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February 2012 Moms
jldubb0626
member
A mismatch of a post...
jldubb0626
member
A couple things..
1) If you are Team Blue and would like a customize badge like the one in my siggy, let me know you due date and I'll do you one for you. I don't want to step on any toes but if I end up doing one for Team Pink, I'll let you ladies know.
2) DH and I are going house shopping tomorrow! We're first time buyers and I'm just wondering if any of you home owners have any advice on buying a house. Obviously not the finance end of it since I know we're all different there but, any tips or anything to look for would be appreciated!
Have a wonderful evening ladies!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: A mismatch of a post...
Open and close all doors a couple of times. Don't settle. Go into a room and shut the door, see how the air feels in the room. Check out the attic for insulation. For an older home, ask if they have had foundation repair and if they have proof, like a certificate, for it.
Honestly, I would check out your neighbors. If you really like the house, drive by a couple of different times, morning, noon, night, weekends, see how they keep their yard and maintenance. I would also drive by when it rains or ask to see the house when it has rained or is raining.
Just my suggestions! Have fun! House hunting is SO much fun but the paperwork is stressful and long!
Have fun house hunting! It can be stressful but it's also fun.
Think ahead about things that you don't deal with now like baby stuff, extra storage, etc.
Think about how you'd arrange your furniture (some rooms have a weird layout that looks cool but then you can't figure out how to fit your stuff in it.)
I don't know where you live but we have horribly hot summers so we wanted to make sure we didn't have any huge windows or walls of windows that would be straight in the sun all day.
Make sure you feel safe and comfortable in the neighborhood. Drive around at different times of the day/ night.
DH became a double above knee amputee with traumatic brain injury (TBI) - July 2009
TTC - August 2009 DX: Severe MFI & TF due to TBI
DH SA 0 count, started clomid therapy - November 2010
DH SA 0 count, increased clomid dosage - January 2011
DH SA 75 million with 60% motility!! - May 2011
IVF with ICSI ONLY OPTION - May 2011
3dt of 2 Grade A 8&7 cell embryos May 19, 2011
+HPT May 30 2011 -- Memorial Day!
Beta #1 = 34 Beta #2 = 101.8 Beta #3 = 603!
Expecting beautiful Eden Grace February 7, 2012!
I don't believe that God ever tells us "no". he has three options. Yes, not right now, or I have something better in mind. We just have to wait & see.
Yay! House hunting! It can be fun and it can be frustrating.
DH and I are looking for a house right now (he's bought a house before, but this is all new to me!)
- take photos. You will not remember everything perfectly afterward and having pictures (even if they're quick and not the greatest) is really helpful. But don't obsess, haha. I use DH's iPhone and just snap photos of the rooms/yard/etc.
- take notes. DH does this while I take pics. Write down everything you would need to do ... new flooring, repaint the bathroom, reseed the lawn, replace a window. Make notes if the roof looks questionable... anything that is a negative. It helps with deciding on how large of an offer to make/whether the house is worth it.
- ask your realtor to send you the cost of utilities if you're serious about putting in an offer. I'm not sure if realtors typically offer to do this anyway or not.
- DH and I started out with a long wish list but we've quickly learned what's important and what's not. (We want a dishwasher, but we're no longer making that a requirement... we can ADD a dishwasher!)
Hope that helps. Some of these things are probably somewhat obvious... but they've been helpful for us. Happy house hunting!
Can I ask for one the 22nd??? ;0) We are looking to buy, as well. I would say, one thing I have found in our rental homes that end up being AWFUL...
DH found this house without me ever seeing it. Dog pee smell in the basement, and he says he "didn't smell it." Liar. But whatever. I would take a black light with me, and I am NOT kidding. In this house, the basement is un-useable for me bc the smell makes me throw up! And I am the ONLY ONE who smells it, other than my sis, but it is there. Anyway. I took a black light to the carpet that looked spotless and it looks like they just left the dog down there to use as a BATHROOM! And the only way, after having carpet cleaners three times, to get rid of it, would be to get new carpet and padding and strip and seal the concrete. Just take a black light and give it a sweep. I can't wait to move....
Also, talk to neighbors. At our LAST house, I kept smelling mold. Come to find out, the swamp cooler(desert area) had burst and part of the roof fell in with the people before us. From the smell of it, there was mold in the walls, and when we moved some stuff in our bathroom and in our bedroom closet, I found a couple spots of it.
There's some special check they can do for leaks. Hubs doesn't know it, yet. But when we find a house, we are SO getting that test done.
Take pictures or videos of each house. Also bring a note pad and jot down anything that you would think would help you make a good decision. Don't be afraid to bring a tape measure. When my DH and I were house shopping there were a lot of houses that didn't have furniture in them, this way we could find out what really could fit into some of the rooms.
Good luck and have fun!
THIS! I bought my current house as a brand new house, it was empty and I hate it because there is no way (that I've managed to come up with anyway) to make it a comfortable living place! We are looking for a new house now and most don't have furniture in them and I sit there and try to figure out how it can be set up.
I have bought two houses on my own and now me and df have been looking, it is much more difficult to have two people agree I've found. I don't worry about a lot of the stuff that other people mentioned because I always have them write in the contract that we can withdraw an offer if the inspections turn up any issues. So I leave the foundation and cracks etc to professionals.
This time I'm really thinking about living in the house, especially with the lo on the way. How will the kitchen be for cooking, etc. This house has like no storage so I'm looking for that. My df has trouble with things like carpet/wall color but I feel like all that can be changed pretty easy so I ignore that. If you are willing to make changes consider what can be done (the house that we are thinking about making an offer on we would probably take down a wall and change the kitchen up) but you have to consider that with how much you are willing to spend and spend in changes.
I'll also say that if your realtor is not working for you find a new one. I didn't really like the realtors I worked with on either of my first two houses. We are on our third realtor this time. I don't think we are too demanding but the first two only showed houses I found, and wouldn't get back to me for weeks on questions and we have missed being able to make offers because they had offers accepted before our realtor put one together. We have been working with this new realtor for one week, he showed us one house we asked to see and I think we are going to make an offer, but the next day he sent me 5 houses that fit everything we were looking for and showed us to them for us to compare. That is more than the other two have done and we had been looking since february with a few offers.
GOOD LUCK:)
Oooh, house shopping is so fun!
The ladies have already given some great advice. Especially about driving by a few different times during the week. Even if you feel like you are stalking the house. Drive there after work to see how you feel about the commute. During day drive-byes, I always look for some neighbors that are home and some gone (hopefully working). The more in and out activity during the weekdays is more likely neighbors will notice the odd things going on at your house too.
I would add about opening the doors and windows (especially). With windows make sure they stay open and close easily. To replace them can be expensive since you will want a uniform look and it never seems like just 1 window needs replacing!
Check for ventilation in the bathroom (fan or window). If it is a place you are seriously considering, even turn on the water in more than 1 room and flush the toilet. Don't know if you have ever been getting ready at the same time and 1 person in the shower and the water turns to ice, if this happens decide if you can live with it or have money for a new water heater.
If there are changes that you would like to make, decide if you are not able to do them right away if you can live with the house the way it is. Things ALWAYS come up and you have to change your plans. This includes messy neighbors. I have friends who live next to a hoarder, majority of it is in his backyard. Every time they go back there or have friends over, they are constantly aggravated or apologizing.
Walk your friends or family through if you want to look again. They will give some extra insight & not be so emotionally involved/in love as you will be. See how comfortable it will be with more people than just the 2 of you in the gathering space (living room, kitchen or dining room).
Look past any decor or wall colors; these are the only things that will either leave with the current owners or be changed in less than a day.
Most importantly, if it does not feel like home, it may not be the one. You should know when you find the one...just like when you found YH
"When the world says, 'Give up,' Hope whispers, 'Try one more time.'" -Anonymous
PP all mentioned awesome tips. DH and I just bought our 1st "together" house, and a few of our biggest things were...
Plenty of storage,
Like others said, really check into "technical things" or if you don't know much about the stuff anyways, make sure to add to the contract that you must have an inspection before closing/making the final decision to buy.
Outlet placement. Seems strange, but we've lived in a few rentals where outlets were either scarce, or in super inconvenient places and that wasn't something we wanted to continue to deal with. Little ones and extension cords and what not don't quite mesh...
Having an amazing realtor is key I believe.
Everything else was either covered well by PP's!
Have fun!
One thing that I didn't see mentioned is to go see the place a couple of times. We saw our house a few times before we put an offer in. And, once you think you've found a place, take an additional look around and make sure there's nothing else. When we were looking last spring, I had fallen in love with our neighborhood. DH took a little more convincing, just because he's more practical. I spent hours looking online, making maps of where to drive by and just from that we nixed neighborhoods that we thought looked nice, but saw that they weren't well taken care of.
And like someone else said - don't settle just because you're looking to stop renting by x date. Your first house may not be there now, but could be there soon.
House hunting is awesome, but can be overwhelming! Be sure to keep us all updated on how it goes!