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The House Searching / Buying/ Building Thread

Dawn and I got some good news and the closing on her house is scheduled for Friday at 2. The closing had been postponed a couple of times making Dawn pretty nervous and we put our house searching temporarily on hold until we knew what was going on. This is the first time they have given her a time and location for the closing so things are looking good - which means we will be back into house searching mode this weekend.
 
The House Searching / Buying/ Building Thread

We just started seriously looking to see what is available in our area and projected budget. There seem to be some decent options so far, I'm using the Redfin app to save ideas/styles we like and set up searches by zip code. Seems to be a great app. We will be sitting down with our bank in the next week or so to get pre-approved and a realtor friend of ours shortly after that. Looking forward to seeing some houses in person, and hopeful we can find something that fits our needs/style and budget in the areas we like.
 
We are officially starting 5/9 but prep work is underway. This process can't get done quick enough. 2 dogs and 2 kids in a 2 bedroom apartment is already getting old.
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Ag2979 said:
We are officially starting 5/9 but prep work is underway. This process can't get done quick enough. 2 dogs and 2 kids in a 2 bedroom apartment is already getting old.
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Congrats dude, where are you building?
 
Ag2979 said:
Maronda homes. They had the best floor plan for us and they come with a lot of extras.
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Awesome man, they usually move quickly, I'm sure you will be in in no time. Enjoy the process dude.
 
amsmith61 said:
Dawn and I got some good news and the closing on her house is scheduled for Friday at 2. The closing had been postponed a couple of times making Dawn pretty nervous and we put our house searching temporarily on hold until we knew what was going on. This is the first time they have given her a time and location for the closing so things are looking good - which means we will be back into house searching mode this weekend.
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Great news! Good luck on the search.

TeedUpThoughts said:
We just started seriously looking to see what is available in our area and projected budget. There seem to be some decent options so far, I'm using the Redfin app to save ideas/styles we like and set up searches by zip code. Seems to be a great app. We will be sitting down with our bank in the next week or so to get pre-approved and a realtor friend of ours shortly after that. Looking forward to seeing some houses in person, and hopeful we can find something that fits our needs/style and budget in the areas we like.
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Fun stuff, enjoy the process.
 
I am stoked to get in the new house, but my goodness, preparing to move sucks!!!!! I hate packing and I hate when stuff is a mess. My current home has boxes and bins EVERYWHERE.
 
Sanzabar said:
I am stoked to get in the new house, but my goodness, preparing to move sucks!!!!! I hate packing and I hate when stuff is a mess. My current home has boxes and bins EVERYWHERE.
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Are you purging stuff you haven't used or needed in a while? It certainly helps lighten the load.
 
We finally settled on a house. It has a tiny kitchen (to the tune of 9' x 11') but with the price we're getting it for (it's a foreclosure) doing a reno in a couple of years won't put the screws to us financially. It has a mother-in-law suite in the back which we're going to need probably in 4-5 years, as well as a huge bonus room (which will eventually become our kitchen). Once we move the kitchen, we're going to open up the kitchen (it has a breakfast bar which opens to the living room) and go with a nice open floor plan. Add the acre and a half, corner lot, and fully remodeled master bedroom, and the wife and I are sold. Starting the paperwork today, and already called for an inspection our house (they come on Monday) to ensure that no surprises come up and bite us on the sale end.

If the wife and I get a free moment and we can clean up the clutter, hopefully we can get it on the market in a couple of weeks so the buy and sell don't lag too far apart. While I can float two mortgages, I don't really want to ... and definitely not for very long! Realtor said that a house in our location ... she can get it to sell in a couple of weeks. I'm going to hold her to that!
 
deuce said:
We finally settled on a house. It has a tiny kitchen (to the tune of 9' x 11') but with the price we're getting it for (it's a foreclosure) doing a reno in a couple of years won't put the screws to us financially. It has a mother-in-law suite in the back which we're going to need probably in 4-5 years, as well as a huge bonus room (which will eventually become our kitchen). Once we move the kitchen, we're going to open up the kitchen (it has a breakfast bar which opens to the living room) and go with a nice open floor plan. Add the acre and a half, corner lot, and fully remodeled master bedroom, and the wife and I are sold. Starting the paperwork today, and already called for an inspection our house (they come on Monday) to ensure that no surprises come up and bite us on the sale end.

If the wife and I get a free moment and we can clean up the clutter, hopefully we can get it on the market in a couple of weeks so the buy and sell don't lag too far apart. While I can float two mortgages, I don't really want to ... and definitely not for very long! Realtor said that a house in our location ... she can get it to sell in a couple of weeks. I'm going to hold her to that!
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Congrats, Deuce! Hope it goes smoothly for you.
 
Congrats deuce! Hopefully your current home sells promptly!
 
deuce said:
We finally settled on a house. It has a tiny kitchen (to the tune of 9' x 11') but with the price we're getting it for (it's a foreclosure) doing a reno in a couple of years won't put the screws to us financially. It has a mother-in-law suite in the back which we're going to need probably in 4-5 years, as well as a huge bonus room (which will eventually become our kitchen). Once we move the kitchen, we're going to open up the kitchen (it has a breakfast bar which opens to the living room) and go with a nice open floor plan. Add the acre and a half, corner lot, and fully remodeled master bedroom, and the wife and I are sold. Starting the paperwork today, and already called for an inspection our house (they come on Monday) to ensure that no surprises come up and bite us on the sale end.

If the wife and I get a free moment and we can clean up the clutter, hopefully we can get it on the market in a couple of weeks so the buy and sell don't lag too far apart. While I can float two mortgages, I don't really want to ... and definitely not for very long! Realtor said that a house in our location ... she can get it to sell in a couple of weeks. I'm going to hold her to that!
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Congrats man an exciting time for you and the family. The honey do list just got pushed up ;)
 
lightningbolt44 said:
Congrats man an exciting time for you and the family. The honey do list just got pushed up ;)
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Oh yeah ... now if the weather would just cooperate. Bondo doesn't harden, and caulk doesn't cure, in high humidity. Plus hard to paint exterior portions of the house with rain every other day.

I'm somewhat calm right now ... but once our offer goes in, and a date is set for closing ... if our house isn't on the market yet, I'll be a basket case.
 
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I've got basement walls now. With 5 straight days of rain/snow forecast I should have my own cement pond in a week. Once things dry out it will fly along rather quick from here.
 
Stopped by our lawyers office to sign a POA so my wife can sign on my behalf on our next house next week. This one has been 100% her baby and I'm glad to stay out of it. 3 residences for another 3 years then when the youngest graduates HS in 2019 back down to 2 as God and Ronald Reagan meant it to be.


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Lookin good milehigh!
 
milehighgolfer said:
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I've got basement walls now. With 5 straight days of rain/snow forecast I should have my own cement pond in a week. Once things dry out it will fly along rather quick from here.
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That looks like it's going to be a great space! Good luck and hopefully you can get the rest up quickly.
 
The house we're looking at is a foreclosure. We were supposed to put in an offer on Friday, but they just dropped the price another $12k. Looks like we're pushing up the offer to this afternoon. Now the question is ... do we try to come in lower, or just offer the bank their asking price? I know there are a couple of issues with the house (a couple holes in the air handling duct) that are not cosmetic, so I suppose we can offer them asking price and then get them to come down after the inspection due to the non-cosmetic repairs that are needed.
 
deuce said:
The house we're looking at is a foreclosure. We were supposed to put in an offer on Friday, but they just dropped the price another $12k. Looks like we're pushing up the offer to this afternoon. Now the question is ... do we try to come in lower, or just offer the bank their asking price? I know there are a couple of issues with the house (a couple holes in the air handling duct) that are not cosmetic, so I suppose we can offer them asking price and then get them to come down after the inspection due to the non-cosmetic repairs that are needed.
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Some banks are pretty firm on not negotiating after inspections unless it's very major and something they didn't know about.
 
deuce said:
The house we're looking at is a foreclosure. We were supposed to put in an offer on Friday, but they just dropped the price another $12k. Looks like we're pushing up the offer to this afternoon. Now the question is ... do we try to come in lower, or just offer the bank their asking price? I know there are a couple of issues with the house (a couple holes in the air handling duct) that are not cosmetic, so I suppose we can offer them asking price and then get them to come down after the inspection due to the non-cosmetic repairs that are needed.
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When we bought a forsclosure, it was as is. We had a chance to get out after inspection, but couldn't negotiate anything after the offer was accepted. We also didn't come in too much below asking, and we think we got a prompt response to our offer because of that.
 
Wake said:
Some banks are pretty firm on not negotiating after inspections unless it's very major and something they didn't know about.
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How are they about making the sale contingent on the sale of our current home? Do they allow a window in which to get the deal done? I know they'll want to move it as quickly as possible ... just wondering if I should push the sale of our current home up faster than anticipated. There are plenty of cosmetic fixes I'd love to make ... but they're just that, cosmetic, and while my OCD will appreciate it ... I'd probably be better off coming down on the house, or offering an allowance (e.g., carpet for master bedroom) and just wash my hands of it ... especially if it helps move the house quickly.

I've always said I would dread the day I had to buy and sell a home at the same time. Well, that day has come and it's starting to freak me out a bit.
 
deuce said:
How are they about making the sale contingent on the sale of our current home? Do they allow a window in which to get the deal done? I know they'll want to move it as quickly as possible ... just wondering if I should push the sale of our current home up faster than anticipated. There are plenty of cosmetic fixes I'd love to make ... but they're just that, cosmetic, and while my OCD will appreciate it ... I'd probably be better off coming down on the house, or offering an allowance (e.g., carpet for master bedroom) and just wash my hands of it ... especially if it helps move the house quickly.

I've always said I would dread the day I had to buy and sell a home at the same time. Well, that day has come and it's starting to freak me out a bit.
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They usually aren't fans to be honest. Financing contingency is one thing but then needing the sale of your home on top of it makes it tough. If your deal on your sale blows up, there goes the other deal too. You'll pay for it in asking price if you're able to get the bank to do it.
 
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