House Buying // Part 3

Part 3: Leaps & Bounds... All of a sudden!

In my last update, we were looking at being in a house by year-end.

That idea has been tossed to the wind, and we are now hoping to buckle down and push this process to LEASE end. Like be in a house by the end or middle of June. At the very least, we are hoping to close on a house by then. Are we crazy? Yes. Probably. 

Here's what happened:

1. We met with a mortgage loan officer (who was the nicest lady ever), and she got us pre-qualified for a mortgage. We discovered that the price-range we had been looking in was exactly the right range to be in, so that was great news. She showed us two options for loans, and both were similar, so choosing between them won't be rocket science.
2. While meeting with the loan officer, a buying agent was also present at the office. She seemed near in age to us and our loan officer recommended her, pointing out that as a less experienced Realtor, she would take the time to show us homes in our range. Older, more established Realtors may find us a bit pithy. So only a few days later, after some discussion we decided she would better understand our needs (as a fellow young person) and be more open to our lack of knowledge as first time home buyers. So we signed an agreement to designate her as our Realtor and so far we are very happy! She never makes me feel like I'm asking a stupid question and told me that our short time frame is perfectly doable. Her confidence is calming to me!
3. We can start house showings in a couple of weeks. She said that showing us homes that are on the market now would be useless because most probably already have offers on them and we wouldn't have much of a chance at putting an offer down. The housing market is INSANE right now!

So that's the latest. I cannot believe how fast this all happened, but am glad that our months of super-stress will now be compacted into a few short months instead of almost a year! (Again, are we crazy? Probably)

Like I said, the goal is to be in, or closing, on a house by the end of June. However, if that doesn't happen we have a little back-up plan: 
If, by May 20th we have no prospects and the market doesn't seem to be in our favor, we're going to start a new lease somewhere else and spend a few months gathering our thoughts and creating a new time-frame. If it's May 20th and we haven't found something, but the prospects are promising and we have a good chance of finding something in a month or two, we have some awesome friends who offered some space in their home for any overlapping of time between our lease ending and getting into a house (so awesome of them, right?!).

So now, I will be spending lots of time with our Realtor, weeding out bad homes before Tom can jump in on showings. I'm actually really excited to hang out with her because she's really honest and fun! Hopefully my next post will be some ramblings on the houses we've looked at and how awful and/or great they are and what it's like putting an offer down! Stay tuned and say a little prayer that there aren't too many bumps along the way and I don't become a crying, emotional, train wreck... haha!

Any new advice for this stage? Do you think we're crazy? As a point of reference for how quickly things change, in my first post I mentioned that we met with a Realtor and would use them going forward... WRONG! 

House Buying // Part 2

Part 2: Baby Steps

Since my last post, we have made significant strides towards buying a house. We have put together a time frame in high hopes that we can hold to it, and we are making baby steps towards that goal.

Here's what has changed in the last month:

• Tom got a bonus that has really kickstarted our down payment savings.

• Going to open houses every Sunday has deepened our drive to get a house. We know that by waiting a lot longer, we’ll miss out on some ideal neighborhoods or have to pay more for those neighborhoods the longer we wait. Atlanta and its suburbs grow so rapidly and time is really of the essence. The seller’s market is only going to get worse, and we want to start putting our money into equity rather than throw it away on rent.

• We have come to the realization that if we re-lease with our current apartment, we'll have to fork out another $200+ per month (as they have jacked up rent since we moved here because of improvements across the property). As stated previously, we are already paying rent equivalent to the mortgage of a $300,000+ home, and we are not about to pay beyond that. Not to mention utilities are entirely separate.

• Our current lease will end in the middle of a 10-day trip to Wisconsin. Horrible timing. So we need  to move out in the month prior to our trip to a cheaper, possibly smaller apartment, and sign a six month lease instead of one year.

Here are our goals and next steps in this process:

• During those six months or so, we'll put aside extra money saved on rent, cut expenses wherever we can, continue "paying off" credit cards that we've already paid off (pretend we're still paying credit cards, and instead push those "bills" into savings), and live as frugal as possible. Our end goal is that when six or so months have passed, we'll have a significant lump sum that can be used for a down payment and other expenses in buying a home, without running us completely dry.

• Our end goal is to be in a house around the end of the year. It’s going to take a lot of consistency, sacrifice, and more times of saying “no”, but I know it will be so worth it in the end.

As you can see, there is still a long way to go. When we moved here, talk of buying a house was a far off venture, but because of recent circumstances I’m excited that it’s closer than we thought! Currently, our big challenge is finding an apartment/home for rent that is equal or less than the rent we pay currently. Safety is always an issue in such a metropolis, so that makes it hard to find something doable. Gated communities are prevalent to lessen crime rates, so living in a complex without gated access scares me a little. The phrase “you get what you pay for” keeps ringing in my head, but sorry, $1,350+ a month for rent is highway robbery to this Midwest soul… it’s so hard to stomach that. So, if you need me, I’ll be scouring the area for good rentals and touring every one I can. I've even gotten quite good at checking a place for mold, bugs, poor ventilation, iffy neighbors, and low quality carpet in the first three minutes of walking in the door (impressive, right?? I think so..). You need an inspector? Look no further.

So. Any advice for us at this point? A next step you think would be good?
People in the area: Know of any reputable rentals near to Alpharetta or at least access to 400?

House Buying // Part 1

Part 1: Ugh.

Well everyone, we’re house hunting.

As we are starting this process, I have discovered there is little information on the internet about other people’s house buying journeys. Or even just a play-by-play of exactly how buying a house works. So I’ve decided to document our own journey in the hopes that others might find our experience helpful, or at the least something to be nosy about.

Here’s the thing, though… this is going to be a pretty long process and here are some reasons why:

1. We don’t have money saved specifically for a down payment (but it’s in the works).
2. We don’t particularly know what price range of houses we should be looking at (but we have a ballpark)
3. We are dealing with a seller’s market (meaning: houses are being bought quickly)
4. We aren’t in a terrible rush… but wish we were in a terrible rush.
5. We have no idea how to buy a house.

Soooo we have a few bits that need to be ironed out, obviously. You’re probably reading that list thinking “why the heck are you even starting this process if you have no money saved for a down payment, you idiots?”... we’ve asked ourselves the same question, trust me. There are a couple answers though. First of all, there are sometimes breaks offered to first-time homebuyers that can land you a home with little to no down payment required. Secondly, simply put… why not? It doesn’t hurt to start thinking about it, and frankly, I prefer to take things slow in situations like this because it helps me be sure I understand exactly what I’m getting myself into.

The other reason we’re seriously looking at buying a home is this: The amount we currently pay for the rental of our apartment is about equal to the mortgage of a $300,000 home. So why keep wasting our money something that builds no equity? The only problem, again, is that down payment. That’s really the only thing holding us back. However, with a few tweaks to our budget, we’re hoping to start building on that.

As of yet, we have met with a Realtor, who we will probably use going forward. We have searched out a handful of open houses and discovered certain areas that we must have in a home, and some things we can probably bend on. So far, here are some things we’ve learned overall:

• Having a yard in this area of Georgia is a precious commodity, and we need one for a dog.
• There is no such thing as “starter homes” meant for young, first-time, home buyers. You can either have a townhome mashed up against your neighbors with no yard and a road filled with parked cars, or a $300K+ house that two youngins couldn’t afford, or would be able to fill with furniture.
• If you don’t want a giant, expensive house, or a semi-expensive, tiny townhome, you must live in the boonies and settle for a fixer-upper.
• Neighborhoods matter. I honestly did not put much thought into this one. When you see a house in online listings, and it has a sub-par exterior, with a beautiful, updated interior, do not assume it’s your dream home. We drove a long way to what we thought was a promising open house, only to take one look at the meth-lab-esque neighborhood and high-tail it out of there. Neighborhoods REALLY matter.

There you have it. Part one of our gazillion part series on buying a house. Again, as you can tell, it’s going to be quite the process, and we’ve barely scratched the surface… but we are crazy-excited nevertheless!

In this series, I really want my readers’ feedback. What experiences have you had in buying a home? Do you have any advice for this first stage? Did you manage to snag a home with a small down payment, or no down payment at all? I really want to know!