So, I bought a house... (long, but sweet)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Yeah so i’m a 26 yo single woman, and have lived with my parents in the same house my whole life - and last week I just up and bought a house!!!

I’ve really been thinking about it for a long time. I’m just getting to be too damned old to be living at home. I mean I’ve never rented - nothing. I thought alot about renting, but I didn’t see fit to put all that $$ into something that’s not mine. Plus, I have a large dog (80lbs) and I want her to have a yard with a fence like she has now, so I would have had to rent a house anyway. Why not buy?

I paid off all my credit cards a few months back. Then I did a budget for my company through the rest of the year (I own my own company, for 4 years now. Just me and two other people) and gave myself and my partners raises.

I was able to save up $5k in just a coupla months.

Two houses down the street went up for sale. I love this neighborhood. LOVE IT. Older ranch houses, quiet, dead end.

I wasn’t ready when house #1 was finally sold. So my only other option was house #2. I thought long and hard about it - then one Tuesday, called up my chosen realtor (a client of mine) and she showed me the place.

I didn’t love it. I wasn’t expecting to love it. I loved the fact that it was sort of a shitty house, needed work (but just cosmetic work - roof, windows, furnace - all new) and it just seemed perfect to me. It’s small, has a basement, a 2-car garage, a big yard - what more could I want?

So I called a mortgage company, recommended by my no-nonsense realtor, and got pre-approved. I have crap for assets but no debt and a credit score around 800. My only other obligation is a car.

Pre-approval took like an hour.

Then I signed some papers - The Bid. Realtor answered all my questions. Sounded like a good deal to me. She argued with the sellers for 3 hours. Called me at 9:30 pm. She got the deal!

It happened so quickly. I was lucky enough to have 3 other recommendations for brokers from 3 friends who also just bought. So I figured I’d call them up. The first guy gave me a better deal than the pre-approval. The second guy, even better! The third guy had me set up an appointment for Sunday.

Friday night I did the hardest part - asked my grandpa for a loan. I didn’t plan on needing a loan, but I really wanted that house, in that location, and didn’t have time to fuck around saving money anymore. I had hinted to my grandpa earlier about wanting to borrow. I didn’t actually think he HAD money. But my dad said he sure did. I swallowed my pride and called him up. He agreed!

Saturday I vegged. It’s exhausting to buy a house!

Sunday I met with mortgage guy #4. He gave me a WAY good offer - $200/mo less than the first offer. Snap! I told him I’d talk to him Tuesday to confirm.

After that I drove the 2 hrs to my grandpa’s to get the money. We signed some forms that his banker BIL outlining the “terms” we agreed to. It was just between us, but I was game for it. I don’t want to screw anyone over. We talked for a few hours and had sandwiches and pie. I drove back home and deposited the money along with a couple of pre-dated paychecks (all kosher - i assure you!)

Monday I had the inspection. Overall good condition. Had a list of 31 minor points I’d like to fix. Came up with 4 things for the sellers to fix before I sign the final papers.

Also in this time I scored a free living room set from my realtor, a free electric stove from my friend, and a possible free fridge from my realtor as well. WOW!

The realtor went to the sellers with my “demands.” All in all about $1500 worth of stuff for them to fix. They were snotty and said they wanted to wait for the city inspection to see what the city demanded. Well ok.

I placed calls to brokers 1-3 and told them my new deal. No one could beat it. They tried tho! Was kind of exhilirating. One even said “tell that guy his competitor said that’s a great deal.”

Tuesday I signed more papers with the broker, initiating the loan process. I also got my insurance guy in on it, which i guess is something you have to do.

I had to wait until Friday to find out what the sellers agreed to. Turns out the city demanded 2 of my 4 inspection-related demands, so the sellers agreed to all of them.

Saturday I got my loan approval papers to sign to they can officially start the process. Sunday I signed them and dropped them off.

So that’s my story. I’ve pretty much bought a house. All I need now is a fence for the yard, some curtains and an Internet connection, and I’m in.

Closing is Oct 28.

Today I got a bomb dropped on my tho - my parents gave me money. Not a small amount, either. Like “OMG this is like 6 months mortgage payment” money. Holy shit! I was stressing a bit about money. Ok alot. The fence is going to be expensive, and I was planning on eating sparsely and living with a cat-pee-stained carpet. I had it all planned out so that i’d eke by - barely. They had given me no indications that they’d help me out. They even said “if you’ve got enough money to buy this house you don’t need our help.”

And they helped me anyway.

Read this story, man. All this love. Free stuff, loans, gifts…not to mention the dozen or so friends who have offerd to help move and help paint.

If I ain’t blessed I don’t know what blessed is.

Fuckin’ a. :smiley:

2

How exciting! I’m envious, as I’m in “I wish I could buy a house” land right now.

Good luck!

3

Congratulations! Everyone should own at least one shitty house. :smiley: You’ll learn much in the course of improving it as well as feel more like it’s yours than if it was in total move-in condition. Best of all, when you’re having a totally clueless moment, you can appeal to your doper friends for good advice, or at least sympathy. :stuck_out_tongue:

4

Congrats! Home ownership is an adventure, and owning a fixer-upper even moreso. We’re about halfway through the cosmetic fixes on a 30-y/o rancher, and except for laying the carpet, we’ve done all the work ourselves. It was like living an HGTV series!

And hooray for helpful parents! My mom offered us a loan which we’re paying back in 5 years with a tiny bit of interest, but more than she was getting on her CDs, so we both won. Especially since Mom National Bank has offered on more than one occasion to let us slide with payment promptness when unexpected car expenses snuck in. So far, we haven’t had to take advantage of that, but it’s a good feeling to know that we could do it if we have to.

I was 26 when I bought my first house, also with a loan from my grandfather (my grandmother berated him for charging me interest, so he dropped it, and I paid him back super-fast) and I had a ball with it, although in hindsight, I should have done my homework better. But 25 years later, I’m a much better real estate consumer. And it’s been a lot of fun. So Yay for you!!! <flinging confetti with wild and reckless abandon>

5

Congrats! :slight_smile: I’m planning on doing the same after I graduate (my last exam’s November 5th!). Have fun. Make sure you have a house-warming party.

6

Congratulations. I bought my first house as a single person 6 months ago (always lived in an apartment til I married, then got divorced, yaddayaddayadda). It is emotionally exhausting, but truly worth it. When you finally move in, you can’t wait to get home. Every day I say a prayer of thankfullnes that I was able to do this. And aren’t parents (and grandparents) wonderful? Couldn’t have done it without them. There’s some serious karma out there (thanks Earl). Cosmetic work can be fun–I’ve learned that I enjoy painting!

7

Congratulations! That’s a truly wonderful story!

8

Congratulations to you, Miss Zipper Girl! Everything is working out spendidly for you, and I think that’s absolutely wonderful. Have fun fixing things up! And keep us posted on your progress!

9

Very best thing you could do at this time in your life. And yes, you are blessed! When I turned 16, my parents started to charge me rent. I moved out shortly after high school graduation and wasted a lot of money on renting. These days, here in CA at least, real estate is a wonderful investment. Best of luck to you, it sounds like you are headed in the right direction. BTW, there’s really good stuff to treat cat-pee carpet smell if necessary. I forget the name, but it’s only marketed for pet odors.

10

:slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile: Major Congratulations!!! :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

Good luck!!

11

(bolding mine) Count your blessings. It now rains in my attic. We got massive amounts of rain Saturday, and our ancient roof sprung several leaks. :eek:
We knew when we moved in (11 years ago) that the roof was in need of replacing, and we’re lucky it lasted this long.
The really bad part is that the inspector told us there were two layers of shingles on it (the maximum allowed), and we found out there’s actually three.
The fuckwads who lived here before us just kept laying shingles over shingles. :smack:
We look like hurricane survivors with the bright blue tarp on our roof.

Anyone wanna guess what we’re doing this weekend?
It’s nice to have a handy husband with handy friends. And a Home Depot credit card.

12

Oh, crap, I was so busy complaining I forgot to say Congratulations.

Congratulations, ZipperJJ ! Great news!

13

Congratulations, ZipperJJ, from a fellow soon-to-be-homeowner!

14

Thanks everyone :slight_smile:

I am so amazed that not one person has said anything negative about this whole thing (not just here - IRL too). In fact it’s just been so easy, everything keeps falling into place, have so much support… I keep waiting for some shoe to drop but so far it’s been awesome!

BiblioCat - Yeah those “big mechanical” things that are relatively new is what really made me feel confident about this house. I had a great inspector too.

Scuba_Ben - Congrats to you, too! Not sure where you live but I’m kind of stoked about moving in at this time of the year when it’s cold - I won’t have to worry about lack of A/C or get anything planted until next spring. Yay!

I have millions of questions for all our DIY experts here. Can’t wait to get it all out of my head and into GQ :slight_smile:

15

Wow, congrats! The first house is the coolest, because it’s the first one.

I remember all the same doubts and newness of going through all the financial, inspection business. Have a ball.

I just bought my third, and it’s because I realized I am NOT the fixer-upper kind of guy. This was new construction, and we got everything we needed, anticipated needing or really wanted built right in.

Of course now all my shitty furniture looks shabbier in here than it did in the last place, so guess what I do for fun now?

Did you guess “buy furniture?” Then you win!!!

16

Congratulations, Zipper. You took your time, you made good decisions - you did it right. You probably will have one unpleasant, unexpected surprise before possession date (or even on possession day), but that’s how she goes.

We bought our house as a fixer-upper, too, and it really is a good thing. You get a great sense of accomplishment by taking a run-down, unloved house and making it look good again. You also get a WHOLE lot of money when you re-sell, in our neck of the woods. :smiley:

There’s one thing that works just super for smelly, old, stained carpets - RIPPING THEM OUT! Have you checked under the carpets? We had nice linoleum under three of our four rooms with old carpet, and a lot of older houses have perfectly preserved hardwood under old carpet.

Owning a house rocks. You get up one morning, you decide to paint your room yellow, you go buy paint and just do it. You’re going to become so familiar with your local hardware stores - make sure you check out all their free seminars, too. There’s always workshops on painting, building decks, building fences, stuff like that going on.

17

Yay for you ZipperJJ! Like mr bus guy said, the first house is the best. It’s that first time home buying feeling that’s just so great. My first house was a fifty year old farmhouse with huuuuuuge rooms. It also had some potential problems. The roof, furnace, ac unit, stove and water heater were old. I bought some insurance that would help with replacement of the stove, hvac, furnace and water heater should they need replacing within the first two years. Guess what? They all died. A hundred dollar deductable for each one. For four hundred bucks I got brand new ones. Also, good ol’ mother nature saw fit to send a hail storm five months after I moved in, so for a two hundred fifty house insurance deductible I got a new roof. I was extremely lucky at the time. :smiley:

I replaced carpet, kitchen and hall flooring, counter tops and sanded down the stained kitchen cabinets, primed and painted em, put new pulls on the doors, relpaced the kitchen and bathroom sinks, put in a new toilet, painted every room in the house, put in ceiling fans, screened in the front porch… I went fix up nuts!

Now, I’m in my third house. The last two were brand new. The one before this was already built when I moved in, but I had a hankerin’ to build a house, so I sold it and built this one. It was an experience I’m glad I had but don’t want again. If I buy another house, it’ll be a smaller older house that I can do some playing around with. I think. Or maybe a condo.

Anyways, congrats on the house! May you and your dog be happy there a long, long, long, long time!

18

I certainly also offer my congratulations to you also, ZipperJJ.

But, I’d also like to congratulate your parents for having such a bright, resourceful and fiscally-responsible daughter!! I know they must be very proud of you in many other things than just the home purchase.

I was a flaming idiot when I was 26.

19

I certainly also offer my congratulations to you as well, ZipperJJ.

But, I’d also like to congratulate your parents for having such a bright, resourceful and fiscally-responsible daughter!! I know they must be very proud of you in many other things than just the home purchase.

I was a flaming idiot when I was 26.

20

Congratulations! I’m sure your family is very proud of you!

I’m still in the process of fixing up the house we bought last summer. The cat suite was first, so we could move the furbabies from the old house, then the master bedroom because I can’t sleep in a pink room. I finally found my sofa and loveseat, so now the living room is going to get painted and the at least 45 year old carpet removed. If the hardwood floors are in good shape, we’re just going to refinish them. I really prefer hardwood to carpet.

One piece of advice - get professionals to install any carpet. My late father in law hired Idiot Handyman to put in the new carpet at our old house, and within 6 months it had waves because it wasn’t installed properly. Carpet is so expensive - it’s worth it to make sure it’s done right.