This house hunting thing is EXHAUSTING!

[imamama]

Oh...my...gosh.... 2 days of house hunting and I'm OVER IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Doesn't help that I've been working killer OT at work (til 9 - 9:30 each night during the week, 9-1 yesterday and today... and I'm salaried, so I don't get paid for it :( )
Anyhoo, dd was ultra-grumpy today, as was I, so it wasn't very fun! Of course I found a house I LOVE, they even said they'd leave the awesome swingset and play equipment, but it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out of my price range and they've already come down 10,000. :bigcry: I completely understand, they showed before and after pics of all they've done, but I was thinking I could swing it if they'd come down 10,000 from the price she quoted me on the phone... so bummed... dd loved it, too!!!! It's already got a large run/pen for a dog, she thought that was a close second to the swingset! :lol:

Found another really cute (from the outside and based on the description) house, but it's only 2 br, 1 ba. 8o aaccckkk!!! I'm trying to go bigger, that's 1/2 bath less than I have now!!
But, the guy works for CIGNA, so I'm fixing to call him and see if he'll bring pictures of the inside to work, then I'll decide if I want to bother with a tour. If the rooms are large and the square footage is good, I might consider it... I have to keep telling myself... first home, starter home, you can't have EVERYTHING!!! :lol:
Oh well, thanks for listening! I know ya'll can feel my pain! Next time, dd will be staying with Nanna!!!! :rolleyes:

[Cathy]

I'm sorry Amy!! It's a lot more fun looking when you don't need/want one. Check to see if there's room to add a bath or another room down the road, after you get in. It's another way to use a starter home. Build the value slowly, then sell for your dream house.

Good luck. I found when I looked too long in one day, I couldn't remember what I'd liked or which house was which. Course I'm older and getting flaky! LOL

[imamama]

You silly girl!!!!
Seriously, thanks for the level-headed advice! I need it! And you are soooooooooo right! I appreciate it! I know it's going to take LOTS of time, I just wish I had more of it!!! Oh well, que sera sera... it'll happen when it's supposed to!!! :D

[Cathy]

Take your time. It's not fair to try to do it all when work is exhausting you, and the surgery is hanging over your head. Mother always said, "buy in haste, repent at leisure". (She also adapted it to 'marry in haste, repent at leisure". You should heed that advice. Heck, I should have taken that advice. She was a pretty smart woman. Why didn't I listen on the big stuff?? Oh well! Sigh......LOL)

[KarlaB]

Hang in there! Dh and I felt like that, too, when we were looking and then all of a sudden our realtor showed us a house and we knew it was the one! Hope that happens for you soon!

[imamama]

Great advice, Cathy! I'm going to write it down and follow it! I have a habit of getting tunnel vision when there's a goal to be met... and it's killing me! :lol: Work or personally, I can't rest until whatever needs to be done is done (excluding housework! :rolleyes: !)

Thanks, Karla, you're right! Me being the first time home buyer, I thought if a realtor found me a house, I'd have to pay their commision... silly me! Of course, I know there may be a few $ added to the selling price, but if the realtor is going to do the work, and all I have to do is show up, I think I'd be willing to pay a little extra in the overall price! I've got a lot to learn!

[Diane]

I picture you on House Hunters (HGTV) looking here there and everywhere for that "perfect" house. :) When you see/find the right house... you'll know it. Don't be in such of a big hurry... this is a big step to take and it's nothing that you should rush into. 8o Good luck and... let us know when/if you find something you like...

Diane... :wave:

[Lynda-WA]

I have to agree, take your time. It's not as if there will only be one great house. You are pre-approved for your loan right? At least that way you'll know what price range you are talking about. Did they give you a firm figure? When we bought they gave us a figure and told is that if needed we could go higher. We didn't want to.

Make a list of what is important to you. Prioritize it into what you aren't willing to do without. What you do want but are willing to upgrade (eventually) for. And what would just be nice. For example - for us we need to have land. We need a place to park the boats. I want a place for a garden and fruit trees. That is the top priority. That's something that can't be changed at a later date. Same with location. We'd like a shop but that is something that if we have the land, we can add at our leisure. Same with a spare room.

Find the MLS listings on computer for your area. Just keep in mind that they are only part of the picture. I used to photo copy part of a map and then mark the addresses on the copy. I'd take the addresses from the MLS and newspapers. Then we did a drive bys, one after the next. by premarking the map we started at one end and didn't have to back track. We knew where the next closes house was. If we didn't like the looks it got crossed off. Some houses we crossed off because of apartments nearby (didn't want that), a busy street, to much of a slope for the driveway (for the boats), or just bad feel. If you do it that way you don't feel as if you are driving back and forth. DH was in charge of the sole house hunting trip we have made so far. We spent more time looking for the houses then looking at them! I've ordered the detailed map so next time *I'm* in charge!

The one thing YOU want to pay for is the inspection. A well spent couple of hundred dollars. You want that inspector looking out for your interest. One of DH's coworkers didn't want to spend the money. Instead he's paying for it now by making repairs. When we bought this house we used an inspector we heard was great via friends. I guess he was since the people that owned this house used him a couple of weeks later when they found their new house. And make sure you have a contingency written in that if the house fails inspection that you can back out.

[Jeff]

If you really like the house that is $10,000 more than you are able to pay then offer them the price that you would like to pay. If they have already dropped the price $10,000 they may drop the other 10,000 even if it doesn't sound like they will. You are a qualified buyer and that is a big plus. They have already dropped in price so they are eager to sell and may have a deadline where they need to sell. The worse thing that will happen is that they say no or they will try and counter. If they do that then there are other ways to get the overall cash outlay to what you want and still pay a little more for the purchase price like having them pay your taxes, association fees, etc.

The mistake with our first house that we made was that it became personal. We became attached and that gave the sellers a huge advantage and they were using it to their advantage. Luckily the inspection revealed a few things that needed taken care of and they weren't going to budge anddo it until I got my head out of the clouds and told them I was going to walk. All of a sudden $5000 dollars materialized. Its all a game and if you keep it as a game and let the sellers make it more than that then you will probably get a better price and find something you like.

The longer you look the more you will probably realize the narrow scope you had when you first started looking at houses. If you are in a small house or apartment right now most houses will probably look good or at least you can figure out a way to make it workable. It may take dozens of trips to figure out what you really need and want in a house. I don't know about your area but the existing home market in our area is slow due to new construction and a lax economy. If this is the case in your area then it may be to your advantage to go to the same house and look at it several times over the course of a month.

If you are going out by yourself, take an insightful friend who can be a sounding board for you and keep you down to earth. Hook up with about four realtors and let them know that you are trying to find someone you want to deal with and get a feel for which one gives you a good feeling and the one that seems to tuned into your needs and complements your weaknesses in this process.

Good luck!!!
Good luck!!

[KathyT]

Amy sounds like you've gotten some excellent advice. 2 things I will add: remember that EVERYTHING is negotiable!!! Offer what you can, what do you have to lose? You don't know what is going on in the lives of the sellers, maybe they have to unload the house quickly, maybe they are divorcing, etc.

Secondly, make a list. One column is the items that are the "must haves", absolutely no ifs, ands or buts. The second column would be "would like but wouldn't refuse without". The third column would be the "dream items". Carry this list with you. Modify it as you go. But the first column really shouldn't waver.

Good luck Amy!!

[lindaM]

Amy good luck looking for the perfect house. I love looking at houses even though I never see myself moving from where I am. My only advice is to get a home inspection to make sure everything is the way it is suposed to be. When we built this house we had a VA loan and the VA inspected every inch and we had no problems but alot of my neighbors didn't have inspections and they did have alot of problems miscellaneous stuff. This is the only house I've bought/built so I think you can have house inspections of already built house too.

[imamama]

Thanks for all of the wonderful advice! It means a lot, especially knowing ya'll have been through it! I think I've settled down a little from this weekend :lol: First time ever house hunting... guess I got a little carried away!!!!! I left the builder a message about some land I found this weekend, I think there may be some potential with a couple of them... fingers crossed! Even though it would take longer to get into a house that has to be built, it may well be worth it! I'm going to continue looking, though. It can't hurt to saturated the market!!!!
Linda, thanks for the tip, I'll definitely get an inspection. Fortunately, my step-brother has a guy working for him who does home inspections as well as land surveying.. woo hoo!!! That's a big relief, I know I can trust him!
I'll keep ya'll updated and ya'll keep the tips and advice coming! I know I'll be referring back to this post quite often in the near future!!!!! :D

[imamama]

Originally posted by Jeff


The mistake with our first house that we made was that it became personal. We became attached and that gave the sellers a huge advantage and they were using it to their advantage. Luckily the inspection revealed a few things that needed taken care of and they weren't going to budge anddo it until I got my head out of the clouds and told them I was going to walk. All of a sudden $5000 dollars materialized. Its all a game and if you keep it as a game and let the sellers make it more than that then you will probably get a better price and find something you like.


If you are going out by yourself, take an insightful friend who can be a sounding board for you and keep you down to earth. Hook up with about four realtors and let them know that you are trying to find someone you want to deal with and get a feel for which one gives you a good feeling and the one that seems to tuned into your needs and complements your weaknesses in this process.

Good luck!!!
Good luck!!

You've figured me out! LOL I tend to be gushy and want every house I see!! :lol: I do not have a poker face to say the least! I'm learning! And I'm taking my dad with me.. he knows all the questions to ask (he and my step-mom have moved 8 or 9 times since they were married in '93 8o , crazy people!!). And he's good about knocking me back to reality... in being so smitten with that house yesterday, I didn't pay attention to the fact that the laundry room is downstairs... exactly what I'm trying to get away from!! So, even though I love everything else about it (good-bye pretty swing set!), I'm going to set it free! LOL

[Leigh]

Good Luck!!! :)

[Mickey]

I read this topic as "This house hAunting thing is EXHAUSTING!" Didn't think you were into haunting houses. ;)

Lots of great advice from everyone, Amy!

I agree with Jeff, but that's SOOO hard for me to do! I have the worst poker face in the world and when we found our first house (which was actually a cute little 2 br, one bath house in a wonderful neighborhood!), I got all wide-eyed and excited and we offered and paid only $1000 under the listed price because our realtor lead us to believe that she thought there would be another offer on it that day. :rolleyes:

Hang in there! Good luck finding one that's just right for you and dd!

[Lynda-WA]

Mickey - 1,000 under the list price may not have been a bad deal. It all depends on the local market. Where we are moving things are selling VERY fast. A good house with a good price is selling in 2 weeks. We aren't just getting this from the realtors either. DH will call (the owners) on a house and find that it already sold within days of going on the market. So there is no bringing sellers down. They can just wait a couple of days and sell to someone else! One sold by the owner went for more then they were asking. Appearantly there was a bidding war going on. And again that was days after it went on the market. What really sucks is that ISN'T happening in the market we're selling in just the one we're buying in!

Here things were going great a couple of months ago. Now the buyers aren't looking anymore. We know someone in the mortgage department of a bank and she says instead of buying a new home people are refinancing the one they have at a lower rate.

Imamama - You can try getting them to come down more. The worst that will happen is they will say no. Alot of factors are involved. In our case we haven't owned the house that long so if we went down 10 or 20 thousand we'd go in the hole. We won't even consider that. DH will keep commuting first. And to top it off we just found out yesterday we are going to owe even more money from selling. The county takes about 1.5 % in sales tax. If they've owned it long enough the increased value and what they've paid into it may allow them leway to go down in price even below what it's worth and not actually lose money. Especially if they have time constraints.

That's really good luck that you already know an inspector you can trust. That's one of the scariest parts. Even with all of the disclosure laws.

Good Luck! Just take your time and try to be as objective as possible. I try looking at it this way - If I don't get a house I see, maybe it's God's way of telling me there's something better. The first time a salesman (an realtors ARE salesmen), tried the pressure tactic of - I've got someone else looking at this as well, I told them that. They didn't try it again.

[Marla]

Amy, you've gotten some excellent advice from everyone. I have bought a couple of houses in the past and besides the information that you have gotten already from everyone, I just have one more thing to add.

Please remember to keep an open mind and think creatively. I agree with making a list with what you would like in your "dream" home, but what you realistically would like. The second home that we had was an absolute disaster. It was filthy, tiny kitchen, cramped, dingy looking. I went into it with an open mind (and visualized what the decoraters on trading spaces would say). After we moved in we knocked out some walls, changed the paint, pulled up the carpet, and voila....it looked amazing!

Good luck.

[imamama]

Ya'll are awesome!!! Marla, great advice! I'm going to remember it! I just wish I had some extra money so that I could make changes and/or additions and I'd buy that precious little house I looked at this week... there's room to expand the bathroom and smaller bedroom, which I'd do in a heartbeat!!!!
Oh well!

Mickey, I feel ya! But, if you really did love the house and fell in love with it immediately, then, as Lynda said, you may not have gotten a bad deal. I have to remember to tell my self that the realtor is there to sell that house, no matter what! I'm tooooo trusting and want to believe that they really want to give me the best possible deal! :lol: This is a definite learning experience!!!!

[imamama]

Originally posted by Mickey
I read this topic as "This house hAunting thing is EXHAUSTING!" Didn't think you were into haunting houses. ;)


LMAO :lol: That is too funny!!!!!!!!

[MaryL]

This is such an interesting thread...you're getting wonderful advice!!!!! We've bought one house, and built one house. Both have their own set of hassles!;) Our first house was one that we almost didn't end up looking at. We read the description in the paper...the price was a few thousand over what we wanted to spend. Dh didn't even want to see it. Well, I felt a really strong need to see this house, so we drove by. Convinced dh to stop in....and we both LOVED it. We brought two different sets of friends over to see the house (on different visits) to get their opinions before we made our offer. We offered a much lower amount...hey, why not???? They can always say "no". They countered us for an amount nearer to our original budgeted amount. We countered that, and ended getting the house for a price that we could live with. We lived there for 6 years, and sold it for almost $30,000 more (better market value at that time!!!). I loved that house, and believe that I was adament about seeing it for a reason.

We built a custom home...and did a lot of work ourselves, so that was much more complex. Dh talks about building again someday, and I always say , "With who??? Your next wife??? LOL I love my house, and hope we don't have to move for a VERY long time!!!

One of our favorite things to do is go to "Parade of Homes" (home tours) and weekend Open Houses. We still do that every now and then because you can get great ideas.

[Diane]

Originally posted by MaryL
One of our favorite things to do is go to "Parade of Homes" (home tours) and weekend Open Houses. We still do that every now and then because you can get great ideas.

We love going through the Parade of Homes too... I get a lot of great decorating idea's from them. 8o You see a lot of weird/strange things too... but all in all they are all pretty neat.

Diane... :wave:

[imamama]

Great idea, Mary! A friend recommended doing that if I end up building, that way, I can get ideas for what color schemes I want to use. I need to buy a polaroid camera and snap shots of rooms I really like. I know I'm definitely going with very little wallpaper, paint mostly and borders and stensils here and there... I HATE putting up wallpaper, plus, it's twice as hard to redecorate when you have paper to contend with!!! yuck!

[Diane]

Originally posted by imamama
Great idea, Mary! A friend recommended doing that if I end up building, that way, I can get ideas for what color schemes I want to use. I need to buy a polaroid camera and snap shots of rooms I really like. I know I'm definitely going with very little wallpaper, paint mostly and borders and stensils here and there... I HATE putting up wallpaper, plus, it's twice as hard to redecorate when you have paper to contend with!!! yuck!

We've got a LOT of wallpaper... and when we redecorate I think we'll go with a lot less too. 8o Lately I've been liking a more plain and simple look... a simple border or stensil. I've never stenciled anything before and that's something I think I'd like to try my hand at. , I've watched them do it on tv and it looks easy enough so I think that will be my first choice.

Diane... :wave:

[imamama]

Originally posted by Diane P.


We've got a LOT of wallpaper... and when we redecorate I think we'll go with a lot less too. 8o Lately I've been liking a more plain and simple look... a simple border or stensil. I've never stenciled anything before and that's something I think I'd like to try my hand at. , I've watched them do it on tv and it looks easy enough so I think that will be my first choice.

Diane... :wave:

You can do it! With all the tools and supplies that are available lately, I don't think it'd be too hard! Good luck!!

[MaryL]

Originally posted by Diane P.


I've never stenciled anything before and that's something I think I'd like to try my hand at. , I've watched them do it on tv and it looks easy enough so I think that will be my first choice.

Diane... :wave:

I've just recently stenciled an "ivy" border in one of our bathrooms...all the way around the top. It looks so cute!!! I used three colors, yellow, lt. green, and dk green. Start "pouncing" with the light color...go over it with the next color and highlight with the darker. My dh said, "You really DID this?" LOL....gotta love him! I had the stencil itch...so I went back to the craft store...and got another "ivy" type stencil, but this one had little roses in it, also. Did this stencil in my kitchen, above my backsplash. A little trickier...had to include red/dk red for the roses! But, although it's not "perfect", it turned out fine, and I'm so glad that I tried it! I can't wait to stencil something else...my dh thinks I am nuts!:rolleyes: :) You can do it!!!

[littlesista06]

Heck! If I can stensil dd's room - anyone can stensil anything!
The hardest part for me, was getting it level - we did it a little higher than chair-rail height. Once you get your marks on the wall, it moves along fairly well.
I used the "Plaid" brand stensil kit - it had 3 overlays - so it made it fairly easy.
Good luck, Diane - if/when you decide to redecorate.

[Diane]

Thanks!!! I'd like to redecorate my office... so I would have to find a border (stencik) appropriate for an office. Not too sure what they have out there yet because I haven't actually looked. You all make it sound so easy... so hopefully it will be that way for me too when the time comes. Heck... I'm going to Menards tonight anyway... I just might check out the stencil's and see what they have.

Diane... :wave:

[AnnW]

You don't have to even stencil, a pretty faux paint looks just as nice without one.

[Suthernstar]

Originally posted by MaryL


One of our favorite things to do is go to "Parade of Homes" (home tours) and weekend Open Houses. We still do that every now and then because you can get great ideas. [/B]


ohhhhh...I just can't do that! I'm afraid I would find something I like better and then end up not liking my house so much. I just love our house. It has everything we wanted. DH and I also started out with a list of what we wanted and didn't want in a house and looked at several before finding "the one."

Two weeks after moving in, the crowning jewel of the neighborhood came on the market and I couldn't help but think about how that could've been ours if I would have just waited. I wanted so bad to call the realtor and have a look at it just so that I could find _something_ wrong with it so that I wouldn't feel like I'd missed out on it or anything.

So that's me in a nut shell...never happy with what I've got. LOL! So I try to stay away from looking at open houses or anything like that.

Lisa

[imamama]

Originally posted by Suthernstar





Two weeks after moving in, the crowning jewel of the neighborhood came on the market and I couldn't help but think about how that could've been ours if I would have just waited. I wanted so bad to call the realtor and have a look at it just so that I could find _something_ wrong with it so that I wouldn't feel like I'd missed out on it or anything.

Lisa

If it helps, I've always heard not to buy the best house on the block, it's not likely to appreciate as much as the others... food for thought! (though I know exactly what you mean! I'm soooo scared of buying a house, then finding "the one"!

[RCT]

good luck Amy...I have already started looking at neighborhoods around here...and searching the internet and newspapers....and we aren't in the market until next year...I just want to know what going on out there....;)

the right house will come your way....:)