Homebuying ?s and nobody to talk to!

ZoeMay06

So...I realize it's 11:30pm on a Saturday and I'm not likely to get many responses, but we may have just been presented with an amazing opportunity and I'm trying to sort this all out in my head!

We've been casually looking at houses for a few months and just recently got serious. On our first weekend of open houses, we found a house that we really loved. Perfect neighborhood where we have lots of friends with kids, good schools, house is nice and big and doesn't need ANY work, floorplan is a little funky and kitchen's a teensy bit small but not dealbreakers because everything else about the house is fantastic. Only problem is that it's at the very top of our budget. Our realtor has been in contact with the seller's agent and found out their bottom line, which we could totally do. I *just* got the email and my mind is racing.

But is it crazy to make an offer on essentially the first house we look at??? Isn't it more normal to look at dozens of houses over several months to find out what's really out there? Will something like this come along again? Will we always regret it if we don't act on this?

Further complicating matters is that we'll be out of town all of next week. But...we do have cell phones...so maybe not a huge problem? OMG OMG OMG, I don't know what to do!!!

oceanangelbeauty

Disclaimer: I have never bought a home but have apt/ new temp home for me searched many times. My advice: follow your gut!

ZoeMay06

Thanks M! That's all I've ever done in the past too, so it's hard to know what to do. My gut is definitely saying DO IT! Just not sure what my brain thinks we should do.

StefandTodd

We bought the first house we looked at with our realtor. The one thing we did that made us feel super confident was we researched the area for months ahead of time, knew exactly where we wanted to live so that when a house was available in our budget in our area, we didn't have to think twice. If you know this is the area you want to live in, I'd follow your gut and not wait. Real estate is about location location location. I'm so so glad we made an offer on our house our first day out, it's first day on the market, 17 months ago.

ZoeMay06

Thanks Stef! I really appreciate your advice since I know how much thought and research you and T put into it ahead of time. It's our absolute first choice of neighborhoods. Well, we might prefer to be a couple of blocks over, but that's nothing. And the house is soooo cute. Here's a picture:

 

teambaumer

Go for it! The one reason we haven't bought is that we are not sold on an area where we want to stay yet. We did the search and made many bids a few years ago, looking back I am so glad we didn't get any because we just weren't ready to settle on a neighborhood and neither of us wants to go through the process of selling and buying several times over until we find the one!

If your gut tells you, do it! Things have a way of coming together for a reason. Good luck!!!

sewhappy

Our situation last year was fairly similar.  We went from "just looking" to lined up with a real estate agent, a loan and "in contract" on a home in a mere 3 days. DH was OOT at the time and this was our first home purchase.  We've lived here a year now and are so happy we made it happen.  Message me on facebook if you want to here more about it.

Short version, if you know it's what you want, then go for it. 

ZoeMay06

teambaumer:

Things have a way of coming together for a reason.

I think this is just what I needed to hear. I've always believed that when you're on the right track, the path sort of opens up in front of you and things fall into place without much resistance. And that is exactly what this feels like, so maybe it's meant to be?

Thanks N too, I remember talking to you about that at the Ikea GTG last year...you were in the midst of it all right then. 

Wow, I'm pleasantly surprised to see some night owls like myself! I'm working on a project for school but it's hard to stay focused with all this house business going through my head.

teambaumer

ZoeMay06:

Wow, I'm pleasantly surprised to see some night owls like myself! I'm working on a project for school but it's hard to stay focused with all this house business going through my head.

 

Just got in about an hour ago from Bunco with the Sacties and working on homework too. Off to bed now, though. 

Good luck and lots of house dust Z!

Mrs.BoomBoom

IMO it's like anything else.  Wedding dress, lifelong mate, etc.  Every opportunity should be treated the same.  Would you not turn in a winning lottery ticket just because it was the 1st one you'd ever bought?

Good luck and hopefully you will not have to experience the hell that can be homebuying!

lukaface

The house is beautiful!  Go for it.  We made one offer on a house that we saw the first day of looking.  We've been here a year and a half and could not be happier with our home.  Good luck!!

NorcalLinds

I have a different thoughts than the others because of our current situation. At the very least grab anyone who is willing and have them go through the house. It's hard to see things that are potentialy bad when you are so excited. I'm sure you are totally informed home buyers, just be sure! I'm sorry I'm so jaded from home buying.

Mrs.K&C

We looked online for quite a while just checking out what was out there, but we bought a house we looked at our first and only day actually physically looking at houses. It was a foreclosure, so no info really but we got two good inspections and have zero regrets. We love our house and love that it happened quickly for us!!

ZoeMay06

NorcalLinds:

I have a different thoughts than the others because of our current situation. At the very least grab anyone who is willing and have them go through the house. It's hard to see things that are potentialy bad when you are so excited. I'm sure you are totally informed home buyers, just be sure! I'm sorry I'm so jaded from home buying.

That's our problem, we feel like we don't really know what we're doing since we're just getting started. And hopefully the inspection will give us a lot more info (if we get that far). Thanks for the advice, I'll try to get a friend or two to come along and be a fresh set of eyes. I keep trying to tell myself "small kitchen! weird floorplan!" but those things seem like they'd be workable given all the good things this place has going for it.

NorcalLinds

I wish you the best of luck!! Please call me if you want to chat. We really didn't know what were doing either. And we totally f'ed up a lot. Here we are selling our super cute house with the not so great floor plan 4 years later. The one thing I really didn't get, it costs alot of money to sell your house. If you are not happy it's not easy to move. Think of it like a 30 year commitment. I realllly wish we had.

ZoeMay06

NorcalLinds:

I wish you the best of luck!! Please call me if you want to chat. We really didn't know what were doing either. And we totally f'ed up a lot. Here we are selling our super cute house with the not so great floor plan 4 years later. The one thing I really didn't get, it costs alot of money to sell your house. If you are not happy it's not easy to move. Think of it like a 30 year commitment. I realllly wish we had.

Thanks Lindsy. I really wish you the best of luck too with selling your place (which I thought was super cute and in a great location FWIW!). Try not to be too hard on yourself though, it's hard to know what's going to be important to you 30, 10 or even 5 years into the future.

abvernon

I can give you some persepctive since we are looking in the same areas (santa clara/sunnyvale) and I agree with all pp.

The inspections will definitely give you a better idea of the house. Plus you can still get out of contract after the inspection if is not what you guys wanted.

We did that with the previous place we were in contract. Turns out one of the bathrooms need to be demo BEFORE COE (we were going for an FHA loan) and we just did not have that money on hand. We figure it was easier for us to spend the few hundred dollars and get out of contract than to spend thousands of dollars to redo it all.

I also would like to add-do you see yourself in the same house in 5/10/15+ yrs? Will it still fit your lifestyle, family, etc.? Can it be expanded on? I tend to look at the present and future of the house.

For us, we are looking for our forever home to where we see ourselves living it in at least 15-20 yrs, that is if we can find one within our price range!

Good luck!! 

Mrs.K&C

We didn't know what we were doing either, but one thing someone, somewhere said always resonated with me - you can change everything except location and flow. Or floorplan, basically. I mean you could gut the house at some point but that's unlikely. So if weird = problematic with how you want to live, you definitely want to think about that.

pkw

I am more than willing to come be a second set of eyes! ;)Just let me know, you know when I am at school so outside of that I am free if you want a totally objective outside opinion or a devils advocate. Only one word of caution, if the kutchen is smaller Tim your current kitchen think very long an hard before jumping in, that is the absolute hardest room to condense. Ultimately o don't think it is howNy homes you see but how THE house works for you. Crossin my fingers for you!!!!

RevJG

I don't want to rain on your parade, but unless you think the house is going to get snatched up, I would wait.  Think about it a LOT and see what else is out there.  We bought in 2007 at the height of the market and I regret it every single day.  The house is great in a great neighborhood but it isn't big enough and after paying our mortgage, taxes and general upkeep, there's no money left to do the things I really want to do (like redo the kitchen, add a bathroom, etc-basically all the things we said we would do immediately upon moving in....four years ago).  We felt a lot of pressure to buy quickly because things moved so fast back then and I think we got pushed into it by our realtor.  Of course, the fact that we really want to move and are about $150k underwater has nothing to do with my negativity.

EmmieB

If it's in our neighborhood, I say GO FOR IT ;-)

I, like K, am willing to be a second pair of eyes. And since in my past life I helped people work with their spaces I'm happy to help in that regard, too. 

ZoeMay06

Thanks so much everyone, I really appreciate everything you've said. We've seen 5-6 more houses since finding this one and for the money, none of them come close to how nice this one is. The "small" kitchen is still way bigger than our current one, and the floorplan could actually be a positive thing since the bedrooms are separated a bit from the main living areas so noise wouldn't carry to sleeping kids' rooms. We're hoping to submit our offer tomorrow!

Mrs.K&C

ZoeMay06:

Thanks so much everyone, I really appreciate everything you've said. We've seen 5-6 more houses since finding this one and for the money, none of them come close to how nice this one is. The "small" kitchen is still way bigger than our current one, and the floorplan could actually be a positive thing since the bedrooms are separated a bit from the main living areas so noise wouldn't carry to sleeping kids' rooms. We're hoping to submit our offer tomorrow!

Good luck!!!! Sometimes you just know Are there some things about our house I don't absolutely love? Of course. But overall it's great and works well for us and we're so happy we bought it. And if your kitchen is bigger than what you have now (which is the case with us), you'll be in heaven. YAY!!!

StefandTodd

ZoeMay06:

Thanks so much everyone, I really appreciate everything you've said. We've seen 5-6 more houses since finding this one and for the money, none of them come close to how nice this one is. The "small" kitchen is still way bigger than our current one, and the floorplan could actually be a positive thing since the bedrooms are separated a bit from the main living areas so noise wouldn't carry to sleeping kids' rooms. We're hoping to submit our offer tomorrow!

Yay!  AND, I just want to say also that the ONE thing I was super hesitant about about our house was the kitchen.  I thought it was just too small and not what I envisioned at all.  I totally had nightmarish feelings the night we submitted our offer thinking about the kitchen over and over again.  Like with you, it was bigger than our present kitchen, but just not at all my "dream kitchen" like I guess I hoped we'd find with our house purchase.  BUT, once we moved in to our otherwise perfect, so very "us" house in the location we really really wanted?  I have had not a single regret in 17 months we've been here.  SO, it can happen.  If you love everything else (IMHO, location being MOST important), I'd totally go for it!  The picture you posted is great, what an adorable house!!  Good luck!!

MrsEmm

Just want to wish you the best of luck!!! Exciting times! Talk it over with everyone you can and read & reread a lot of these posts - these girls raised some excellent points as usual! GL!!!!

emeraldwednesda

I'd say offer. Read the disclosures and inspection report carefully and check on your gut often. If you find yourselves totally freaking out, you can get out of it. I'm happy to be eyes as well or a sounding board or whatever you may need. So exciting! What neighborhood is it in? It's v cute!

ZoeMay06

emeraldwednesda:

I'd say offer. Read the disclosures and inspection report carefully and check on your gut often. If you find yourselves totally freaking out, you can get out of it. I'm happy to be eyes as well or a sounding board or whatever you may need. So exciting! What neighborhood is it in? It's v cute!

Thanks A! It's in Willow Glen, near Bird and Willow.

BlissfulGurl

Hi Zoe, we just bought in WG do you mind if I email you privately?  

ZoeMay06

BlissfulGurl:

Hi Zoe, we just bought in WG do you mind if I email you privately?  

I heard that, congrats! We were actually looking at another place really close to yours. And of course I don't mind.

But CRAP, I *just* found out the seller accepted an offer last night.

We're hoping to be their backup in case it falls through, but this certainly adds an extra snag. 

quesarah

Good luck house hunting!  What really helped me was to make a list of my must haves in a house (i.e., big kitchen, lots of storage, etc.) and things I was okay with giving up (smaller bedrooms, etc.).   

soon2Bkranz

ZoeMay06:

BlissfulGurl:

Hi Zoe, we just bought in WG do you mind if I email you privately?  

I heard that, congrats! We were actually looking at another place really close to yours. And of course I don't mind.

But CRAP, I *just* found out the seller accepted an offer last night.

We're hoping to be their backup in case it falls through, but this certainly adds an extra snag. 

This happened to us. I am so so happy it did because I love the home we did get a million times more! SO heres hoping to the same news for you