Bonjour peeps! Me and Nick have been on the house hunt since mid-February, and it's been really annoying. Who knew buying a house was so time consuming? It seemed to me that when Awrissa and Pesto did it, it went by super smooth and quick. But not for me and Nick--or at least I don't think it was a breeze. We found one house and put an offer on it. It was a townhouse. Super nice :). But, it took the bank about a week to get back to us and tell us that he wasn't accepting any offers that weren't for the listing price. We were like "screw you bank." If you don't want to even consider our offer--the guy wouldn't even look at it--then we don't want to do business with you. So we started looking again. (It's funny, but they didn't get any other offers on the place. Ours was the only one. And they called us back about a week ago. We sent in a letter to withdrawal our offer. Hahahahah.)
We found another house, that was on a quarter acre. It was two stories, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and was perfect for us :). We loved it. It was listed for 254,900. It was a foreclosure and it's assessed value (for tax purposes this year) was 344,900 or something. The year previous it was like 414,000 or something. So a really nice property, that we were already getting for pretty cheap, but that was a good investment too because the value will most likely go up since it was up in previous years. Anywho, we had the second best offer because someone else came in and offered well into the 300k's. We were like "what the hell? Who does that? The appeal of this place was because it was CHEAP, so why offer so much more for it?" Whatever. So we started looking again!!! I am super down at this point and beginning to think that we'll never find a house. Especially since Nick LOVED that one sooooo much and kept saying things like "in our price range, that's probably the best we can do." So mean of him seriously :).
So, the weekend before last we go out again. We're looking at everything--strictly single family homes though because Nick really wanted one, and they are better and more private--and not being picky. Within three houses, we find another one that we both really really really like. It's a rambler, so just one level, but it's pretty big for just 2 people; 1830 sq. ft. It's got 3 bedrooms (one of them used to be two bedrooms, but a previous owner took out the dividing wall, so now it's a huge bedroom with a sitting area), 3 full bathrooms, a GORGEOUS and completely updated kitchen--granite counters, brand new cabinets, tile flooring--a seperate laundry room, a small formal living room/dining room combo, a family room with a huge stone hearth and fire place/woodburning stove, that's also set up for surround sound, and a lovely stone patio. It's sitting on a quarter acre of land and has two storage sheds in the back yard, with a stone path lined with rose bushes leading out to one of the sheds. It also has a vegetable garden, but we don't know if we'll keep that. Anywho, it's all ours :). We got it.
We're paying 278,000 and the seller is paying all the closing costs. But, it's assessed at 356,000 for this year, and last year it was 404,00, and the 2 years before that it was 465,00 or something obscene like that. So, it's a really good investment property that we'll already have equity in after purchase, and it's also just a really nice house. We are both soooooo excited! We can't wait to move in :).
So, anyone who lives in a state other than VA should come visit and bring your puppies. There's a fence in the backyard :)!
Wish us luck. I probably got ahead of myself with this post, but all that's left is to settle, so hopefully nothing goes wrong between now and then!! Keep your fingers crossed for us :).
Toodles,
Livvy
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8 comments:
I already knew all that stuff
Shut up Anna...You did not! I bet you didn't know that the first bank came crawling back to us. I don't think I told you that at all. Did I?
Awesome!
My only cautions are:
1) don't assume you already have equity in the property. The way the market is going (spiraling down the drain like a great big poo in the toilet) there's a good chance your house will go down in value, not up. So treat it like a place to live, not like an investment. We aren't upside-down on our loan, but one home equity loan during a moment of optimism and we would have been.
2) home inspection! And not an inspector recommended by your realtor - they're not interested in making sure you don't get screwed, they're interested in making the sale so they get their cut. It doesn't mean you have to go back to the owner and try to haggle the price down for every little thing the inspector finds, but it does mean that you'll go into the purchase armed with a list of the things you know you will need to save up for to repair the house. And if there are major problems - mold in the walls, really bad wiring, major water damage, etc., walk away and find a new place.
I loooove that the first bank called y'all back. That's hilarious. What nitwit won't even look at an offer with the market as bad as it is today? Pfft.
Good luck with settlement, and start thinking up a list of things you'll need for housewarming!
Congratulations, Livvy! Your house is definitely nice from the pictures I have seen, what a great lot. See you there!
Thanks you guys! Celeste who did you use for a home inspector. Me and Nick will definitely be getting one :). It's so weird that you warned me about the 'equity' because Dad warned me about the same thing just yesterday! So consider me warned! Me and Nick are definitely going to be treating it like a home though, so no worries. We want to move in and stay there for as long as possible. I'm tired of moving and just want to settle somewhere. Ok...The housewarming will probably be sometime in May. But you guys can come out and see it anytime after settlement--April 21st ;). Love y'all! Toodles.
LOL. Like I remember the name of the guy I met once after this many years. In any case, I hadn't received that little tip when we bought our home, so it was an inspector recommended by Maureen. And on further consideration, nothing major has come up with our house that the guy did NOT warn us about, so I'd say if Maureen can remember who he was, I'd trust him.
And glad to hear you're gonna treat it as a place to live. :) That's why Russ and I are planning on renting for six months or so once we finally move. We want to be very careful about which house we buy next, because we want our next purchase to be our last. It's kind of frustrating though... all the little things we're doing around this house to make it more sellable are only making me wish I could just teleport this house down to TX. I do love this place.
You should stay then :)!!! I'd like that best :-D!
Wow! Livvy that is sooo wonderful! I am smiling from ear to ear. I was thinking about trekking up there this summer anyway, so now I have a really good excuse. I might even be able to make it for the housewarming. Depends on when in May you have it. If it is in the last week or so, I might just make it. I would like to see pictures, too. ahem.
love, mom
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