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Old 03-05-2008, 08:52 PM   #1 (permalink)
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Buying a house - How do you know it's *THE* one?

The fiance and I want to buy a house before our wedding, mainly to take advantage while the market is still down and to try to catch the interest rates before they go up because of the ever-weakening dollar and instability in the marketplace.

So, we've been looking for about six months... we had two houses picked out in a great part of a nice city, same neighborhood actually, but didn't like them enough to be ready to make an offer. One was 2200sqft for $193k and the other was about 2500sqft for $199k. They were both part of a huge development that had its own club, walking trails, sidewalks everywhere, nice parks, and its own elementary school (for when we have little ones).

They both sold. And, in the meantime, we really didn't find anything else that we liked (and could afford). We've fallen in love with another neighborhood, but it's out in BFE and the homes we want are about $239k, but I'm sure it could be negotiated down to at least $225k. One house that was listed there for $210k just sold for $193k, so we know they've got room to move, all new construction from custom builders, too. Problem is, $225k is at the top of our budget. We've been pre-approved for more, but just don't want to have that much of a mortgage payment hanging over our heads. There are others that are okay there, for $225k and $219k, but I know living there I'd always envy the nicer one down the street and think that I could've still had it for an extra $100/mo for 30 years!

Now, we've found another that's in the same town we went to college. The pros: Excellent school system, value added thanks to the proximity to such a nice university, grown-up neighborhood (house built in 1986), has a racquet club, community park and dog park all within walking distance. Bigger plot size (nearly half an acre) and a wooded lot. It has three bedrooms, two and a half baths, BIG kitchen with eat-in breakfast area, silestone countertops, ceramic tile floor in kitchen, hardwoods on remainder of main. Formal dining room, big den with a fieldstone fireplace and nice french doors that lead out to a HUGE two-tiered deck. It also has a detached two-car garage with a workshop area and nearly finished upstairs above the garage. Would be great to finish in and turn into a bonus, but could be used as organized storage as-is. This house is about 2300sqft and priced at $202k, so right where we really want to be already. It's a cute house and has LOTS of character, which we both love as we were initially only looking at much older, craftsman style homes.

Now, of course everything isn't perfect, so onto the cons... quite a bit of it is severely dated, horrible wallpaper in the kitchen, bad cabinets, a cork floor in one of the bedrooms (was used as a playroom), horrible wallpaper in the upstairs full bath, dated fixtures, etc. Also, the master is on the main, which I don't mind, but my fiance hates for when we have young children. The deck needs refinished but seems to be in good shape, and the backyard has a steep slope to it - would be best to level the lower half and build a retaining wall IMHO. I think the exterior is classy, yet a little bland and underwhelming at the same time. The color and trim color are off-setting shades of beige-grey and really don't do a lot for the look of the house... also, its size is deceiving from the street, looks a lot smaller than it actually is... which the snob in me doesn't appreciate. I want someone to look at my house and say, "Damn, that's an awesome place!" This one moreso encourages someone to say, "How is that 2300sqft? Where's the rest of it??" A very petty complaint, I know, but one that certainly has crossed my mind.

I like the fact that it is completely liveable "as is," but still leaves enough room and budget for us to make it "ours." We'll eventually redo the kitchen, but will likely tear down all the wallpaper immediately and paint, as well as replace many of the dated fixtures and refinish the deck (if we can't convince the seller to foot that bill). We love the location, but it will be a longer drive to work for both of us, about 8-10 minutes more to each of our drives. It seems like a solid value (Zillow puts it at $224k) and is in a very respectable neighborhood (probably in the top 5-7 nicest in that area). I love the huge garage and workshop, but it's detached, so while the short jaunt to the house will be covered, it's not as nice as being attached.

To those of you who have read all of this... I'm sorry! I just needed to get all my thoughts out and welcome any comments or ideas from those also in the market or those who have bought homes in the past. How do you know when it's right? What kind of offer should you shoot if you really like the house - aka - don't want to alienate the seller by a lowball or ridiculous stipulations. Should we have friends go and look with us again to make sure we aren't seeing it with rose-colored glasses? Family, etc?

Thanks in advance!
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Old 03-05-2008, 09:47 PM   #2 (permalink)
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im not much help because I personally have never bought a house, but ive seen lots of houses and such when my parents were looking for houses and searching a couple years ago, and you just fall in love with it, even though you know it needs some work.
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Old 03-05-2008, 09:59 PM   #3 (permalink)
 
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I am not speaking from experience but if a house needs some updating and its a little lower in your budget, that is a great opportunity to make it "your own." Plus a little lower mortgage payment would leave more money for fun things. And that deck sounds bad ass.
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Old 03-06-2008, 03:18 AM   #4 (permalink)
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You need to focus on the big picture. If you plan on having children, how many? How long do you really plan on staying in the house? Will it be a starter home for you to build equity, or do you plan on getting something bigger in a few years? Does it MEET all of your needs? Need a 2 car garage or can you get by on a car port?

Wall paper and paint are easy fixes. Flowers and shrubs can be planted. 2 kids can be raised in a 3 bedroom house. But if the in-laws visit (need a guest room?), you buy that classic car to restore (car port might not cut it), end up having 3 kids (in a 3 bdrm house? get real), watch movies alot (might need room for your home theater system). These are some things you need to figure out before buying a house. It's not really up to DM to decide how to spend your $200k.

If you talk to a Realtor, they should be able to answer alot of your questions and help you go in the right direction.
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Old 03-06-2008, 03:28 AM   #5 (permalink)
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Another add on....

If you are really interested, then bring family and friends to check it out. Let them give you an idea of what they actually see in the house.

An offer is an offer, low ball the price unless you know for a fact somebody else is bidding on it also. If the seller has a price in mind, they will make a counter offer, it may or may not change, but it won't hurt to try. It's almost like buying a car, if you wont buy it for a certain price, somebody else will eventually, so don't low ball too much. And if you like the house, more than likely, somebody else does too. How bad do you want it?
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Old 03-06-2008, 06:56 AM   #6 (permalink)
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My dad is great at this kind of thing. He always tells me, "If your first offer doesnt embarrass you then you're starting too high." You can always come up on your offer but its hard to go back down. As for us we bought a 1666 sqft house + garage and have a large backyard for right around $117k. It was a new home so not much room for negotiating but still a good deal.

We knew it was right after looking looking at a ton of properties and finding a place whose total cost and monthly payments were in budget. My only regret is that we did not get a place with enough land to put a small 1 or 2 car sized shop on.
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Old 03-06-2008, 01:21 PM   #7 (permalink)
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My dad is great at this kind of thing. He always tells me, "If your first offer doesnt embarrass you then you're starting too high." You can always come up on your offer but its hard to go back down. As for us we bought a 1666 sqft house + garage and have a large backyard for right around $117k. It was a new home so not much room for negotiating but still a good deal.

We knew it was right after looking looking at a ton of properties and finding a place whose total cost and monthly payments were in budget. My only regret is that we did not get a place with enough land to put a small 1 or 2 car sized shop on.
exactly, that's why i brought my dad when i bought my condo.

It took a hour of changing prices but we eventually settled on a price. I low balled and he said no, I low balled again and told him to throw in some stuff and he said no. But when it was all said and done the price was $3k cheaper and had an extra underground parking space (usually a 10K upgrade) and a storage unit (2k upgrade).

Just remember, the worse thing that can happen is they say no.
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Old 03-06-2008, 05:04 PM   #8 (permalink)
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im not much help because I personally have never bought a house, but ive seen lots of houses and such when my parents were looking for houses and searching a couple years ago, and you just fall in love with it, even though you know it needs some work.
I really think that's part of what makes us like it so much - the opportunity to have a house that's good as-is, but works as a great platform to let your imagination run wild and make it "yours."

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Originally Posted by Rowbarre View Post
I am not speaking from experience but if a house needs some updating and its a little lower in your budget, that is a great opportunity to make it "your own." Plus a little lower mortgage payment would leave more money for fun things. And that deck sounds bad ass.
I'm definitely stoked at the idea of a lower mortgage payment - it'll enable us to buy more stuff along the way for the house and/or ourselves. One thing I was initially concerned with when we were looking at $250k+ places was potentially being house-poor. Not a good situation for anybody.

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You need to focus on the big picture. If you plan on having children, how many? How long do you really plan on staying in the house? Will it be a starter home for you to build equity, or do you plan on getting something bigger in a few years? Does it MEET all of your needs? Need a 2 car garage or can you get by on a car port?

Wall paper and paint are easy fixes. Flowers and shrubs can be planted. 2 kids can be raised in a 3 bedroom house. But if the in-laws visit (need a guest room?), you buy that classic car to restore (car port might not cut it), end up having 3 kids (in a 3 bdrm house? get real), watch movies alot (might need room for your home theater system). These are some things you need to figure out before buying a house. It's not really up to DM to decide how to spend your $200k.

If you talk to a Realtor, they should be able to answer alot of your questions and help you go in the right direction.
We already have a Realtor... two, actually! We're looking at such a broad area, we wanted ones that specialized in their particular cities. To answer your questions, with this house, we're planning on staying up to 10 years, we will look for something bigger if our family warrants it later on, it meets all of our needs for now... We just wanted to seize the opportunity while the market was down to buy as much house as possible, so we didn't *have* to move later on. Right now my sister and brother-in-law are looking to sell because they're ready to start their family and a 1600sqft house isn't going to cut it. I don't want that to happen to us.

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Another add on....

If you are really interested, then bring family and friends to check it out. Let them give you an idea of what they actually see in the house.

An offer is an offer, low ball the price unless you know for a fact somebody else is bidding on it also. If the seller has a price in mind, they will make a counter offer, it may or may not change, but it won't hurt to try. It's almost like buying a car, if you wont buy it for a certain price, somebody else will eventually, so don't low ball too much. And if you like the house, more than likely, somebody else does too. How bad do you want it?
I liked this idea - we're going to call the realtor and have her set-up a time where we can really give it a once-over with our family and some local friends. The more eyes on it the better!

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My dad is great at this kind of thing. He always tells me, "If your first offer doesnt embarrass you then you're starting too high." You can always come up on your offer but its hard to go back down. As for us we bought a 1666 sqft house + garage and have a large backyard for right around $117k. It was a new home so not much room for negotiating but still a good deal.

We knew it was right after looking looking at a ton of properties and finding a place whose total cost and monthly payments were in budget. My only regret is that we did not get a place with enough land to put a small 1 or 2 car sized shop on.
I like the amount of land, but the plot has such a landscape and size that it's really impossible to build much of anything else on in the future. Could probably swing an addition to the house, but a shop is out of the question. Thankfully it has a BIG garage with a workshop area, though.

As for the offer... well, we'd like the seller to pay closing costs, so I'm thinking $193k + CC might be the starter. Good enough to let them know we're interested and serious enough for them to consider it. They'll probably counter with something like $198 + CC and we'd likely take that.

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exactly, that's why i brought my dad when i bought my condo.

It took a hour of changing prices but we eventually settled on a price. I low balled and he said no, I low balled again and told him to throw in some stuff and he said no. But when it was all said and done the price was $3k cheaper and had an extra underground parking space (usually a 10K upgrade) and a storage unit (2k upgrade).

Just remember, the worse thing that can happen is they say no.
I know - the problem is when you start to get emotional about something... once that happens, it's hard to be willing to accept "no." I just don't want to lowball the seller so badly that they aren't willing to entertain anymore offers. That actually happened to a friend of mine!
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Old 03-06-2008, 09:24 PM   #9 (permalink)
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I know - the problem is when you start to get emotional about something... once that happens, it's hard to be willing to accept "no." I just don't want to lowball the seller so badly that they aren't willing to entertain anymore offers. That actually happened to a friend of mine!
Look at other houses near by and go from that.
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Old 03-07-2008, 08:34 AM   #10 (permalink)
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You people and your $200K homes sicken me. You can't buy a fucking TOWNHOUSE for $300K around here. It's insanely expensive...I'm practically priced out of the county I fucking grew up in.

Obviously I'm joking about you people sickening me...even though you do.
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Old 03-07-2008, 08:43 AM   #11 (permalink)
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You people and your $200K homes sicken me. You can't buy a fucking TOWNHOUSE for $300K around here. It's insanely expensive...I'm practically priced out of the county I fucking grew up in.

Obviously I'm joking about you people sickening me...even though you do.
I'm in the wrong part of the friggin country
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Old 03-07-2008, 10:23 AM   #12 (permalink)
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My gf is looking to buy right now and $330K is around the max she can afford each month, but $330K won't buy you shit in this county. It's time to move.
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Old 03-07-2008, 10:25 AM   #13 (permalink)
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I'm in the wrong part of the friggin country
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My gf is looking to buy right now and $330K is around the max she can afford each month, but $330K won't buy you shit in this county. It's time to move.

just be thankful you don't live in cali....shit is hella expensive down there.
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Old 03-07-2008, 12:09 PM   #14 (permalink)
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My gf is looking to buy right now and $330K is around the max she can afford each month, but $330K won't buy you shit in this county. It's time to move.
what kind of term would you get on that loan? $330k here and I'd have an awesome house several acres and a nice shop. It was hard enough for me to sign the paper for 117 much less for a loan of nearly 1/3 of a meeeellllion dollars.
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Old 03-07-2008, 12:55 PM   #15 (permalink)
 
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$330k here would buy a beast of a house....
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Old 03-07-2008, 05:33 PM   #16 (permalink)
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Got a little bad news today - first, rates have gone up and now a couple of the mortgage packages don't look quite so rosey. Granted that can change, but just not looking quite as good as before. Also, we found that the house in question is Under Contract. Major failboat. There is one bright spot where we can hold-out hope, though, it's under contract on contingency that the buyer's house sells. As slow as the market is around here (granted the buyer is local), they've got a loooong wait ahead of them unless they're priced significantly below the competition. We just have to hope that there's a stipulation in the contingency that allows the seller to accept other offers and give the original buyer 72 hours to make good on the sale, otherwise it goes to us! Going to speak with the realtor tomorrow, so should know that for sure then.

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Look at other houses near by and go from that.
We are - the one next door sold last February for $210k and is slightly larger.

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You people and your $200K homes sicken me. You can't buy a fucking TOWNHOUSE for $300K around here. It's insanely expensive...I'm practically priced out of the county I fucking grew up in.

Obviously I'm joking about you people sickening me...even though you do.
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I'm in the wrong part of the friggin country
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My gf is looking to buy right now and $330K is around the max she can afford each month, but $330K won't buy you shit in this county. It's time to move.
Sucks for you guys! Of course, we look at Texas, Alabama, etc and are like, "damn, we could buy a nicer house down there!" It's all relative - my job would pay nearly twice as much in a place like California, but my standard of living wouldn't be any higher.

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what kind of term would you get on that loan? $330k here and I'd have an awesome house several acres and a nice shop. It was hard enough for me to sign the paper for 117 much less for a loan of nearly 1/3 of a meeeellllion dollars.
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$330k here would buy a beast of a house....
No kidding. We did this "remodeled home tour" one Saturday and saw quite a few houses in that price range, between 300-400k. Gorgeous places with nice amounts of land around them. Very sweet. Not so feasible for a first-time homebuyer in this area, though!
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Old 03-07-2008, 08:21 PM   #17 (permalink)
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just be thankful you don't live in cali....shit is hella expensive down there.
and there gays everywhere
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Old 03-10-2008, 07:16 AM   #18 (permalink)
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Ahhhhhhh the gays!!!
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Old 03-13-2008, 08:09 PM   #19 (permalink)
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Put in our first offer today, keep your fingers crossed for us!
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