Well, I took the first big step- I talked to a mortgage guy today. I was kind of nervous, since I do have some credit card balances and student loans, but my credit is "excellent" so I should be able to get something. He told me to start shopping! Hooray! So I have a call in with a Realtor and can hopefully start looking at some houses soon.
Here's where I need some pointers from those of you that have already purchased a home... What is one thing you wished you would've thought about or knew when you did it? What are those secret tips?
I also really need to think about what I want in a house... a yard is number 1 for me and the puppies. Oh, I also need to have a garage in this crazy Wisconsin weather. I would like a nice kitchen with some cupboard and counter space... and it would be really nice to have more than one bathroom. I know there's all those other stuff, but what about the things that you don't realize until you've lived in the house for a while??
Honey-Sweetened Spiced Peach Jam
4 days ago
6 comments:
yea Heidi! House shopping is so much fun! I'd love to come help. Check to see if there's been a property survey done, otherwise, I'd advise you get one. We didn't, and now we wish we had. With the snow in the winter, if the house is on the corner, you'll have more to shovel. When you're looking at the house, look at structure -are there cracks in the walls, ceilings? In the basement, if you can, look at the support beams and floor boards, are they solid, no cracks? And check for any water damage too. I don't know if you've thought about it, but I'd advise purchasing at least a 3 bedroom home- it's better for resale. When we bought our house, the windows looked brand new, but after living here for awhile, we found the windows weren't installed very well. In fact, one in the kitchen was put in backwards so there's a gapping hole right now that we've temporarily filled with a towel, until we can figure out how to fix it. that's all i can think of now. let me know if this helped!
amber
Thanks Amber! It does help... yes, I'll be looking at 3+ bedroom homes with at least 1.5 bathrooms (though I told him I'm open to looking at places with 1 bath).
2 things I love about my house that I wouldn't have realized before living there: the laundry room on the 2nd floor and the half bath on the first floor. Without these 2 features I would be making a lot more trips up and down the stairs!
Only bit of advice I have about the buying process is give yourself plenty of time between the offer and the closing date to get everything in order and get the inspections done. That is a really stressful time and you do not want it to be rushed.
Some things I'd think about more: Our bedrooms are all on the driveway side of the house so early morning or night leaving is loud in the bedrooms. Those bedrooms are also on the south side of the house so we don't have much natural light coming into the living space during the day--our house is kind of dark. I'd look for a house where the bedrooms are either all on the second floor or on one end of the house. I'd also run the water and open cubboards and use the light switches to see what they operate. Check out the appliances too, if included. We'd also like a "playroom", another extra, place to go. Now that the kids are getting bigger this house is shrinking! I think I'd also check for storage options. We would also drive by the house at different times and see what the noise level is and to check out the neighbors:-) Have fun! It's an exciting time!
I would have to agree with Kim about looking at the placement of rooms in relationship to the orientation of the house. the front of our house faces north, so no sunlight in the living room and our bedroom, which is a bummer, making these rooms colder in the winter.
Electrical Outlets...phone jacks...make sure they are in rooms you want them. For example our bathroom doesn't have electrical outlets, but we have several phone jacks and that is kind of cool! Look carefully at the paint and ceiling to make sure there are not any water stains that have been covered up. I love having a linen closet, love it. I sometimes wish our washer and dryer were not down a flight of stairs. I worry that when I become old or if I break a leg, I will struggle to do laundry in this house...good thing Jason does it. Look at the trees too...we pay extra every year to have the roto rooter guy come and "un tree root" our pipes, it's little costs like these that add up. I think what Amber & Kim said are very true too! I looked at a house once that I could hear the next door neighbor flushing...talk about a poorly built set of homes!!
Post a Comment