After 15 years of marriage and hauling our stuff all over the wife and I have finally decided to buy a house. The one we chose was a house we looked at about 6 months ago. At the time, the wife didn’t like it because she said the closets weren’t big enough. That was a poor reason to me…it has 4 bedrooms and theres only 2 of us…but hey, the wife didn’t like it, so I figured it was bust.
I happened to mention it to the realtor that handles the rental property we live in currently and she told that house is still on the market. So the wife went and looked again, and now she loves it! We put a bid in this morning and I’m waiting to hear from the realtor. It is a nice house in a nice neighborhood. (this neighborhood, to be honest…its only a block away)
I’m worried though. The wife is so excited she’s gone out to “window shop” for things she wants to put in it. Me? Well, I just want to plant a tomato garden in the backyard of it. It has a nice patio for me to grill and chill and listen to music on the radio. 4 bedrooms 1 and 2 bathrooms, 2 car garage and a nice sized storage shed in the backyard. Its almost too good to be true. I think its haunted and the realtor won’t tell us. It has another advantage…trees, but not 20 of them, like this yard. Too many pine needles and cones. I’m sick of that. But if we don’t get it, she’ll be so disappointed.
What I think we have in our favor: We both have VA loans, though I’m the only one apllying for it right now, and the house has been on the market for 294 days. The owner is the son of the previous occupant. His father died and he hasn’t lived in the house for 32 years and doesn’t even reside in the state. (he seems to just want to get rid of it). According to the realtor no other bids have been offered for it, save one that fell through.
So wish me luck, fellow dopers. If we get this house we’ll be moving in a few weeks. I am excited as my wife is, but wary. Still, I would love to be in a house that I can finally say is MY house. The cats won’t like moving, but they’ll live…
Good luck! It sounds like it should be a go - buyer is motivated, sellers are qualified - I won’t jinx you by saying I don’t see any problems; fingers just crossed. We have small closets, too - I have my current season clothes in the master bedroom one, and my off-season and special occasion clothes in the closet in my room (one of the other bedrooms). If that’s the only problem with it, I think you’re doing pretty good.
“Cautiously optimistic” is probably the best mindset right now.
I wish you good luck on your purchase and you hope you and yours are happy there for a good, long while.
I would caution you about making the same mistake I did. When I purchased my home, I was given the option of getting a land survey done so that I would know where the property line was. I declined due to the expense. Had I gotten the survey, I would have known that the line is actually about a foot off from where the seller and estate agent said it was. A Foot doesn’t sound like much but it made it impossible to put of the fence I want without a variance which I can’t get because my neighbor objects. No fenced in yard, no dog. No dog and it’s just not a home.
Good luck and best wishes.
And of course, make sure you have someone go through the house to check every single nut and bolt and electrical, etc. You don’t want to buy a money pit that is going to cost you a fortune to, for example, fix a leaky roof or repair termite damage or dangerous electrical wiring, etc. etc. Having a house sit empty can also be a cause of damage - nobody around to notice that slow leak has caused damage in the wall, or maybe warping floors. Don’t mean to be the bearer of doom, but better to know what you are getting into before finding out the hard way.
This appraisal could also help defray costs if something is found that needs to be taken care of pronto.
Motivated seller and long time on the market? Sounds like you have a good shot at this! Keep us posted.
Seconding the suggestion to have someone knowledgeable check out the house ASAP (if you haven’t done that before the offer). IMO if it looks generally OK you don’t need to have to check everything, but you will miss stuff that an experienced person will spot. For instance, in the house I bought last year some floor tiles in the kitchen and hallway were slightly cracked because they were put more or less straight on soft wood floor boards. No way to fix that (and it will get worse) unless you put in a whole new set of tiles on sturdier material, and it’s not very cheap.
Anyway, good luck! I’m very glad I did buy the place. Feels great to have a place that’s really my own.
Part of our contract is to hav someone check the house out, and I have list of them. Just waiting to see if we’regoing to get the place first. Thanks for the good wishes folks, I guess all I can do now is wait.
Realtor called me tonight. The seller has agreed to the original asking price, but will pay for closing, and a 2 grand appliance alliance. So it looks like a deal. Hopefully I can iron out all of the details this week and in a month we’ll have a new home!
Best of luck! As someone who is a happy seller (I have a great offer and it isn’t even listed yet) I like to see folks stepping in and setting some roots and getting some equity towards the future. May your worst problem in the next 20 years be some damn kids on your lawn.
I couldn’t stay for the entire inspection, but they were almost done when I left. There were only a few minor things wrong, and stuff that was relatively inexpensive and that the seller should fix. All in all, the inspectors said the house was in damn good condition. Great!
I could feel my excitement build as I walked through the place again…I know which room I want for my “man cave”, and where I’m putting a hammock in the backyard. I’m planting tomatoes and pumpkins in the fall.
One thing that I thought was we may need more/new furniture for some roooms and then the inspector brought up the Obama tax credit thingie…8 grand back in taxes? Yeah, with that, and the aplliance/decoration allowance of 2 grand the wife and I can make the place perfect and still have a few though left.
My only other concern is installing some kind of burglar alarm/security system. I am a little paranoid. Plus, if this is going to be MY house I want to protect our stuff.
Only 12 days til closing! I always expect the worst, so please wish me luck, folks. I can’t wait to move into this house, because it will be the first house I’ve bought. I am no big fan of yardwork, but I have a few plans that I must implement.
Gratuitous advice will be appreciated! I just want to start my tomato garden!
