Buying the right house

Finding the house:
Finding the house was not easy but then at the same time ended up being really easy. I know, I just contradicted myself. I will explain.
My husband have been looking for a house on and off for the past several years. We have gone through different jobs between all the looking. Almost ended up in a house we could certainly not afford due to people willing to push funding through despite lack of funds… Thankfully the whole deal turned rotten and we got to continue on the path of finding a home.
After the previous experience turning sour, we held off on looking for a few years at least. The idea of buying a home was quite nice to us again at another point, so we spoke with a trusted mortgage lender who gave us a much different pre-approval amount than the first one had. This guy was more realistic and explained what we needed to do to build our credit, and what kind of income we needed to approve for a better price range.
We had some work ahead of us at that point. I needed a better paying job. Some small debts needed to be paid off completely. Other things always pop up to eliminate savings one finds. So finally we got approved a few months ago for a lower end price range, yet still quite doable.
We started the search yet again for a home that would meet all our internal home requirements, as well as my need for external yard space. We looked a lot of homes we thought were in our price range, but when we ran the numbers, if anything were to ever come up, it would turn into an emergency cash finding situation. We did not want to be putting out exactly what we both made a month, especially if either of us had to take time off, or take a pay cut. It seemed all the homes were starting in the price range we approved for at the highest end. Once again, our house hunting was put on hold.
Not even two weeks later, our awesome real estate agent posted up some new listings that were between $20k and $55k lower than our original home search. We were quite excited at the change of listings and decided to look at some of the possibilities. We looked at 4 or 5 homes that next day after confirming which ones we wanted to see from the list.
Walking into the home we now own, we loved it immediately. After seeing homes with less square footage, less land, and all the wrong layout, this was a serious breath of fresh air. It had pretty much everything we needed as well as some things we just wanted. It seemed every other home there was something major lacking in it to put a kink in it, and make it a deal breaker. Now, that is not to say this home does not need some work. Being that the home was built in the 80s, it does need some updating, but other than that it is perfect.
We decided not long after seeing the home, heck, we barely even finished looking at the home before I could contain my desire to ask my husband if he wanted to put an offer on it as much as I did. Thankfully we both absolutely loved it, and for the price, we knew it would not come across anything better in this market.
We put an offer on the house the next day. Lots of paper work, switching lenders yet again, and still staying on the projected close date somehow, we closed on our house this month. I am really grateful for all the people we have had helping us through this process.
One thing that I found to be quite different from the usual, was that the 2 hours and several inch stacks of paperwork you normally sign for the final closing, actually was only about 40 minutes with a decent stack. They must have come up with a more efficient method for cutting down the pains of signing your life away. I personally think of it is signing your new beginning… but that is just me.
I have no problems signing paperwork for the house, even with the cost of the house. The way I see it is you are going to be paying hundreds of dollars on rent every month.. Why not pay it towards a mortgage? It is all the same amount of money (sometimes) so why not invest it in a home you own, rather than a living situation that takes away your creative decorating abilities, as well as could go sour. As you might guess, both have happened for us. We are quite happy to now have control over our living situation more now than we did renting.
When someone becomes upside down on their mortgage and has to sell, no matter how nice they are as landlords, you have to move… and moving is not fun on the drop of a dime. That is not to say renting cannot be awesome. Both renting and owning has its up and down sides.
So, a little about the house itself.
Our new house sits on .18 of an acre, which is smaller than I had originally wanted, but it works out just fine with the way the yard is laid out.
It is just over 1600sf. Our current place is about 1100, maybe just over, so it will be great to have the much needed space.
3 bedroom, 2 bath. Master bath is a little small, but it will work for our needs, and there is room to expand if we ever wanted to renovate it.
There is office space for my husband, two crafting/lab spaces for me… one is not currently finished, the other will turn into a guest room most likely once the bigger shop in the back is finished for my personal uses. The detached shop was a huge bonus for me for so many reasons. It was honestly more than I ever expected to find.
The kitchen is much larger, though ripping out the wallpaper seems like it might be a frightening task here soon.. I think someone used wood glue on parts of it. Why someone would do that I do not want to know.
It is a single story house. We originally wanted multi story, but I am not complaining. The shop I will use for my creative projects in the back has a loft area anyways.
One downside is that the property just has a gravel driveway. No car port, no garage… So since we do not wish to shovel show off our cars every day in the winter, we plan to build a car port off of the house to protect from the elements. Considering every other house around here that was $55k more even did not have any of those either, it was an inevitability we would need to build one. I am just happy we have the space to do it, though it will be a new thing for us to learn to build.
Another small downside is no more gas stove to cook on unless we want to find out how much it will cost to run a gas line to the house. I am not thrilled with switching back to electric, but it is something we can look at changing in the future.
The house is in the city we want. It is in the area of the city we wanted. It is a little bit out of the way, but right next to a major high speed road, so really it does not take much longer to get places than it did at the place we were renting. The commute was a concern with my husband until we had to stay at a hotel not far from the new place for a week, thus providing us with an idea on the new commute times. He seemed relieved to find it was not as bad as he expected.
Every time I go to the house I notice things that show even more that this house was meant to be ours. We wanted a cherry tree in the yard, or two.. And finding out one of the previously unknown trees in the yard is in fact a cherry was one. The neighbor has a currant or gooseberry bush that is partially hanging into the yard was another. Currant bushes symbolize protection, and I plan to plant more of those as well. Seeing that one just told me that our house was already being protected, even if not fully on our land. The fact that the exterior of the house and shop were painted green, both of our favorite color, also was another sign. Not to mention wanting a big mature tree, and having at least 4… not to mention one being a big maple, which works as a wonderful shade tree. Shade trees help cut down heating and cooling costs, for those who do not know why they are important to have.
All in all the process brought feelings of excitement, nervousness, anxiety, fear, frustration, surprise, and happiness. It was a roller coaster, but one well worth it. Yes, we may have not bought a house as soon as we wanted to, but our needs changed, our budget changed, really a lot changed. I am also one to feel if one door closes, it is so another can open. Every time we hit a road block on this journey, it was so something even more amazing could happen. When one house did not pan out, the next was even better.. When one lender did not work out quite as expected, the next one had better rates… So really the bad moments were not so bad, just a bit nerve wrecking until the good news came back. I feel there has to be balance in everything. This process literally had the most equal balance of good and bad moments I have yet to see in a single event. I don't think it could have worked out any other way honestly.


My tips for finding the right house:
Make up a list of MUST HAVES as well as WANTS but do not NEED.  Knowing where you can compromise on is a really big deal. Understanding that you will most likely not get everything on your list is also important.
Another good thing to put down is if you do not have one item, what other item would you need to make that ok. For a good example, we needed 3 bedrooms, but both my husband and I needed work spaces.. So we said we needed 3-4 bedrooms, but could do fine with 3 if there was another office, bonus room, or dining area that we could convert into usable office/crafting space. We ended up having more space than expected, and his office is actually now in what was once a separate dining room.
Thinking outside of the box on space really helps.

Do you want something move in ready or are you ok with renovations? Do you have the required skills to do major renovations? For us, we are ok with cosmetic renovations, but we did not want a big house that needed walls ripped out, or bathrooms to be completely gutted before moving in. Yes, we may very well rip out the master bath eventually, but right now it is ok, and not an immediate need. The shop is a big job, but we will get help with that, as well as it is not something we have to finish before moving into the house. Finding the line for what you will or won’t do, not to mention the costs included in doing that, is something you really need to discuss before getting a house.

Get pre-approved for a loan. Know where you stand budget wise. Run the numbers over and over. Make sure that new mortgage you approve for supports your style of living. If you eat out a lot, or go clothes shopping all the time, you may not want a large mortgage. Know where you can save and what you have available to spend.
It is also not a bad idea to shop around for lenders.

Check your credit. We used Credit Karma, which is free, to get an idea on our scores before going in. The better your credit, the better the rates. If your credit is not the best, pay off debts. Make sure the debt to income ratio is low. Having open credit cards with no balance on them helps. Pay bills on time, etc.. Keep in mind it can take 1-3 months for a paid off card to reflect good on your credit. That being said, if you are really young and have no credit, that does not mean your credit is perfect, it means you have no proof you are dependable to pay bills on time… So you will need to build up credit before they will even look at approving you. Get a credit card, buy something, pay it off immediately, etc. It is never a bad idea to get advise on how to build your credit up.

Make sure you have been in your line of work for at least a year.

Make sure your realtor is looking in your best interest and not the sellers. Do not work with a realtor who is also representing the seller. It is really hard for someone to work neutrally between both parties. We encountered this with the first home we found. We did not have a realtor and were just working directly with their realtor and the sellers themselves. I highly recommend not doing this. The deal fell through and there was no one there to make sure the deal was fair on our end, looking out for our interest, as first time home buyers.

Don’t buy the first home you look at. It is really easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of looking at homes. Even if you come back to that first home and end up buying it, still look at others for comparison on what you can get. No one wants to regret buying the home they did. By looking at other homes you give yourself options.

Think about how much yard space or land you want. Do you want a tiny plot of land for low maintenance? What would you use the land for? Do you plan to mow a lawn or pay someone else to do it for you? For me, land could have been, and was a deal breaker for quite a few homes we looked at. I could have loved the house, but would have been heartbroken if I did not have at least a little space to grow something.
Another thing to think about when it comes to land is do you care if it is a shared space, fenced, or not fenced, or how much privacy do you want? Keep in mind that fencing does cost quite a bit. Do you have the budget to fence your yard? I was not ok with shared spaces. I like my privacy. While the new place has a fence, it is maybe 4 feet and chain link, so not much privacy. Rather than spend thousands on fencing, I am planting trees and bushes instead. Again thinking outside the box.

Does your state offer tax credits for your home? Sometimes there are tax credits related to home buying, home improvement, etc.. It is always good to ask about these and see if you can save some money by utilizing these. We have not spoken with our tax professional yet. We go through the same person each year since it is smart to have someone who helps when you are not single any longer. She helped us know what we should put on our W4s once married to insure we would not owe any money back. Things like that can really help make your tax season awesome. Our lender emails us helpful information about tax breaks and credits that we should ask our tax professional about. As always, save receipts, and any approved donation receipts.
  Since we are moving there is a lot to go through in the garage being that we won’t have one to store things in. Garage sale and donations will most likely be our course of action there. I found out not every used store donation can be counted towards your taxes, it is only certain ones… I thought it was interesting to find that out.

Find moving boxes at local stores rather than pay for them. You would be surprised how much the boxes alone would cost for the move when each box is $1-3… Our landlord had a restoration crew come in and rip out all the floors due to a bathroom leak. They packed up most of our stuff but did not unpack it. We decided to keep the items in the boxes for the next month in prep for the move. We saved boxes from our initial move here, and then plan to get some from the grocery store for the last few.

Make checklists and question lists for everything as you think of it. Trust me when I say things will easily be forgotten. It is best to keep thoughts as organized as possible.

Find out if your house is in a flood zone.

Decide if you want to be in an HOA or not. We did not want to be in an HOA, though some people do because it can help with the resale value of the home. HOA does come with fees though, so bare that in mind when deciding upon it.

Are there any extra perks for the loan or land if you live in one city vs another. For us, moving to the city we did had the bonus perk of irrigation, so we do not have to pay for the outside water. Being that I want a large garden, this was a big bonus for me not having to pay for the outside water expenses. This is not available in the other city we were looking in. Some areas also are limited on whether they offer 0 down or down payment assistance. There is a city near us that offered 0 down because they were trying to get more people to move to the area. Talk to your lender about what is available in the areas close to the one you want to be in. It might change your mind.

Commute. How far are you willing to travel for work? Does that distance change if you are near a high speed or state highway? Sometimes you can live farther out but commute time will be the same depending on the roads, speed limits, and traffic flow. We lucked out being near a high speed road. It allowed us to be farther out but not have a terrible commute time.

Gas or electric. Does it matter to you if the house has gas or electric heat  and oven? It mattered for me as I love to cook, sadly our home did not come with gas, though should easily enough be able  to get a gas line ran to the house. Something to think about when buying a home.

What internet and tv options are available in that area? Will there be a fee if you have to switch providers when you move?

How much time to do you have to search, close, pack, move etc?

I am sure I could think of a ton more things to ask yourself but this should suffice for examples for now.