Congratulations and happy homeowning! It’s a wonderful feeling and you won’t regret it.
Ditto - best of luck.
I have a question though, from your OP it sounded like you were working with 3 real estate agents? Or was it 3 banks? I couldn’t really tell what you meant with that.
I second getting professionals to install carpet, and I believe I have also heard that getting high quality underlay is worth the money for the difference it makes.
Thanks for the advice guys and the well-wishing. I am truly overwhelmed!!!
I was planning on ripping out the carpet (hardwood underneath) and checking out the state of the floors. Since I didn’t plan on having cash for a while, they were just going to stay icky until I could afford something. Now I have to decide wether I want to pay for carpet (which I might end up ripping up again in a few years to do the floors) or look into having the floors professionally done. I’ve seen dudes try to run a floor sander themselves on that show about flipping on TLC - doesn’t look like something I’d do. So I have to pay for it.
I never considered getting a hack to install carpet so yeah, no sweat there 
I gave the sheet with the room size specs on it to my grandparents, so right now I don’t know how much carpeting will cost me until I can get in and actually measure.
Oh, and I know everyone loves a hardwood floor (me too) but I think with having a large active dog in the house, for the sake of keeping her safe, carpeting will probably be the way I’ll go. My cousin’s dog took a spill on a slippery floor and messed the poor baby up for life 
LiveOnAPlane the fact that your post got double-posted is appropriate. My parents DO rock and deserve much praise. That is why I’ve had no trouble living here my whole life - they are wonderful folks. I am so happy to be making a commitment to be only 200 yards away from them for at least the next 10 years. They have done a great job!!!
Long Time First Time - one agent, FOUR brokers. I actually got those 4 mortgage brokers to FIGHT over me. It was so cool
My agent is the best. You guys wouldn’t even believe. I could do a whole commercial about how she rocks. I just got back from her house where I collected my 7-piece sectional sofa, coffee table, end table, sofa table and wall art. All free. FREE.
swampbear the kitchen will be my first “big project” next summer I think. The cabinets are in fine shape but sooooo 1972. You should send me pics of what you did - I am sad to say that even though I’m a woman I am sure I don’t have the eye for design that a gay bear does 
I am going to paint my living room orange, office green, bedroom yellow and I may be so bold as to make the “multimedia room” EGGPLANT! woot!
Awww… I don’t think I have any pics of the kitchen remodel in my first house. I sold it in 1992. The cabinets were stripped of their stain, primed and painted off white. The counters were some kind of weird linoleum lookin’ green, so I put butcher block on top of em. The sink was cast iron enamel which is nice but it was so beat up it wasn’t worth trying to get it restored so I put in a stainless steel sink. The floor was a really icky green linoleum that I took up and replaced with a beige linoleum with a little blue pattern in it. All the drawer pulls and handles were originally that stainless steel look so popular in the 60’s. I replaced em with copper pulls and handles. It turned out quite nice. It was a big eat in kitchen which I did so love. Huge double window where I had the table I used which actually was a picnic bench. Looked great in the kitchen.
Funny thing. The kitchen counters in the kitchen of my current house are green and the cabinets are all stained. Go figure.
I’ve heard that one wrong move with those floor sanders and you’ll put a huge gash in the floor. Even the most dedicated do-it-yourselfers agree that sanding should be done by a professional.
I had a small hardwood floor re-done by professionals, and it was surprisingly (not cheap, what’s the word?) economical. I see the point about the dog, though. An 80 pound dog will be hell on hardwood, too, with those big, hard claws. I think you’re probably right about replacing the carpet with carpet. Take a look at the hardwood while the carpet’s up, and maybe you’ll want to keep carpet on it while you’re in the house, and take the carpet up when you’re ready to sell.
Taking the carpet out yourself should be very easy. They’re usually just stapled in and tacked on a strip of wood with nails at the edges. Cut your carpet in strips that are about two and a half to three feet wide, yank it out at the edge (being careful of your fingers with all those nails and staples), and basically just roll it up. You will probably want to wear gloves and a mask, though, for nasty old carpet and underlay. The underlay will probably be friable and make a lot of dust. Or, if the carpet guys will yank it for you for a small fee, go for it. Ask them if they’ll haul it away, too - it can be difficult to dispose of old carpet.
Congratulations. Wishing you a lifetime of joy in your new home.
Have fun with the new house!
Beware the extra monthly bills you will now get to go along with the mortgage:
PMI insurance- if you don’t have a big enough down payment.
Homeowner’s Insurance
Property taxes
Electric
Gas
Trash pickup
Phone & internet
Cable or satellite
Water bill
And look out for all the extra stuff you’ll need to maintain the house:
Lawnmower
Tools, tools, tools
ladder
garbage cans
garden hose
cleaning supplies
etc. etc. etc.
Overwhelming stuff but fun to dive into it. Makes you realize how good people who live with their parents have it.
Hampshire - my monthly payment actually has all that stuff (PMI, insurance, taxes) figured in. Neato!
Utilities, yeah. Been doing alot of research on keeping gas usage down that’s for sure.
As for the other stuff…I have a huge spreadsheet going! Every time I use something during the day I think “do I need to buy this for my house?”
And get this - I am going to be joining the ranks of People Without A Television!!! I decided to save me $40 a month and not get cable.
(ok but I have Netflix…and a computer…)
featherlou I’ve ripped carpet up before - all good tips! Hopefully this carpet’s padding will be less scary than my aunt’s house which had turned to dust. I looked at my dad’s last carpet installation bill and noticed there was a charge for furninture moving, pulling up carpeting and disposing of it. Lucky for me there’ll be no furniture, and I can rip and haul it myself.
I didn’t consider this house a “fixer upper” when I bought it but I guess it is. For some reason I equate “fixer upper” with “falling down” Lucky for me this house is in good structural shape.
Except the bees. There’s bees in the garage-to-outside door frame. It makes me laugh because that’s where I’ll be letting the dog out, and I think of the Homer Simpson quote about dogs that shoot bees out of their mouth
ZipperJJ, congrats on your house! One thing you can do with your floor after ripping to wood, before you are ready to put in new carpet, is get large area rugs for your floor. It will cover the imperfections, not be as slippery, be cheaper than carpet in the interim, and not a big deal to replace later. That’s what we had in our previous house in a few choice rooms with hardwood floors that were in less than perfect condition.
Good luck with whatever you do!
My wife and I built a house last year (it’ll be a year on December 20th), and we’ve been loving it. Now, my wife’s mother and her husband are hoping to build a house about two blocks away from us, using the same builder. We’re helping them out as much as we can, having been through the process so recently. There are some things we really wish we had done, but didn’t (we really should have made the garage wider, and we now earnestly wish we’d upgraded the dishwasher from the get-go), and some things we did that turned out to be very wisely done (the enlarged back patio, the concrete footer under the fence to discourage digging by a certain escape-minded dog, the side-entry door on the garage), so we’re acting as their advisors. It’s kinda like going through it all over again, except without having to worry about the money; this time, it’s all about construction and decorating.
Anyway, have fun in your new house. And you might want to think about that concrete footer under the fence, too, especially if your dog is a digger.
Our house is a fixer-upper, too - mostly a “lipstick and rouge” renovation (painting, carpets, yardwork, etc.). I don’t think many people would want or could handle a house that wasn’t structurally sound, unless maybe you’re a contractor yourself, in which case you just build yourself a new house.
I refinished the hardwood floor in the master bedroom of this house before we moved in - using a belt sander, a hand sander and just plain sandpaper. It is worth it. Very soon I’m going to be taking the carpet out of the living room, dining room and hallway to inspect the hardwood floors that are said to be under there. Since they’ve been covered with carpet since the house was built, they shouldn’t be in too bad a shape, should they?
Please?