November 25, 2008 at 7:57 am | In The Mundane |
Tags: home buying, house hunting, housing market
The ten months have flown by and it is time we considered our housing options again. We told ourselves that after our lease was up at the beginning of the year, we would be buying our first home. Up until now we have always rented.
So we have been home shopping all month. We have put offers in on not one, not two, but THREE homes. Apparently, despite the current market, sellers aren’t willing to go down more than three or four thousand dollars on the price. In one case, the builder wouldn’t even take the asking price.
We are constantly scouring the internet for homes. We drive around looking on the weekends. We’ve looked at between fifteen and twenty homes with our realtor. I’ll be looking at some more this week with the realtor.
Jeremy? Is ready to build. He is convinced that is the only way we can get exactly what we want. He’s probably right. We’ve been looking at fixer-upers so that we can make them into what we want, but even homes that need a good amount of work have ridiculously steep prices attached. We will see.
All of this makes for some stress. Add some changes with Jeremy’s job , and other family issues into the mix and we’ve been a little stressed. Not to mention that someone turned 29 last Thursday and he’s not happy about it!
We work up some excitement over homes as we pour over them on the internet. Then we go look at them, and are seriously disappointed half of the time. I feel like we’ve looked at so many I can’t keep them all straight and need to go look at a few a second time. So that’s what we’re doing.
We started off all enthusiastic. But we’ve wained. The thrill is nearly gone. We’ve gone back and forth. We want a nice home with some upgrades in the neighborhood behind the shop. No, we want land! With a shop! And a pool! Erg.
And now we’ve come up with a completely new plan. We’ll see. I’m just glad it means I won’t be trying to move us days before Christmas! NO thank you.
Stumble It!
My husband and I bought a “fixer” because it had the features we wanted in the right neighborhood at the right price. I have to say, though, by the time you pay for all the repairs (or do them yourself, which takes *forever*) the price usually winds up being comparable to buying a home that’s move-in ready.
I say take your time and be sure that you’re getting what you really want. Buying a home is such a big investment. It’s worth it to be getting what you want.
Good luck! Maybe, as the winter starts (and the economy keeps tanking) people will begin to be more flexible about pricing. I know in our area, homes that haven’t sold are starting to be listed with improvements (like new furnace and a/c or new roofing) at prices *lower* than their original list. Think about the houses that you already made offers on, and ask your realtor to see whether they’re willing to deal in a couple of weeks. The prices may soften yet.
Good luck!
Comment by Midwest Mom — November 25, 2008 #
On both of our homes that we have bought, we bought homes with equity already in them. We bought fixer-uppers.
Have you tried http://www.southwestalliance.com/ the website for HUD homes?
Comment by Allie — November 26, 2008 #