Well I guess I've more or less bought a house.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Woohoo?

Just kidding and felt like mundanely sharing something pointless. It’s got me pretty stoked. But after all the nightmares my friends have told me, this was pretty damn painless so far. I dream at night about pouring sulfuric acid on the clothes of people who leave their clothes in the laundry machines all day, plus other annoyances so it seemed time to finally get my own place, and out of apartment purgatory.

I live alone and will for the foreseeable future, so a modest(modest, not tiny and hermit like) place was all I was really looking for. Old straight street neighborhoods with their classic houses with non en-suite-ultra-super-masterbedrooms, and kitchens without a giant black granite ensinked counter to the dining room are just fine for me.

So A couple weeks ago, I figured out a nice comfortable price mortgage I would easily handle and pre-approved, then contacted a friend of a friend realtor.

I set up four places to look at near the area I preferred.

First house. Perfect area, but over 100 years old, and showing it. Musty smell-likely leaks, I dreaded what an inspection would say. C-

2nd. Quirky. The put a staircase into the attic in the middle of the living room. The attic was about 2 inches shorter than me, and useless except for storage. And the living room essentially an entry way with the stairs, leaving no place to put a couch and TV unobstructed. C

  1. Very clean redone, open rooms. But no basement!? It’s smaller than my apartment then once the laundry, furnace, AC, water tank etc all are accounted for. I will look like a hoarder cramming my stuff in here. C

I despaired a bit, looking like I would be doing some serious settling, or raising my mortgage target. :frowning:

The I went to the 4th and last house. jackpot :slight_smile: Pretty close to the ideal spot, very well maintained, with everything important replaced in the last ten years, including roof. Nice and roomy(with an extra room that isn’t accounted for in the square footage, but was done very professionally)* Solid brick(I love brick, let the big bad wolf come :slight_smile: ) A yard for a garden(I will be asking for heirloom tomato seeds next year, too late this year).

Pretty close to perfect, including a couple things I wanted, but were to too much of a whim to really factor into house searching. Like a big southern window. I love little citrus trees, and a big southern window to put them in for the Michigan Winter is nice.

So I walked through it once, and told the guy, “I’m pretty sure this is the place”. I walked around it again, and through it again, and said yep “Lets put an offer in”.

It was actually the cheapest of the 4 by a decent bit, and going by odds this was the outlier, and the other three were more what could be expected in the price range. Screwing around and taking the chance of and possibly being stuck with something in the range of the others wasn’t worth a couple thousand bucks to me.

So I put an offer at full price in same day, and it was accepted the next.

Had the inspection, and he found nothing more than minor issues. He said all reported work ,and replacements had been done when they claimed, and it had been done well by professionals.

So now just the appraisal, which my realtor doesn’t think should be a problem, with the great condition of the house and the extra unreported space.

Then finalizing the loan, which my mortgage dude thinks should be a breeze. And I even got locked in at a rate before the latest jump.

I hope I didn’t jinx it all with this.

2

I don’t think of a house deal as done until you take possession, keys in hand, and all the lawyerin’ paperworks are done. I too hope you haven’t jinxed it. :slight_smile:

Nah, it sounds great - congratulations!

3

why isn’t it a den?

4

Having been in the “biz” for 20 years, a few words of advice, and please forgive me if this sounds like a bit of a Debbie Downer:

  1. Keep every single paper you get at closing. Keep them safe. Keep them where you know where they are.
  2. Read every single piece of paper you get at closing (not just the one’s you sign, but especially those). Yes it’ll take awhile but you have to know what you’re in for.
  3. ASK the signing agent if you don’t understand something. Don’t worry about sounding stupid, nobody anywhere understands everything about a mortgage, not even me. If you have a smart phone or tablet and don’t understand something, Google it right there.
  4. If you have to eat sawdust and drink rainwater, do not ever miss a payment. I can’t stress this one enough. Let every other bill go by the wayside but do not miss a house payment, because -
  5. You do not own the house, the bank does until you make the final payment. One of the biggest myths in modern American society is the “home ownership” myth, and everyone believes it. Just because you get a hearty handshake and a set of keys does not make you a homeowner - making the 360th payment does.

That all said, you’ll feel like a different person once you step inside and realize you are home - it’s really a great feeling.

5

  1. Next to mortgage payments, make sure your property taxes are paid on time. Find out who is responsible for sending the check to the county - you, or the mortgage company. If it is them, see if there is a way to find out online (try the county first) if the bill has been paid.

  2. Be prepared for an increase in junk mail from mortgage companies that are more than willing to “do you a favor” and offer to refinance…

6

Yes - escrow. Find out if your loan will include an escrow for taxes and homeowner’s insurance. I usually recommend that a loan be escrowed to include those in your monthly payment because it is usually easier to budget around a fixed monthly amount for those items than pay them once or twice a year. Many people will tell you “put that money in your own interest bearing account - don’t let the bank use your money like that” - but unless your escrow would be fairly large each month I doubt the interest earned would be worth the temptation to tap those funds should you need to, then be short at the end of the year.

Tax payments - you will get a tax bill near the end of the year, and the bank will too. If your account is escrowed, they will pay them, perform what is known as an escrow analysis, and send you notice in the mail detailing your escrow transactions for the whole year, including if they had to increase your payments for any reason. As far as checking to see if taxes have been paid, most counties cane be checked online now, but the bank can also tell you (and it will be reflected on your monthly statement as well).

Oh - 8) Keep all of your monthly statements forever, with those loan documents you are keeping safe and knwoing exactly where they are.

Speaking of which, be aware that if you do escrow for taxes, the year is more than half over. Unless your bank sets up what is known as a “cushion” and uses some of your loan proceeds to set aside 7 months of taxes, by the end of the year they will a) pay whatever ecrow you have accumulated, b) advance the funds for the balance of 7 months, and c) increase your payment to recover the funds they advance, usually spreading the amount out over 12 months.

So, in short, escrow good idea (IMO), but make sure the account is set up with funds already in a cushion or expect payment shock on January 1.

7

I must share my mortgage payment plan: If you are paid a set amount, for example, twice a month, consider adding up all your set amount monthly expenditures and do an automatic deposit of half that amount out of each check into a dedicated bank account Then set up automatic payments.

In my case I chose the utility budget plan so gas, electric, cable/internet, phone, car payment, car insurance, and mortgage are automatically paid from my dedicated account each month. I NEVER have to worry about whether I have enough to cover the mortgage, and it is deducted on the first business day of each month. Never have to worry about late payments or my credit score, and only have to worry about sending off a check for the occasional medical bill.

The peace of mind is wonderful and I am surprised more people don’t do this, even my experienced loan officer hadn’t heard of it. I wish that sort of peace upon you as a new homeowner – congrats!

8

Welcome to Home Depot. How can we help you?:stuck_out_tongue:

9

Yup. It won’t be long until you know where every nearby big box hardware store is. :slight_smile: It’s great that you can more-or-less do what you want with your own house and yard, but it’s also all your responsibility - furnace, hot water heater, siding, roofing, plumbing, appliances - all you.

10

Buying a house as a single person is pretty cool. No compromise, no back-and-forth, no considering other people’s shit…just yes or no!

Same goes for decorating!

Lots of other stuff sucks about managing a house by yourself (moving heavy stuff, mowing the lawn, turning off the water/electrical for just a second…) but there are perks. Enjoy them! :slight_smile:

11

Well, it’s gonna close tomorrow, Speak now or forever hold your peace, Otherwise I’m gonna sneak into the community of “real adults” :wink:

12

Congrats!

13

Yep. I think my agent was in a bit of shock when I bought mine. He showed me a couple of places that didn’t quite meet my criteria, but we found one that did the first day. I took a look around it, asked a couple of questions, and said, “This is it.” I think he was expecting vacillation, “Let me think about it”, and so forth. Not for me. The house was right, the asking price was in the right range, and all I needed was an inspection report to make an offer. The whole thing was done in about a week. (Actually moving took me a month, though.)

Exactly. I’ve set the place up to suit me. Lots of tech, heavy wood, and comfy furniture. Elmore prints on the walls, dragons and gargoyles lounging about, and a garage so full of odd props and DeLorean parts that I can’t park in it. It’s Geek Manor.

Congratulations, wolfman. It may be more work, but it’s a nice feeling.

14

Well the deed(hehe) is done. I am now the proud owner of a tremendous pile of paperwork, and a small fraction of a house :slight_smile:

Now the moving and the ~100 address updates. :frowning:

Just to try it out though Hey You! Get offa my lawn!