Everyone Has an Opinion

Have you noticed that everyone has an opinion on how to go about buying a house?

"Yes--you should look here."

"No--you should avoid that bank."

"Use my realtor."

"Don't use that realtor."

and the best:

"Why are you buying a house? Don't do that!"

About two weeks ago, I was at the doctor and mentioned that Mr. Cap and I were looking for a house, probably with an FHA loan. She immediately told me to be wary of those, because of the government reclaiming all of your equity if you don't stay in the house for a minimum of 9 years. She was also very adamant on why owning a house was a bad idea, and that it was safer to just rent.

I've mentioned buying a house/condo to two of my good friends, and both of them have immediately asked what the price range was that I was looking in. Since they're good friends, I wasn't uncomfortable in telling them...until they began making comments on how I should find something for "no more than X-dollars", or "just do what I did and buy a condo for under X-amount". I do appreciate their desire to help, but one of them has never owned a house, and the other is living in a condo that's far smaller than I'd really be comfortable in. And all three of us are in completely different financial situations. So it makes me uncomfortable to have both of them stating how much I should or shouldn't spend, or what I should be looking for. 

I haven't even mentioned that I'm buying a house to another good friend of mine. She's convinced that I need to move to the state that she lives in (which I really wouldn't mind), but I'm not looking forward to the comments and questioning I'm expecting to come my way when she finds out I plan to buy something where I'm currently living.

In the same vein, I don't think Mr. Cap has even mentioned to his family that we're planning to buy a house. They're from the same state as the above-mentioned friend, and they are also all under the impression that we should just pack up and move to be near them. Again, while I'd absolutely love to be out there (and ultimately, that IS where I want to move), it just seems to make more sense to buy a house in our current location, build up some savings for a few years, and move to be near them when we actually have the possibility of finding a job. Right now the job market is so terrible where they live, that it'd be committing financial suicide to move out there. 

I just want to try to make the best and most educated decisions possible for our future. If we waste our money on rent, I feel like we'll never end up moving out of this state. But by the same token, if we up and leave the jobs that we currently have, we'll be in an even worse position because there really doesn't seem to be anything worthwhile job-wise out there.

I think I'm just dreading the inevitable "I told you so" coming from a variety of people, or the questions/shock from others on how much I did or didn't spend on a house. It's interesting how much people seem to feel that your purchases will impact them...

My goal is to buy something that can be sustained on one salary (in case the Mister or I happen to lose a job), but has resale value. It's been much harder than I was expecting to find something that meets that criteria...

Open House

This past weekend, we looked at two open houses!

One was the Short Sale home that we really liked the location of. After seeing the open house, we came to two conclusions:

1. The Location is nice. Really nice.
2. The inside of the house needs to be gutted.

The inside of the house probably needed a good $100k worth of work. It really wasn't livable the way it was. There were cracks in the spots where the wall met the ceiling, the carpets were held together with duct tape in some places, and the entire house had the overall smell of "old books". Which Mr. Cap assured me was mildew. :P

Still, I have to say I'm sad we don't have the type of money needed to renovate that house because the location is seriously THAT GOOD. You could see the pond from multiple windows in the house, and over all it was just a calm and beautiful area. I'm sure once that house is fixed up it'll sell for around $400k. Mr. Cap and I assured ourselves that one day, we'll find a location to live in that's as nice as this one.

The other place we looked at was a condo. It was good size, and very nicely kept up (with granite counters and everything). However, our main issue was the fact that it was all carpeted (which we'd have to pull out), and there is a limitation on size of dogs allowed at the complex. I'm of the mindset that I'd like a good-sized pup once we find the right place. So the changing of the flooring + the inability of housing a dog over 25lbs was something of a dealbreaker. Also, for the price of the place (and the condo fee), I'd expect a lot more out of the deal. So although the location was closer to work for the both of us, we'll be passing on that house as well.

Hopefully we'll start seeing more houses soon, and be able to make more decisions on what we do and don't like.

Short Sales

Going into this whole home-buying business, I was under the impression that there were two ways to sell houses: By the owner (with or without a Realtor), or by the bank. This week I discovered that there was yet another way to sell houses--short sales. 

After doing some reading up on short sales online, I'm surprised that I hadn't already heard of them (since they seem to be quite infamous). And of course, I was looking into short sales because a house appeared on the market two days ago that looked perfect for me and Mr. Cap--but it was, of course, a short sale. 

I'm still waiting for my pre-approval to go through, but our Realtor friend said she'd look into the house and get us as much information as she can about it. She hasn't yet said "Don't go for it", but it seems that very few Realtors are actually interested in spending the time to work through one of these. So although the house looks like it would be an awesome fit for us, the process we'd have to go through in order to purchase the house might not be worth it. It's sort of disappointing to think that we found something that looked like a great fit, but we don't have any real chance at getting it. But I think most people go through this at some point while looking for a house (either it's bought before they can make an offer, or they find out it's a short sale). 

After considering this house, however, I think Mr. Cap is now more interested in purchasing a house than purchasing a condo. When I ran the condo idea past him again a couple days ago, he said "Is it really worth paying over $500 a month in condo fees to have your grass cut and your heating bill paid?". Since Mr. Cap had previously been leaning more towards the condo idea (since he wouldn't have to take care of the outside of the house), I was kind of surprised to hear him say that. But he makes a good point. Even in the coldest months, I don't think we'd be paying $500/month for heat + plowing. And even in the warmest months, I don't think we'd be spending $500/month on cutting the grass. So...unless we found a place with a far more reasonable condo fee (which can be difficult in the area that we live in), a condo is probably not the way to go for us. 

There is one condo location that we liked very much, that has a $215 condo fee. That's a little more reasonable than $500. But the prices of the actual units are outside of what we're willing/able to pay (curses!). I'd absolutely love to live at this complex, since the units are new and it's in a nice quiet area. But paying around $300k for a condo isn't something that we're really ready to do at this point.

So, the search is continuing for us. I think we'll keep looking into that short sale a little bit (because it just looks so right). But I won't be surprised if for 1, our Realtor doesn't want to pursue it, and 2, someone puts an offer in on it before we do. 

On the bright side, I now know what a house looks like that Mr. Cap really likes! I dragged him out of the house to drive by it on Wednesday, and his response was immediately "yes" when he saw it. This is the first time he's responded so immediately and so positively to a location. I'm going to have to tuck that information away to keep in mind later when more houses show up on our e-mail lists. It's such a shame that it's a short sale...

The Loan Officer

(sounds like the name of a crappy action movie--*dun dun DUN*!!)

Last week I had the opportunity to talk to the loan officer that was recommended to me by my parents. She seems to have a very good personality for this sort of thing--I'm the type of person with phone anxiety, but she was easy to talk to and definitely put me at ease.

She confirmed one of my worries...however it might also be a blessing in disguise. 

Issue: Mr. Cap is a contractor. And because he's only been one since May (and had a career change from his previous job), we can't use him as one of the borrowers. On the negative side...we can't use him as one of the borrowers. So it's all up to me to do this thing (yikes!).

And the plus side...we can't use him as one of the borrowers. Which bring the loan they're willing to give us down quite a bit. So I'm *hoping* that we can avoid going into mortgage-debt because his income isn't being counted into what we can actually afford. 

So it's kind of actually a good thing. I don't want to get carried away and buy a house that's more than we can reasonably afford. Also, Mr. Cap and I are only planning to stay in this home for 5 or so years: we'd like this to be a "starter home", so to say. And if we eventually need more room/want a better location, I'm hoping that we can have saved up enough in order to do that. 

In the end, I'm disappointed that Mr. Cap isn't going to be a part of this process as much as I'd like him to be. On the plus side, this should help us avoid getting in over our head with house-debt.

I'm a strong believer in all things happening for a reason. So I'll face this minor set back and keep moving forward until the next issue pops up. And then I'll deal with that, too! 

Another issue that the loan officer brought up was that she felt it was more difficult to secure funding for a condo as opposed to a house. We're planning on using one of those "First Time Home Buyer"'s loans, so maybe that lends to the problem? In any case, this is something that we'll need to think of in more detail. We recently found a brand-new condo complex that falls into our price-range (and Mr. Cap definitely likes the idea of someone else mowing the lawn). It's pretty appealing to think of moving into a new building, since we wouldn't have to worry about much in the way of maintenance for a few years. I'm thinking I'll need to find more details out about the loan process in regards to condos. I don't want to make a bad choice...especially since Mr. Cap isn't going to be involved with the "borrowing" part of the loan anymore. I really hope he doesn't completely check out of looking for a home now and leave it all to me.

Realtors

So tonight Mr. Cap and I plan to meet up with a friend who is a Realtor to see about what sort of areas we should be looking to buy in. She's pretty new to the industry, and real estate is more of a side-job that her main one. But we've known her for awhile now, and we think that she'll be able to help us out with this. Also, since she's a friend we'd rather have the sale go to her rather than to someone that we don't know. So tonight we'll meet up with her for dinner and house-talks. Hopefully we can come to a few decisions after this--we're still torn between the house vs condo issue, for one thing. 

Our loan officer doesn't seem to be too pleased that we're working with a friend instead of a professional that she knows (who is actually the Realtor that my parents are using). But my thought is, in the worst case scenario that our friend isn't able to come through, we can always switch to the other Realtor--right? But I think that our friend will work out fine. She knows us as actual people, so I'm hoping that will help more with us finding the right home. And I'm hopeful she won't pressure us in to spending more than what we're comfortable with (I really doubt she will) just so she can get a bigger commission. Since this is her side job, the money she'd make off of our purchase would be more bonus income than what she's actually needs to live off of. So....fingers crossed on all counts of this. I really hope our friend comes through and we don't get put on the back burner too often!

Enlisting the Sister's Help

This week I've asked my younger sister to take a look at one of the condo complexes that Mr. Cap and I are considering. She works in the same town that it's located in, so she said she wouldn't mind driving by at some point during the week.

The condo in question is particularly interesting to me. It was built this year, it has a garage (score!), and it's within our (currently assumed) price-range. The pictures make the inside look beautiful, and the condo fees are very reasonable. However--according the my lovely crime-rating map overlay (courtesy of Trulia), it appears that the condo is located only a few blocks away from some rather unsavory parts of town.

By the same token, it's on the edge of the *really nice* section of town. But it's in that sort of "middle ground" that makes me wonder if in 5 years it will still be the same. Will it have given in the the Dark Side? Or will it be absorbed by the Light? I'm hoping my sister and her experiences in this town will help to give us an idea on how to proceed with this place. I'd hate to cross something that looks that nice off of our list--but at the same time, I really don't want to die. Or be robbed. Or have the car stolen. All of those things are events that I really could do without. 

Taurus' Thoughts on Those Popular Real Estate Web Sites

Zillow was my first real estate website love. I think I discovered it last year at some point (possibly during the time frame that Mr. Cap and I were planning to move to Portland). I loved that it was easy to navigate and to filter. And I really loved that giant map they had--one thing that makes this girl happy is to actually be able to see where the houses are in relation to where we work. 

But then I discovered Trulia through a co-worker. And oh my--this one had an EVEN BETTER map. This map had overlays with Crime levels, Transportation, Amenitities--Trulia became my new go-to website.

One day while making my usual rounds on Trulia, I decided to type in an address into the Google search engine to see if I could find some additional details on the property. It was at this point that I discovered Estately--and my love blossomed once more. Estately did awesome things like give you taxes rates, HOA fees, and breakdowns of the property (sq footage of rooms, land, etc). The map may not have been the best--but I can overlook that since it has other wonderful features.

Now I tend to use a combination of all three sites--Estately for my initial search (so I can have as many details about the property as possible), Trulia to check out crime ratings, and Zillow as an additional verification tool. I've even pulled my father on to the band wagon of using multiple websites to check out listings (as he was purely using Zillow before). 

I also have been taking advantage of Google Maps to look at houses and condos that have caught my eye--certain ones end up falling off my radar as soon as I can confirm that they are, indeed: 

• Located under high-tension wires. (the adorable cape with the wonderfully wooded back yard) 
• Located in a trailer park. (the 1900 sq ft 2008 home with beautiful wood floors) The friendly town 
• Project located in the back yard. (the beautifully restored ranch with A HOT TUB in the fenced-in back yard) 

Google maps has definitely saved us time in a lot of cases. But in the event that something doesn't show up on Maps, a good old-fashioned drive has always answered our questions--for worse, more often than for better. But an answer is an answer all the same!

The Purpose of this Blog

I can't really say I knew what I was getting in to when I decided it would be a good idea to buy a house. I only knew that I really wanted some place to live that was *mine*--not rented, not my parents'. Mine.

This desire for a home of my own might have something to do with the Taurus in me. And my Capricornian husband has told me that I'm getting a little bit too obsessive over this--so, in order to try not to push all of my concerns on to him, I'm going to start this blog.

At best, it'll be something that will help me arrange my thoughts (and maybe give some ideas to other first-time home buyers). At worst, it will never be updated after this post (and alas, my poor husband will be putting up with the brunt of my thoughts in that case).

Fingers crossed that this Taurus and Cap duo make it through the home-buying process in one piece.