(Closed) Home buying status thread

• Mrs.C
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: June 2010

1. What step are you at in the home buying process? We JUST got pre-approved for our mortgage!

3. What are type of home are you looking for? How many beds/baths? What are your other requirements or wants?  Single family house, at least 3 bedrooms, nice yard…

4. How are you feeling? EXITED! …And maybe a little nervous, too. But mostly excited!

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home? This is our first house, so I’m mostly taking advice 😉

• Nati-Lyte
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: May 2011

UPDATE!!

1. What step are you at in the home buying process? After 3 weeks of looking we found a house!!!  It’s definitely a fixer upper (built in 1940), but it’s in a great neighborhood and we got an amazing deal on it!

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?  Wanted: 3bds/ 2bths Got: 4bds/2bths Wanted: Big back yard, basement, off street parking Got: big back yard, half-finished basement, off street parking, but no garage Wanted: To stay under 500K Got: House originally listed for 569K, then reduced, purchased it for $477,500K 

4. How are you feeling? We’re very anxious, it seems like we have alot going on. Our wedding is in 2 weeks, we just had the home inspection, pest inspection, and feasibility study.  Our bank has all of our paperwork, and my Fiance and I promised not to talk about the house until after the honeymoon.  We return on June 14th, we’re scheduled to close on June 20th!!

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home? The house you fall in love with could be the 1st house you see or the 20th house you see.  Don’t be afraid to make an offer on a place just because you feel you need to see EVERYTHING that is on the market. I also don’t recommend home shopping during your last month of wedding planning 😉

• coffeegal85
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: August 2012

Update!

1. What step are you at in the home buying process? The first house that we made an offer on wasn’t worth what the owner was asking and the owner didn’t want to negotiate.  We continued to look and found the home we’re currently in the process of buying.  The inspection has been done, the mortgage application submitted, and a close date has been set for June 7.

2. Is this your first home?  Yup.  We currently live in an apartment that we share.

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

Wanted: 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, open kitchen and living area, 2 floors, built after 1990, at least 2 car garage, semi-decent school district, 1/2 hr commute downtown at most, preferably finished basement, appliances included, 1st floor laundry, little work needed, a deck would be a nice-to-have, in a township so we don’t have to pay city taxes.

Got: 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 2 floors, somewhat open kitchen, separate living and family room areas, built in 1986, 2 car garage, great school district, 1/2 hr commute downtown, 5 minutes away from our current apartment, completely finished basement, all appliances included, 1st floor laundry with washer and dryer, some work needed – including new hvac system, new flooring in the master bath to replace the carpeting, addition of light fixtures in bedrooms, replacement of a couple of shingles on roof, gutter cleaning, and tree trimming – deck and concrete stamped patio, in a city so we have RITA taxes

4. How are you feeling? (Happy, anxious, pissed off… etc): Worried about such financial and time commitments; I think I will feel excited when we get the keys.

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home? Like others said don’t get discouraged during the process.  The market is flooded with houses, so you’ll end up finding something you’ll love – just have patience.  Also, don’t skip the inspection contingency.  Use online MLS information to find new houses – I found ours Wednesday, looked on Friday, second look on Sunday, placed offer on Sunday and offer was accepted 4 hours later. Good luck!

• regberadaisy
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: August 2010

My husband and I currently own our home already but have always planned to upgrade to a bigger home once we are ready to start a family. We want this next home to be our “forever” home. One that we raise our kids in that the kids come home to when they go to college, etc.

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

We have just started house hunting! And hopefully will start going to open houses next week. 😉

2. Is this your first home?

Nope, we own our current home. We rented this home then bought it so this new home will be the first time we will be house hunting together!

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

We are lucky in that our city has lots of good school districts so therefore we are open in terms of location (altho there are certain neighborhoods we will stay away from) but no further than 30 minutes from my work.3 bed/1.5bath minimum with additional spaces/rooms for a office/guestroom/etc, basement, garage, front/backyard, storage and big kitchen!

Our concept has always been it does not have to be the “perfect” home but it has to have the potential to become the perfect home.

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

Happy & excited!

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home?

Look beyond the cosmetics. Cosmetic is something you can change. General layout is not something you can change. Structure you cannot change. Try to think years – decades ahead (if you are planning to be at your new home forever).

• OfficeBride
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: September 2013

1. What step are you at in the home buying process? We put in an offer that was accepted!  We already did the home inspection last week, and we were approvwed for a mortgage.  Now we just have to do the final paperwork over the next couple of weeks.

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?  We really wanted a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom house.  But we kept going back and forth between a townhouse and a house.  We’ve been looking for the last few months, and it was discouraging at times because it felt like we would never find our house within our budget (living in Toronto, as some of you may know, doesn’tcome cheap).  But, with a lot of patience, we found it!  And we got so much more: an exposed brick wall that leads to the second floor.  A small reading nook in the master bedroom.  And the owners threw in their eliptical, flat screen tv, and patio set.  SCORE!

4. How are you feeling? (Happy, anxious, pissed off… etc) Happy and nervous.  before this house we had been in a holding pattern with a private sale.  The owner turned out to be really dishonest, so we had to back out of that.  The regret was that we really thought we had it, and we had announced it to friends and family.  So it was a bit embarassing to eat ours words.  With this one, I’m really just waiting for the paperwork to be done, and then I’ll feel better.  We’ve alerady told people we  bought it (I asked my realtor if we were definitely home owners lol).

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home? Patience, and compromise (with each other).  Make a list of your definite needs and keep it with you at all times.  I never understood “You’ll know it when you find it” until we actually did.  And only check places in your price range.

• MrsDulce
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: April 2012

Fun thread!!!

1. What step are you at in the home buying process? We bought our first home in April of 2009.  We spent most of the first year (2009 into early 2010) remodeling and making everything energy efficient.

2. Is this your first home? Yes! In my entire life! My parents never owned!

3. What are type of home are you looking for? How many beds/baths? What are your other requirements or wants?  I wanted 2-3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and a small yard or patio. We got 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a small patio. I chose this house because it was the cheapest house with good bones (but SERIOUS cosmetic issues) on the market in our area at the time lol.

4. How are you feeling? (Happy, anxious, pissed off… etc) I took a year off (2010 into 2011) from remodeling or buying furniture, but now I’m questioning some of our original paint choices, so I’m repainting. I’m also really happy that we bought a smaller house because it keeps our bills low and I feel like it keeps us from accumulating “STUFF”, but at the same time now that we are getting married and we want to have kids I really want us to have our family home. (I actually wrote a post about this). This house is perfect for us now, and I think it is a good starter home, and it’s close to our families, but I honestly can’t wait to be in our family home. But at the same time, I know that it would have been a stretch financially to be in our “dream family home” now, so this is perfect for us.

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home? Be honest about your finances!!! Don’t listen to the bank–if we listened to what the bank approved us for, we wouldn’t be able to take vacations or save money or take classes or go out to eat or pay for our wedding–literally all of our money would have been tied up in our house. Be prepared to make mistakes, and don’t beat yourself up for it. And if it can break in the first year, it probably will! (Even with an inspection lol)

• cosmocity
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: April 2011

AHHH- updates here

We have looked at about 40 houses. We fell in love with one, but found out it was under contract but we saw it not knowing no-thanks to the seller realtor not working weekends.

Anyway- that happened early on and we’ve been looking but nothing came close.

My husband went on a Wednesday without me (somthing came up at work) and he calls me and says “you’ll like this one. You will. Want to put in an offer tomorrow morning?” So, trusting my husband, and never seeing the inside of the house, we put in an offer on a Friday. I went with my Mother-In-Law and saw it Saturday- I knew I could trust my husbands judgement. The house is perfect!

That Monday they called with a counter offer, WE ACCEPTED THE COUNTEROFFER!!

Then this past Friday we signed the contract, we’ve submitted all the documents and we have pre-approval so we are hoping it goes smoothly because the contract should come back to us Wednesday, then it is on to inspections.

I am so, so, so excited!!

The house has a 2 car garage and ample street parking (last house on street), finished basement with fullbath, sliding door and a laundry room. There is a carpeted living room when you first walk in (listing says 3 floors, but it’s a split level with a living room…it’s really cute!) then upstairs is large kitchen/dine combo with sliding door and deck. Down hall is full bath, 2 guest trooms and master room with vaulted ceilings and full bathroom.

I AM IN LOVE 🙂

• firsttimemom
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: December 2010

DH and I just started this process!

1. What step are you at in the home buying process? Pre-approved and stalking our local listings!

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? Our ideal home would be 3 bed, 1.5 bath, fenced in backyard. (The house we’re considering now has all that but only has 1 bath)

4. How are you feeling? (Happy, anxious, pissed off… etc) 
I’m stressed! I’m being irrational and worrying that all our stuff from our 2 bedroom appt. won’t fit in our three bedroom house… yeah go ahead and laugh.

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home?
Know what you want! The hardest thing for me right now is debating whether we pass up this AWESOME opportunity just because it doesn’t have that extra half bath I originally wanted…I have to remind myself it’s a STARTER home, not my dream house. 

• aandmklover
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: September 2010

Here’s our update: we have put offers on two houses and been outbid both times. Here we are at square one and even though we are super stressed, annoyed, and frustrated we are trying to stay optimistic and continue house stalking.

• Fire
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: May 2011

After getting married, my husband and I are taking the next big step and buying a house!! 

1. What step are you at in the home buying process? We have been pre-approved for our home loan and we are looking for houses.  We found one that we LOVE yesterday and we are putting an offer down today!

2. Is this your first home? We are renting a beautiful home right now, but this will be the first for the both of us that we will own. 

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 3-4 bed 2-3 bath home. We want a minimum of 1300 square feet, 3 car garage and a decent back yard.  We also are making sure that before we even look at a house we drive around the neighborhood to make sure that we like the neighbors before we like the house.

4. How are you feeling? (Happy, anxious, pissed off… etc).  As of right now we are happy and anxious.  We have already been let down a bit when we found out that the 3 houses we found that we loved, were already pending.  It is such a good market where we live, that these amazing houses are going for such a steal!  It is going to be a battle, but we are ready. 

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home?  Make sure you do not settle for anything less than exactly what you want.  Pay attention to the small things such as, the neighbors, the lot, the schools, main roads near by, and dont give up the things you need. 

• PandasWifey
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: September 2009

1. What step are you at in the home buying process?  Making the final decision whether to buy or build on Monday! We found ONE house we loved that already existed, put an offer on it, but someone beat us to it by 8 hours… we can’t find anything we love near as much, so we think it’s a sign we should build.

2. Is this your first home? 
Nope, 2nd, but this one will be our forever home!

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

A lot that is at least 7,000 sqft. 4 beds, 3 baths, unfinished basement, view of the mountains, open floorplan w/vaulted celings, 3-car garage, nice kitchen, large family room, decent size spare rooms, large master, curb appeal… ugh, among other things! No wonder we can’t find anything that already exists!

4. How are you feeling? (Happy, anxious, pissed off… etc)
It’s been a long, frustrating process, and I’m finally starting to feel excited that this decision we’ve been waffling over for so long will be made soon! I’m also really nervous because the house we are looking to build would be at the TOP of our price range and I don’t want to be house-poor, but our hearts are just in it!

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home?

When I have a better idea of how our story turns out, I’ll definitely share my advice!

• justelope
• 10 years ago

• Wedding: December 2011

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

Beginning phases.  We have been looking on mls for two years now–with an agent who knows we are on the slowboat.  Over this time, we have actually changed our mind about what we wanted.

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?

Part of why it is taking us so long is the fact that we started out trying to decide between doing a starter home and a forever home.  We’ve decided with the economy that we are better off with a forever home.  We also want a very specific 6 block geographic area that is expensive with a limited supply, so we have been using our long time looking to really see a range of what comes on the market, get into all the condo buildings to see the housing layouts, etc. There are condo buildings in our area that still have not come on the market in the two years we have been looking.

Because we are in So Cal, things are also very expensive.  We are trying to decide between a big condo and a small house.  We like the idea of somone else handling the outdoors upkeep via the HOA, but many of the HOAs in our area are 400-500 per month with no pool or ammenities.  We also like the idea of not having shared walls with neighbors.

We would like a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, in downtown area with laundry in unit.  We can live with a single car garage.  Because we do a lot of community work, we would like an ADA accessible room we could hold meetings and events in.  We do not live in an area where it is even remotely possible to buy on one income, so we would like to buy something we could rent out for the cost of holding if need be. The bonus is that many of the places we are looking have awesome ocean views.

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

Annoyed at the asking prices.  The jobs in my area are not great, yet there are a ton of super expensive houses just sitting on mls for years.   Prices are coming down, but it is taking a long time.  The area became vastly overinflated in terms of pricing relative to other neighboring cities with better employment that are too far for commuters.  So the fundamentals are definately out of whack.

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home?

Take your time.  Prices are dropping, and you should really get a look at inventory so you know your area well.  I think location is the most important thing.  Also, really consider the financials.  If you can afford to buy now and want to stay put and have a home–do it.  If you are stretching, feel it is what you “should” do, or are buying for 3-5 years, consider waiting.  Ironically, my best advice would prolly be to rent, lol.

• MrsKaySea
• 9 years ago

• Wedding: October 2011

It’s been an interesting few months of house shopping for us. Some (a lot of) background: We started looking in May and for some reason our realtor took us to a house that was $10,000 over our budget and we loved the house! It was a townhouse in a really cute neighborhood with a bumpout so it was huge! We decided to put in an offer that we could afford. Found out someone else was putting in the exact same offer so we dropped it and kept looking.

We looked at other houses and found another townhouse that was smaller but had a lot of potential but needed a ton of work. FI’s dad is a general contractor so we thought it was manageable. We were in the process of meeting with a bank for approval when we heard the 1st townhouse was back on the market for $10,000 cheaper! In our budget. We quickly went back over to see it with our parents and decided to put in an offer. The next day we heard there was already an offer on the table and the bank had already accepted.

I was sooo upset about that. I was crying and depressed. We continued to look at houses and it just got worse. We realized the 2nd townhouse was our best option. We offered, they countered, we accepted. Had the inspection and found out it needed a brand new HVAC system, roof, and plumbing. The bank would not help us out so we backed out of the contract.

At this point Fiance and I were over searching for houses. We looked online at a bunch but didn’t look at many in person. Well! Last Sunday Fiance was randomly looking online and guess what house was back on the market! For $5,000 less then the previous price! That’s right, the 1st townhouse! So we jumped on it, offered, they countered and we accepted!! I can’t believe it came back around like that.

Props to anyone who actually read all that back story!!

1. What step are you at in the home buying process?  We have the ratified contract and are pre-approved with the bank. Fiance met with them today and the real approval should be finished soon. Had the inspection on Saturday. We’re just waiting for FHLB money to come in!

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 didn’t have too many requirements. This place has two bedrooms (huge basement could be potential 3rd) 2 1/2 baths, one bath has jets! Living room, family room, huge eat in kitchen, fireplace, and a giant basement. Backs up to a pond so we aren’t staring at someone else’s deck. :] Has a park across the street. It’s right near the water.

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

Fiance told me I can’t get excited until we have the keys in our hands. The way things have gone up and down with this house we don’t want to be disappointed again. So I’m cautiously happy?

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home?

It’s stressful! It’s okay to cry and get pissed off when things don’t go your way. But don’t give up! And don’t settle for something you don’t love. It’s a hugeee commitment so you better like it!!

• cr6zy
• 9 years ago

• Wedding: September 2011

1. What step are you at in the home buying process? got oor approval letter from the bank and can go into escrow!! we only have a minor snag in our part of the funding thanks to the state…

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?  3 bed decent non ghetto scary neighbor hood and a yard. that was our only reuirments lol

4. How are you feeling? (Happy, anxious, pissed off… etc) excited and nervous about the funding part.

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home? dont call the sellers realtor. we got so mad from being strung along we called and our realtor got a nesty e mail saying i had been very rude…first of all between me and Fiance i was the nice one. i just explained our situation with needing out of our apartment. Fiance called and threatened to take his job and mop the floor in the bathroom with it…and im the mean one…

• ItalianBride11
• 9 years ago

• Wedding: July 2011

1. What step are you at in the home buying process? We have been done with that since October 2010. We Built. =) 

2. Is this your first home? This is our first home.

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

 Our home is 5 Bedrooms & 4.5 Bath & 3800sqft

I got all my requirements because we decided to build. Wrought iron stair case.cast stone fire place , arched entry ways,custom master bath ect…. 

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

At first I was mad and stressed becasue it was ground up so we made all the choices and it was a little scary not knowing if it was all going to look good once it was done. Then my bulder was an idiot needless to say the sales lady was too. I had to run the show lol….

5. Any advice for other bees buying a home? My advice is to make sure you get everything what you want out of your home and be patient. Dont stress over it, it will all fall into place. 😉

Here is my home…..