After purchasing a house, I thought it might be useful to do a post that gives advice to average people about real estate from an average non-real estate person. Disclaimer: I don't sell, list, or purchase real estate for a living. I have bought one house that my family is going to live in. This is just a guide that might make it a little easier on your mind. It's not set in stone and is by no means the gospel truth.
1. Be Realistic
This is probably one of the hardest things about trying to find a house. Let's be honest for a minute. We all want the dream house. Whether we mean to or not, the dream house will make an impact on our house hunting. Sometimes you just have to give yourself that reality check that maybe you aren't ready for the dream house...that you should be focused on finding the right house for the situtation and time in your life. That means 2 things. First, you will have to compromise on what the house HAS to have. There will be a couple of things that are absolute deal breakers. That's fine. Just try not make that list huge or else you will be looking for a tiny needle in a huge haystack. Second, you probably cannot afford the DREAM house. That's why it's called a dream. If you can afford it, this post isn't for you. Almost everyone wants a big beautiful home that carries the big price tag, but that probably isn't realistic. I once read that you shouldn't spend more than 2.5 times what you make in a year. Using this example if you make $30,000 a year than you can spend up to $75,000 on a house. I have also read that your payments should be at or below 25% of your monthly take home pay. Either way, the point is you have to be able to afford to make the payments every month. What is the point of owning a home that is making your financial world so difficult you can't even really afford to buy toliet paper?
2. Know Your Local Market
Do research before you go actively looking. What is the average asking price of real estate in your area? Does this market offer anything affordable that I would be willing to live in? When I was a real estate junkie, I knew every listing in my price range by every local agency. I had looked for so long that I could just drive by a new listing and tell you the price. This was slightly annoying for the person who was riding in the car, but ended up helping me so much. I could recognize when a place was over priced and avoid it. Some people might be willing to wrestle it out in a pricing war, but I prefered to make it as simple as possible for myself. I probably missed out on a couple of houses, but I am ok with that. After purchasing our house, I found out that one of the houses I really liked that I had ruled out because it was over our budget sold for $30,000 less than the asking price. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor when I found that one out. I don't think that's very typical. You won't know if a house is worth the price if you have no clue what housing is selling for. Of course you can have an appraisal done, but that costs money and time which you can't do for every house you look at.
3. Choose Your Realtor
I should say that you do not have to have a realtor. You can purchase a house without one, which means no middle man & less money coming out of your pocket to pay someone else. If you decide to use a realtor, here are a few things to consider. I read that you shouldn't use the same real estate agency that the property is listed with. It makes sense. Their job is to get the best possible price for the seller. Therefore you, the buyer, might not end up with the best deal. Choose an agent that you like and are comfortable with. You can ask family and friends for recommendations, but in the end you have decide the one you like most. My husband and I talked about 3 different agents from 3 different agencies. One we had shown us a home several months before, one was recommended by a friend who had bought a home from this agent and was currently listing the same home through that agent, and the last one was an older cousin who had gotten into selling real estate after their retirement from the power company. We decided that what we wanted most was someone who wasn't a good salesman, but who was a good, honest, blunt person. Family won that requirement. Not because it was family, but because if you ever met them you would understand. I'm not saying that the first 2 weren't honest people. I don't know them well enough to say one way or the other. I just didn't figure they would say things like "It's a piece of junk. Don't buy it." and family would. I was right. Our family did work for the same agency that was listing the house we wanted to purchase. It turned out fine for us. We paid less than the asking price and had sellers assist on closing.
4. Be Patient
This is the hardest one. Unfortunately it takes time. The entire process is slow and filled up with endless paperwork and waiting for so-and-so to hear from so-and-so, etc. I have been told experiences by a friend who tried for 3 houses before finally being able to close on one. That sucks. We waited 3 months before all the i's were dotted and t's were crossed. It felt like forever. We lost faith, got frustrated, gave up, and starting looking for a new house every other week. We stuck with it though. It's hard when you have to wait on other people to do whatever they have to do to get it done. It's worth the wait.
I only have one piece of advice left. If you have little children in house (we have a 5 year old and a 1 year old), hire someone to pack your stuff up. It won't take nearly as long. They don't have to stop packing every 5 minutes when one says "I'm hungry" or the other one has to have a dirty diaper changed. Lucky movers.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
OMG We bought a house!
My husband and I have been renting the same tiny house since we got married in 2006. We were extremely lucky to have found something so affordable with an older couple as the land lords. In August 2007, our oldest son was born. After bringing him home from the hospital, it only took a few days to realize that babies come with a LOT of stuff. I remember days when I felt like we didn't rent a home...we rented a storage locker for baby products that we just happen to sleep at also. After living there for around 3 years, I told my husband we needed a bigger house. We were the typical American family who dreamed endlessly of home ownership. I was a real estate junkie. I looked weekly at every local real estate website finding an endless parade of "perfect little houses". Due to layoffs and shut downs, employment has not always been on our side so our American dream was always put off until some other time. Fast forward to April 2011 when our second son was born. At this time, space was gone. We were a family of 4 (with the parade of baby products yet again) living in a 647 sq ft 2 bedroom rental house. My husband was finally convinced that we needed to move, even if that meant we would have to pay more in rent. The search began.
The first thing we learned is that even though the ecomony is bad, rent is out-friggin-ragous! If I wanted to sell one of kids and a kidney on the black market I might have a chance of paying that much. Although my kids drive me a little crazy at times, I don't want to sell them....or my kidney. It seemed like every place we called was way out of our range. I finally told my husband that for what these people wanted in rent we could buy a house. We talked it over and decided to apply. The worst that could happen was that we would be turned down. It took us a couple of trys to find the right place, but we were approved! I did the happy dance in the living room of my tiny rental. Thank goodness you missed it. My real estate habit payed off nicely at this point. We narrowed our search to 3 potiental houses.
I must say that out of the 3 my husband and I each had different favorites before we ever walked inside of them. I had one that I just knew from driving by looking at the outside and viewing the photos online it was my house. He had chosen the one with the most property. While we both promised to keep an open mind and view all properties equally, on the inside I was totally bias. We were both completely wrong. My perfect house turned out to be much better in my dream world than it was in reality. I mean it was alright, but it wasn't MY house. The one with the most property was the one with the most work. There wasn't a surface in that house that would have made it through the remodel. I left seeing money signs floating straight out the front door. No way! Not to get all cheesey, but the 3rd house was such an easy find. I had my scientific list of must haves, size requirements, room placements, yard maintainence, etc. The way we chose our house was very simple. We walked in and we just knew. THIS was OUR home. It wasn't just a house that someone put on the market. It was the home that was meant for us. I know it doesn't work out that way for everyone. Some of you may find a home that 8 other people want and have to duke it out. I know we had family and friends praying for us to find something. I believe God answered those prayers. He lead us to that house.
We moved in 3 days ago. I love this house. My family loves this house. Life is good.
The first thing we learned is that even though the ecomony is bad, rent is out-friggin-ragous! If I wanted to sell one of kids and a kidney on the black market I might have a chance of paying that much. Although my kids drive me a little crazy at times, I don't want to sell them....or my kidney. It seemed like every place we called was way out of our range. I finally told my husband that for what these people wanted in rent we could buy a house. We talked it over and decided to apply. The worst that could happen was that we would be turned down. It took us a couple of trys to find the right place, but we were approved! I did the happy dance in the living room of my tiny rental. Thank goodness you missed it. My real estate habit payed off nicely at this point. We narrowed our search to 3 potiental houses.
I must say that out of the 3 my husband and I each had different favorites before we ever walked inside of them. I had one that I just knew from driving by looking at the outside and viewing the photos online it was my house. He had chosen the one with the most property. While we both promised to keep an open mind and view all properties equally, on the inside I was totally bias. We were both completely wrong. My perfect house turned out to be much better in my dream world than it was in reality. I mean it was alright, but it wasn't MY house. The one with the most property was the one with the most work. There wasn't a surface in that house that would have made it through the remodel. I left seeing money signs floating straight out the front door. No way! Not to get all cheesey, but the 3rd house was such an easy find. I had my scientific list of must haves, size requirements, room placements, yard maintainence, etc. The way we chose our house was very simple. We walked in and we just knew. THIS was OUR home. It wasn't just a house that someone put on the market. It was the home that was meant for us. I know it doesn't work out that way for everyone. Some of you may find a home that 8 other people want and have to duke it out. I know we had family and friends praying for us to find something. I believe God answered those prayers. He lead us to that house.
We moved in 3 days ago. I love this house. My family loves this house. Life is good.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Mom Confession: I have NO idea what I'm doing...
When you find out you are pregnant, people seem to always give the same basic advice. One of those is the old saying "Parenthood doesn't come with a manual" type thing. So I got that. Really. I mean I realize that no one really knows what they are doing because it's a job that you have never had. Every parent is different. Every child is different. The only 'experience' I have is what I have learned from my mother. (Secretly I have always thought my mom had the manual on raising children down pat because she always seemed to know what do to.) Being a mom has taught me one thing. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING! Apparently neither did my mother, but she made me think she did.
Being a stay at home mom is a completely different problem too. I know the word 'problem' sounds bad. In all seriousness, I honestly feel that way some times. I have moments when I love my little boys & other moments when I think my head might explode at any second. I know that being a working mom was easier. I have been staying at home with the boys full time for around 8 months. In that time, I haven't figured out how to make it work. A good day means everyone has a bath and ate something. I still have tons of clutter all over my house. The sink always has dirty dishes. I'm fairly certain the laundry is multiplying like rabbits. I feel like I'm drowning in a life that I can't get control of. I don't know if any other moms out there feel it too, but I'm sure they are out there some where.
I have made it my goal to get out of the hole! I did some research online and was able to locate some wonderful sources of help. Part one: Develop a schedule. I will be the first person to admit that we have no set schedule. Also I should probably give my dear husband credit....he did suggest such a thing a while back. I didn't fully agree with him at the time. To me a schedule means a set time for everything. When I was working, I could figure out breaks and lunch time. I knew exactly how long I had to do everything. Nothing is the same with children. Neither Lane nor Jacob get up at the same time everyday. I don't either. I let Jacob be my alarm clock. When he wakes me up talking or crying, I know it's time to get up and feed him. I really do better when I manage to get up before him. I haven't made it a point to adopt such behavior because I am not a morning person. Actually I hate mornings. Never getting up with an alarm was the thing I was most excited about in my journey as a stay at mom. I did a dance I was so excited. No more mornings that started before 8 am for me! Woot! For the most part, that goal has worked out. However, I have come to the conclusion that this is no longer functioning well for my family. I think we would all benefit from a better guided day. It's harder with my husband's work hours. He works second shift so he's still asleep when we are getting up and going for the day. His breakfast time is usually coming around about the time the boys and I are getting ready for lunch. I'm not really sure how to make the best schedule for all of us. I'm just going to start by writting out a basic timeline guide. I'll pencil-in corrections or suggestions thoughout the day for the first few days. I believe that will help me iron out any problems that are sure to come up. After the first week, I will evaluate the schedule. Assuming this will be enough time to develop a well thought out plan of attack, I hope to put it into practice.
Part Two: Clear out the clutter! I'm not even going to attempt to tackle this goal until we successfully incorporate the schedule. The best motivation is little successes! I'm leaving this one for another post.
I hope I am able to get something going soon that works for us. I'm overwhelmed with everything right now. I think I can do it! I have to keep telling myself that instead of screaming my head off. Stress can be good motivation. Thanks for listening my peeps!
-Lakin
Being a stay at home mom is a completely different problem too. I know the word 'problem' sounds bad. In all seriousness, I honestly feel that way some times. I have moments when I love my little boys & other moments when I think my head might explode at any second. I know that being a working mom was easier. I have been staying at home with the boys full time for around 8 months. In that time, I haven't figured out how to make it work. A good day means everyone has a bath and ate something. I still have tons of clutter all over my house. The sink always has dirty dishes. I'm fairly certain the laundry is multiplying like rabbits. I feel like I'm drowning in a life that I can't get control of. I don't know if any other moms out there feel it too, but I'm sure they are out there some where.
I have made it my goal to get out of the hole! I did some research online and was able to locate some wonderful sources of help. Part one: Develop a schedule. I will be the first person to admit that we have no set schedule. Also I should probably give my dear husband credit....he did suggest such a thing a while back. I didn't fully agree with him at the time. To me a schedule means a set time for everything. When I was working, I could figure out breaks and lunch time. I knew exactly how long I had to do everything. Nothing is the same with children. Neither Lane nor Jacob get up at the same time everyday. I don't either. I let Jacob be my alarm clock. When he wakes me up talking or crying, I know it's time to get up and feed him. I really do better when I manage to get up before him. I haven't made it a point to adopt such behavior because I am not a morning person. Actually I hate mornings. Never getting up with an alarm was the thing I was most excited about in my journey as a stay at mom. I did a dance I was so excited. No more mornings that started before 8 am for me! Woot! For the most part, that goal has worked out. However, I have come to the conclusion that this is no longer functioning well for my family. I think we would all benefit from a better guided day. It's harder with my husband's work hours. He works second shift so he's still asleep when we are getting up and going for the day. His breakfast time is usually coming around about the time the boys and I are getting ready for lunch. I'm not really sure how to make the best schedule for all of us. I'm just going to start by writting out a basic timeline guide. I'll pencil-in corrections or suggestions thoughout the day for the first few days. I believe that will help me iron out any problems that are sure to come up. After the first week, I will evaluate the schedule. Assuming this will be enough time to develop a well thought out plan of attack, I hope to put it into practice.
Part Two: Clear out the clutter! I'm not even going to attempt to tackle this goal until we successfully incorporate the schedule. The best motivation is little successes! I'm leaving this one for another post.
I hope I am able to get something going soon that works for us. I'm overwhelmed with everything right now. I think I can do it! I have to keep telling myself that instead of screaming my head off. Stress can be good motivation. Thanks for listening my peeps!
-Lakin
Monday, November 14, 2011
Craft Brain
It's the rare time of day when both the boys are taking a nap at the same time. I actually get time to myself to breathe and relax a little. Some days I use their nap time to take a nap myself. Days like today I am just not really sleepy right now. The need for sleep will kick in about 5:30 when Lane is just kicking into overdrive. Bah! I will be sorry later, but for now I will just think happy, crafty thoughts.
In case you didn't know I am a crafts junkie. I think I have tried just about everything you can do without a special set of skills (like pottery or glass blowing). I have a bit of a project in development for January. The L.A.D.Y.S. at church are doing our yearly friendship supper. So at first I said I wasn't going to do it. My wonderful mother has tapped us to put together the entertainment again this year. We did it last year & it turned out great. I had a table to decorate at the same time though. I thought I was losing my mind. I was trying to memorize lines and glitter pumpkins at the same time. My pumpkins were beautiful. My line memorization was sketchy at best. After promising I would never do both again, I am doing both again. LOL! This time I have a plan. I am going to gather all my stuff together and craft whatever I need to use. (So I don't actually need anything. I just use whatever excuse I can find to make stuff) My dear sister is going to put it all together. I get to do the fun part. She gets the hard part. Woot! Sounds like I win.
I don't have anything organized at this point, but when I do I am goint to post my craft progress. Yay! I am excited. That's all for now folks!
In case you didn't know I am a crafts junkie. I think I have tried just about everything you can do without a special set of skills (like pottery or glass blowing). I have a bit of a project in development for January. The L.A.D.Y.S. at church are doing our yearly friendship supper. So at first I said I wasn't going to do it. My wonderful mother has tapped us to put together the entertainment again this year. We did it last year & it turned out great. I had a table to decorate at the same time though. I thought I was losing my mind. I was trying to memorize lines and glitter pumpkins at the same time. My pumpkins were beautiful. My line memorization was sketchy at best. After promising I would never do both again, I am doing both again. LOL! This time I have a plan. I am going to gather all my stuff together and craft whatever I need to use. (So I don't actually need anything. I just use whatever excuse I can find to make stuff) My dear sister is going to put it all together. I get to do the fun part. She gets the hard part. Woot! Sounds like I win.
I don't have anything organized at this point, but when I do I am goint to post my craft progress. Yay! I am excited. That's all for now folks!
Monday, October 24, 2011
First Blog
So this looked like fun....I honestly must ask myself how on earth I think I am going to have time to do this. I must be crazy. Well I know I am, but still I have rational points in my life. Not today. Oh speaking of today...
IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!! I am 26 today. I did nothing for myself really. I did take Jacob for his 6 month check up at Dr. Wilbanks office. He was fine. He's fat and short and cute. I love him to pieces.
So for a first post I think I'm gonna call it a night. Hopefully I will get into the swing of this soon. I am hoping it will be an awesome fun thing to do. I should probably forewarn everyone that I totally over use the word "awesome", but you can blame How I Met Your Mother for it.
IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!! I am 26 today. I did nothing for myself really. I did take Jacob for his 6 month check up at Dr. Wilbanks office. He was fine. He's fat and short and cute. I love him to pieces.
So for a first post I think I'm gonna call it a night. Hopefully I will get into the swing of this soon. I am hoping it will be an awesome fun thing to do. I should probably forewarn everyone that I totally over use the word "awesome", but you can blame How I Met Your Mother for it.
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