if you had to buy a house

[heartofmine]

When we bought this home we were young with 2 children and needed to get away from where we were living at. We bought what we could afford at the time....but honestly didn't think ahead for needs. Only 2 bedrooms with only the 2 small closets in the entire house. We did have an unfinished basement which was our saving grace because it gave us the room to put another bedroom and a 1/2 bath in.

This house is a split foyer so stairs going up and down when you come in the front door. Something you don't think about when you are young but getting older and health and joint pains open your eyes to the realities of having this many stairs. That along with myself having major surgeries, a bad fall that messed up my ankle which kept me in bed in the basement unable to climb stairs.

Add in a to small kitchen and dining room, laundry in the basement, no storage...= lots of things that need to be thought about before buying or building a new home.

We are trying to remedy that. We are building a new home with lots of storage, lots of room, handicap accessible, laundry on the main floor, large kitchen and dining room with a large walkin pantry just of the kitchen. I'm sure once we move in we'll realize something we should have done differently but for now its our dreams coming to reality.

[l8eebugg]

Couldn't find a house that worked for us so we build. Took me and ex. a full year working full time and building in pm and on weekends. Best decision I ever made. I have house I pretty much designed and had lots of equity from labor right off the bat. It was a rough year and I was pregnant for 1/2 of it but I would do it again. One of the best choices was having master located on opposite end of house from rest of bedrooms. Gives kids space to make noise and me more privacy. Also have 3 bathrooms. Boys had one, girls another and master. Although the boys are gone now, I am still happy to have the extra bathroom. One wish that I had separate laundry space, mine is in giant closet in on of the baths. No place to store laundry or to fold. Also when divorced I refinanced for 15 years instead of the 30. Has been very difficult at times..but I am close to paying off now. Get the shortest mortgage possible.

[The Muse]

I love my home, but if I had to do it over, I wouldn't have bought property in a foreign country right off the bat. I don't regret the property, the price, the town, or any of that, but I get a panic attack if I even casually think about having to sell it in order to move. I hate the idea of being stuck here.

That said, assuming I finish out my 3 year contract, which is a condition if I want my company to ship my stuff back to the US (which I do because it costs about 10,000 Euros), then I would've spent over $60,000 US in rent.

At least this way, I have a shot a recouping some of that. Really, I'd just like to break even on how much I paid for the place. It was a calculated risk.

[Lora88]

Absolutely love my house it is pretty much my dream home but that is because it was basically a gut and we redid it just the way i wanted it . After living in a few houses you get a feel for what you want and dont want The only things i would change if I could I now know I prefer detached garages away from the house My ds works on cars all the time and would prefer he be a little farther away Iguess that will be remedied when if ever moves out lol Also I am up a hill far back from the road which I love but can forsee getting older and that being a problem in bad weather also I am in a zero walkabilty area so have to drive everywhere that will also be a problem later in life I guess i will cross that bridge when I come to it Unfortunity this probably wont be my last home I wish I could stay here forever

[savvy_sniper]

I would not do ONE thing different! I did my research, thought long and hard about my needs and wants, calculated before hand how much I had to spend, etc.

We bought in a neighborhood developed in the late 70's and has been pretty well maintained over the years and has mostly live in owners versus renters. The value of the homes in the area haven't gone done much in this bad economy.

Housing is very reasonably priced in this area compared to other parts of the country. We qualified for a $250,000 mortgage. We got a $128,000 mortgage, qualified for a grant from the city to help with the downpayment and closing costs.

YEP, wouldn't do anything different.

[Telephus44]

Make sure you anticipate your needs for the next few years. If you're planning on having 10 kids, don't buy a 1-bedroom cottage with no yard. If you're planning on having your disabled MIL move in with you, make sure that she doesn't have to climb stairs to get to the bathroom. I know that stuff happens and you can't predict the future, but at least try and think ahead a little bit.

Also - know yourself. We had tons of people suggest that we buy a fixer-upper because we could save so much money and re-do it ourselves and get sweat equity. Well, DH and I work full-time and have a small very high energy child. The last thing I want to do when I come home is work on my house. Same thing of don't buy an older house if you don't want to fix it up, don't buy a condo if you want to have a huge garden, and don't buy a 2 acre plot with a huge yard if you hate mowing the lawn.

We also chose a small local bank to get the mortgage through. The rates were slightly higher than what all the brokers could get (but comparable, within 1/8%) and the few times we've had trouble, one phone call to a real person who's only 15 miles away solved the problem.

Oh - and look at lots of houses, even if you're pretty sure it's not the one you want. It makes it easier to compare and figure out what you really want when you see lots of houses. Especially if it's your first house.


We bought our house in 2008 and are still very happy with it. I don't think we made any real mistakes.

[krbshappy71]

We are shopping for a house right now, actually. Its great to read the other responses.

Decide together on your absolutes. This advice has been given to me repeatedly over the years. Truly think about what are preferences and what are MUST HAVES.

My must haves right now are:

Secure and safe fenced in area for the dogs.

Non-scary neighborhood. When perusing the neighborhood we are on the look out for excessive trash, graffiti, and loiterers. Particularly people sitting on their cars in the middle of a work week. Yes, I know, they could be telecommuting but we all have our prejudices, right?

That's it. Boyfriend has lots of preferences but non-scary neighborhood is also his only Must Have.

[Laney]

We are shopping for a house right now, actually. Its great to read the other responses.

Decide together on your absolutes. This advice has been given to me repeatedly over the years. Truly think about what are preferences and what are MUST HAVES.

My must haves right now are:

Secure and safe fenced in area for the dogs.

Non-scary neighborhood. When perusing the neighborhood we are on the look out for excessive trash, graffiti, and loiterers. Particularly people sitting on their cars in the middle of a work week. Yes, I know, they could be telecommuting but we all have our prejudices, right?

That's it. Boyfriend has lots of preferences but non-scary neighborhood is also his only Must Have.

I completely agree with you on the neighborhood. we have looked at several houses and have liked none of the neighborhoods. BUT we found a house yesterday that we like and we have been through the neighborhood twice and we like it as well. quiet and peaceful street....unlike the noisy neighbors from hell that rent the other half of the duplex we live in now. praying that we are able to move away from them soon, my sanity depends on it!

[cadamsgis]

I just bought my house last November and purposely found one within 5 miles from my office. It's a single family older house built in 1938, two bedrooms, and I love it. I got it on a short sale for $68,000. So I am paying less for my house then I was paying for rent.

You would be surprised by all the stupid comments I got from people about my house (location, size, neighborhood, cost) but I absolutely love it don't give a hoot what any of them have to say. I love little houses. I had thought about building a katrina cottage, but lucked into finding this house.

[ladykemma2]

if you already purchased a home and had to go back and re-do it, would you do anything differently?

give me all of your could-a, should-a, would-a's....or did you cross all your t's and dot all your i's and wouldn't change a thing

thanks

i adore my home. it's a pulte one story red brick georgian --tiny --3 bed, 2 bath.

i would change the size of the laundry room to an actual ROOM. my dream laundry room would be an actual room with a nice ironing board, tv/dvd player to watch while ironing, 2 washers, 2 dryers, and a large table to fold clothes on, and built in shelves. sigh.

i actually saw a laundry ROOM like this in a mansion in river oaks houston. sigh.

[Emjo]

We bought our first place about a year and a half ago, and I think we did pretty good. We had a small budget, and it seemed like every place we looked at had something big that we didn't like: one place was nice but only had 2 bedrooms upstairs, one had no backyard fence (a townhouse condo so we couldn't put one up). One had no dishwasher and aluminum wiring. I think our realtor was surprised when we put an offer in on the 4th house: fenced in yard, dishwasher, great floor plan, but grimy and smelled like dog pee. It look a LOT of work to make it livable, but I'd buy this place again. I would just have negotiated harder and paid a few thousand less to cover the cost of the carpets that needed to be replaced (we had to rip out all the carpets and seal the sub floor to clean up "Fluffy"'s favorite spots).

[peanut]

I almost sold our house on a walk yesterday. One way to get out of doing renovations! It needs a lot of work. Houses like ours, all fixed up, go for $400K. I'd let ours go for $350K. Still, can't sell a house without DH's agreement, and...I hadn't done my homework for a new home yet.

[frugalfranny]

Wow.......some great reading and ideas here. Thanks!!

Even being a homeowner, I have learned a few tips............for next time.

I had rented mine for a couple years when I bought it......no more to say........knew any potential problems, my neighborhood, and if I liked it.

[leighcat]

If I had to buy a house over again I would interview my neighbors. I have some real weirdos and nasty people living next door. I wish I had met them first! I also would ask people how much they pay for utilities, especially water. I ended up being lied to by the water company! My water/sewer here is in the $100 dollar range. I have had nothing but problems with the water company. This water company has been all over the news. They keep raising the price but the water is still nasty!
I would also never buy a yard that is all rock again. I would rather mow the lawn than have to spend a fortune trying to kill billions of weeds that just won't die. It is impossible to scoop dog poop off of rocks, and nobody can walk in the yard because the rocks are hard to walk on.
I would look at all the windows and make sure the dryer is properly vented. I would also make sure the flooring is something that won't cost a small fortune to repair or cover up!
Overall I can't complain because my mortgage isn't very high, I pay much less than when I was renting. I would like to buy a place with more land and shade plants. I would also prefer to have a well and septic. I hate being forced to pay for water and waste.

[lll]

I bought my first place this past summer and even though its been a little crazy, I'm still thrilled with it.

My suggestions:
-Know your budget (don't trust the banks suggestion!) and stick to it, buying below your limit if possible. Two banks suggested I could afford up to 270k but a broker I sat with and showed the same income/budget info said anything over 250k would have left me house-poor. We set my range at 190-250k (with pretty much nothing listed in my area below $210k except "handyman specials") and after MUCH searching, I found a suitable place for 215k.

-Have a list of Needs and Wants drawn up but be realistic if you find a home that meets the needs but not all the wants. The place I ended up buying clearly met all my needs when I viewed it the first time but I was disappointed that the yard was a bit smaller than I would have liked. One sleepless night was all it took for me to realize I was moping about saving $25k (very few homes were listed in my area below 240k) because the yard was "a bit small". I'm gone half the month anyways, a larger yard would have been harder for me to maintain!

-Make sure you'll still have several thousand AFTER the purchase of the house and closure costs are dealt with. Stuff WILL come up and you will be thankful you still have money in savings instead of having to acquire more debt.

-Have your financing approved before you shop. You don't want to fall in love with a place only to find that you can't get a mortgage to cover it!

Good luck!

These are perfect suggestions. Also a good home inspector. I asked around first about the one we chose. He took about 2 hours. We fixed some of the things he suggested and I probably wouldn't have known about some of them. Also we had a different guy do a furnace and central air check over and one come for a termite inspection. Remember when you do go to fix something it's always more than they say so have that extra money put aside.

It took us years also to find something, I was getting in the desperate mode.