We met with a realtor for the first time last night. An exciting... and more than a little daunting... task of finding a good home is on our minds right now.
We are green in the property world.
I believe they call that 'Virgin buyers'. We've always been renters. And now we are looking for our first home. Since we're serious about it, this process is a tiny bit stressful because we aren't 'window shopping' and trying on outfits just for fun without any thought of purchase. No. We're at the mall with a specific item we are looking for and don't want to spend our precious funds on the wrong purchase. That kind of shopping.
Great to think of all the possibilities, but since we are also realistic about our price range and what that will get us, we aren't expecting a dream house. It does, however, HAVE to be desirable so that we can re-sell in 5 years after residency. And that is where the stress comes in. Because finding an affordable home in an area that sells well... let's just say, we don't get a lot of bang for our buck. And we're going to have to make lots of hard decisions. We'll be going out to see our first 5 homes next week, with some possibilities... but I keep praying that a killer deal of a home will come on the market so that we can be in a great re-sell area but still have a manageable monthly mortgage. Is that so much to dream for? :)
I can't help but be excited to finally complete the journey to 'adulthood' by having a home. Won't we feel so grown up? :) but still, I would be glossing things over if I didn't admit that my insomnia is flaring up from all this...
what about you? What was your first home-buying experience like?
Ours was One big real estate roller coaster!
ReplyDeleteHa ha! It's a long story fit for a phone call, if you are interested.
Good luck. I am so excited for you.
How exciting to be buying your first home! I think the main things to think about are location, make sure you love the neighborhood/street and schools and ward, secondary being that you are realistic about how much home improvement projects cost when thinking about the things that can be changed about a house. :)
ReplyDeleteYou are so lucky to be buying at such a wonderful time. Everything is SO cheap! I so wish that we were in the process of buying a home rather than selling right now. We were just one of the many unfortunate ones who bought at the worst possible time with no idea it was coming. Good luck with house shopping!
When we were looking for our first home, with pretty much every dump we looked at I thought "I can work on this place. This is the one!" Seriously though, they were dumps. Luckily Sam has a level head a more taste than I.
ReplyDeleteBuying a home is awesome, says I. It is quite "adulty," in the non-porno sense of the word. Keep us posted!
we are also looking into buying a home right now. We don't have the stress of finding something that will resale BUT we are trying to find something that will qualify for the rural development loan and that has limited our options. Jeff and I can basically repaint to fix a place up so it's hard to find something we like in our price range...we also are hoping that something Awesome will come on the market
ReplyDeleteSo excited for you!! house shopping...woo hoo! I understand the stress. You can do it though! :)
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