.

-Be upfront with your lender AND your realtor about what you can afford and what your expectations are. Be firm. Do not see anything out of your price range. No matter what you realtor says, there is NO way the seller is coming down far enough for it to be comfortable for you.

-If you’re not clicking with your realtor, get a new one. You won’t lose anything by doing this. We had to do it and it made our whole process so much better.

-TRY to have fun. It is really stressful and confusing sometimes, but buying your first home is obviously a once in a lifetime experience. I can’t speak on this personally yet, but I have a feeling that once you get that key and step into the home as YOURS for the first time, it will all be worth it.