:smack:
First, a question of semantics: Would you consider a house “bought” when the negotiated offer is accepted and a contract is signed, or when you actually close on the house? For celebratory reasons, I’m figuring that since I signed a contract intending to buy, that qualifies me as the “buyer” and the house “bought”. However, I digress . . .
I BOUGHT MY VERY FIRST HOUSE THIS WEEK! And dude, am I stoked!!
The story, day by day:
Monday
I call up my realtor to tell him I’m in town, but most of my day is spent getting settled into my new job and office. I inprocess and agree to meet with “Mick” on Tuesday morning to start looking at houses. For the day, though, it’s just getting checked into work–and to meet the boss.
Tuesday
“Mick” pulls a few listings, and we start touring. The first day, we hit nine or ten houses, including one that wasn’t even listed yet. However, “Mick” wants to show me as many as he can so he can get an idea of what I’m looking for. So we’re driving all over Warner Robins and Centerville looking at new construction, just taking the day to hit as many as possible. We finish up around 4:PM, and I agree to meet him in the afternoon on Wednesday–which gives me a chance to get some more work-related errands done the next day.
Wednesday
Mick shows me another 11 or 12 places, with me narrowing it down to my top two picks. I ask him to take me back to a second showing of the top two places, and really like this one particular place: a 3 BR, 2 BA, 2-car garage, with a nice deck, and a living room/kitchen/dining room combined into a “Great Room” under huge cathedral ceilings. More on this in a bit*, but the contractor that developed the neighborhood put special attention into this house, as there are real hardwood floors (not that laminate crap), decent cabinetry, wainscotting everywhere, and judges’ panels in the dining area. There’s a really cool deck with a decent view off the back, and tile/tramantine all over the place. This guy really put good materials and effort into the house, and having been in the construction business for awhile, I noticed it right away. Oh, and get this: he’s also got all of the appliances in the place already!! Complete with fridge/washer/dryer/dishwarsher/microwave! There’s sod in the front and back, complete with sprinklers on both sides. The place is built on a hill, so it’s atop a block foundation with a huge crawl–nay, “walkspace” since there’s so much clearance over my head. I am all over this house like ants at a picnic to search everything. I’m in the attic looking at the central air, I’m in the crawlspace to look at the electrical. I’m into the closets making sure they’re all painted on the inside (you’d be surprised). I’m knocking on some of the woodwork to see if it’s a hollow facade (it ain’t). I’m inspecting this place like I would inspect one of my old RED HORSE builds.
Just as we’re walking through the place, the builder/seller calls up Mick to talk about some other houses he’s got to list, when I politely inquire through Mick about an privacy fence. The builder/seller says he’ll do the work himself, and what would cost him $2,800, he’ll just tack on $2k to the asking price.
It’s just an awesome find, I tell Mick that I’m going to sleep on it, but I think I’ve settled. I ask him how much it’s going for, and he tells me. It’s just a few thousand over what I figured I’d spend, but still well under my limit.
Thursday
I head over to Mick’s office, and having slept on it, I tell him I’m going to make an offer. I offer the asking price, but would like an extra percentage point from the seller towards closing costs. Mick calls up the builder/seller, and they discuss the offer. After about 15-20 minutes of going back and forth, the seller agrees to my terms, and I have a verbal agreement in place. By the end of the day, I have a signed contract. We both agree to close on it later this month.
Friday
I’m on the phone with Mick just going over some of the finer details, and I’m working with my lender just to complete paperwork. I’ve got a great lender, and a decent mortgage setup. This is just too easy.
- The “More on This Later” stuff
Apparently, the developer of the neighborhood built two houses side-by-side: one for his son & son’s wife, the other for his daughter & daughter’s husband. He went full throttle with the materials, made sure his best workers did the best work, and just put the highest quality onto these places for his kids. The day comes, and he hands the keys over to his children. “Um, dad, they’re nice but. . . we don’t want to live there.” :smack: :rolleyes: Apparently the kids wanted to move out of the area or something, but that little double-faux pas has put these houses as a thorn in Pop’s side. He hadn’t listed them yet when they were shown to me (instantly saving me 3% on the sale price–to the tune of approx. $4,000), and wants to just put the past behind him. Damned kids’ loss, if you ask me.
So there ya go. I am now officially slated to be a homeowner.
Tripler
I’m going to hang NJ Devils Stanley Cup banners from the cathedral ceilings.
