Looked at 8 houses on Saturday (we only had one weekend to do this).
Narrowed it down to 3.
Then 2.
Then one of those got an offer put on it on a Sunday afternoon, because reasons. Buh.
1 house stands.
And thus, the process begins.
The guy that owns it was a car nut, though. Really curious what he was driving. The garage is fully decked out with work benches, cabinetry, ceiling mounted industrial space heater, ceiling mounted lighting (Snap-On 8 bulb spot light), and the largest NOS bottle I've ever seen in my life standing in the corner.I assume only the cabinets will be staying.
Alrighty my trusted internet friends, school me on home ownership. What do I need to do and keep in mind before, during and after the purchase?
Had the cabinets written into the contract, just in case.
Offer made and accepted. Time to do the financials and inspect everything.
There is a lot of stuff to know, but I will offer this tidbit: film your walkthroughs of houses. I filmed mine and it was hugely helpful. I carried around my tablet with the camera running. Don't bother looking through it or you won't actually look at the house, just treat it like a body cam. Huge help to us in deciding.
Damn, dodint, that's a great idea about filming.
Michele's advice is to pay close attention to the neighbors. They may end up being a good reason to GTFO.
With the administration looking to wipe out Dodd-Frank it may not be as much of an issue, but we had to provide the past two years of tax returns, last two retirement statements for any retirement account we have, pay stubs, and bank statements going back three months. Be ready to have all of that on hand.
Be aware that your home inspections are surface-level only. They won't catch shit that's inside the walls, for instance. Like we found out with the shower.
Home warranties are bullshit. Don't get one, don't let a seller use one as an incentive. Trying to use ours put us worse off than if we had just paid ourselves, as their contractors did so much damage that we ended up having to spend more out of pocket.
Also, find a realtor who actually listens to you. It took us a few before we found one that was sending us properties we actually liked rather than just whatever they thought we might be able to afford.
Realtors get paid when you buy a house. Keep that in mind. Even if they say they work for you, they only get paid when the purchase is complete. So, they'll push anything to get you to buy something.
I'd personally do as much internet research as possible. Zillow, trulia, realtor.com, there are a ton of ways to view properties. Anything that has a MLS# can be viewed online. And even ones that don't thanks to zillow, craigslist, etc... Just ask Nate.
Don't over-extend your budget. Feel free to PM me if you have any mortgage specific questions.
Find an area that is a good compromise of convenience and amenities.
Don't forget, if you buy a single family residence, you'll need yard equipment, ladders, tools, etc... which can add up if there are other purchases you have to make to furnish, or do any fixing.
Take your time.
It would take quite a while for any undoing of Dodd Frank to take effect, IMO. And I don't know how much it would really change from a documentation perspective.Originally Posted by Tom Servo
Kid is good people. He sniffed out a few weird quirks of properties by pulling them on on Google Maps and looking at the satellite imagery. Stuff like a shared driveway or close proximity to a commercial zone.
Russ (you mentioned in chat), if you go to 1:55 you can see a crude walkthru of the garage:
https://youtu.be/E8yJ_DsyUbA?t=1m55s
The blue thing by the door is the biggest NOS bottle I've ever seen.
Where at?
Location location location! Check on Zillow to see how the neighborhood schools are rated... Probably should avoid neighborhoods with bad schools unless you have other amazingly compelling reasons to ignore that.
It's also going to take a while for you to finally get the house you want... So be patient.
Keep us posted, good luck!
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