Our New Home!!

[AngieDoogles]

Originally Posted by Janet

It sounds wonderful for a first home. One thing you might want to check is, in the future....is there plenty of room to add a third bedroom? I'm not sure about your area, but if someday you decided to move and sell this one, 3 bedroom homes go for so much more money.

I know when we built our house back in '74, we built it with two bedrooms, BUT we built it so that if the need arised we could add a 3rd bedroom easily without having to tear up much of the rest of the house. Just something to think about.

That's a good point. I'll have to look into it. We're lucky that we are buying in a pretty pricey neighborhood so our home's value is only going to increase over time, especially if we are able to make changes like that. Thanks!

[Chandra Amaya]

Ang (big sister coming out), Try to have an electrician & plumber check it out for you before buying or RTO esp. The outside & interior could look great but if the just fixed it up to "look pretty" to sell, you don't want to invest money into it. We do have an electrician/ plummer in the family (even though we don't talk to that side much. I think this would be a good reason to.) If you don't know of anyone else to check those things out & Martin was or is both an electrican & plummer I believe. So you can ask mom or if you don't feel comfortable trying to reach him I will try if you want me to. Sorry I just know you would be devasted if you did buy then found problems like those.

[AngieDoogles]

Originally Posted by Chandra Amaya

Ang (big sister coming out), Try to have an electrician & plumber check it out for you before buying or RTO esp. The outside & interior could look great but if the just fixed it up to "look pretty" to sell, you don't want to invest money into it. We do have an electrician/ plummer in the family (even though we don't talk to that side much. I think this would be a good reason to.) If you don't know of anyone else to check those things out & Martin was or is both an electrican & plummer I believe. So you can ask mom or if you don't feel comfortable trying to reach him I will try if you want me to. Sorry I just know you would be devasted if you did buy then found problems like those.

Well, they actually redid all of that stuff because it wasn't up to date. We are definitely going to have an inspection before we buy, but I'm sure everything will be fine since they've put so much work into it. We're meeting with the real estate agent on Monday. I'll keep you posted.

Also, Janet...I was out at the property again today and there is definitely enough room to add on to the back if we choose to do so! My mom made the same suggestion, lol. A 3 br, 2 bath would be worth lots more than a 2 br, 2 bath so that is in the plan EVENTUALLY.

Thanks for all of the advice ladies!

[rivermom]

Angie - this is such exciting news! If you do decide to become a home owner remember that the bank should set you up with a person qualified and licenced to do a home inspection. This will save you peace of mind and possibly $$ if something doesn't work correctly after you purchase and move in. Even though most is new in the house it doesn't mean the work has been done correctly or is to code. I cannot stress enough about first having a "home inspection".


The bank after going through your paperwork will be honest about your debt to income ratio to insure you qualify to safely make the payments for this home. Due to the recent amount of bankruptcys in our country, banks have been left out to dry because persons buying homes can now not keep up with their payments, etc. And the homes are left to foreclosure.

So banks are getting stricter and wiser on their pre-qualifing for home loans.

Another thought, is I do NOT recommend you getting a variable rate mortgage. So often people say "well we will for sure make more money down the road when that payment goes up". Only to find that this is not always the case and they have to place their loved home into foreclosure.

If you can, lock into a interest rate and do a 15 or 30 year mortgage. Then later down the road if the rates drop you can refinance and save thousands in money.

This is a HUGE step in your life and I am so very thrilled for you. Do send us pics if you can and keep us posted on how all the process is going.

[Tink]

How exciting for you!

I used to be a Realtor, so just a small word of caution...

Housing prices go up and down routinely. They've been going up for years, and are starting to head back down. PLEASE don't count on the value rising over time, because it's very possible that won't happen in the next 5 - 10 yrs. As interest rates rise, real estate values go down. It's a simple fact of economics that can either make or break you!

[AngieDoogles]

Thanks so much for all of the advice. It really helps to talk to people who have purchased before! I will keep all of this in mind as we are making our decisions.

And we will definitely be having an inspector look at the property before we decide anything.

Again, thanks! You guys are awesome!

[AngieDoogles]

So we are waiting on the official contract to be written up, and then we are waiting on the inspection...if everything goes well, we will start moving in May 1st, which is finals week, but that's okay!

From now on, we are choosing everything that goes in the house! Since they are remodeling anyway, the owner is letting us (within reason) choose the light fixtures, cabinets, doorknobs, flooring, vanities, etc. It will be an exciting month...I'm sure he'll be calling us almost every day asking us questions about what we want! But I don't mind, lol!

We are SOOO excited!!!