Buying a house ?'s

[cinmell]

We are planning to buy a house within the next couple of months. Everybody tells us that it is the most stressful experience ever! This is our first time so is it as bad as everyone says? What was the worst or most stressful part of buying a home for you? The loan process, searching for property, making an offer and waiting to see if it's accepted? Any tips on what to do to make the whole process go smooth?

 

[KIRSTIN'S MOMMY]

We bought our house 3 years ago, shortly after my dd was born. I'd say the most stressful part for us was looking, as dd was so small. It helped that my Mom was our real estate agent though. Also stressful was the waiting to see if our offer was accepted. There was another couple bidding against us for the house, but we won!!! Now the most stressful part is keeping the darn thing clean!!!!

 

[Lynn CC]

We built our house when I was 20. The great thing about building or buying for the first time is you don't know what to expect. I didn't find anything stressful about the experience, everything went very smoothly and on schedule! Try to enjoy, it's an exciting time.

 

[adamak]

Yes, it's as bad and as good as everyone said. The closing process is tedious. It's stressful because you never know exactly how much it's going to cost, when it'll acutally close, and how many docs you need.

But it's not so bad. I have bought 2 condos in my life so far, and during the process I swear I will never do it again. But now looking back, I'm so happy I 'm a home owner, despite the ridiculous paper work.

You will love it afterwards. Just don't stress it during the process (kinda like riding Space Mountain).

Congrad by the way.

 

[mtemm]

The most stressful part of buying our house for us, apart from trying to find one in our price-range, was the number of unexpected costs that went along with it. It seemed that every other day there was another cost involved, which was tough. Didn't realize how big a deposit we'd need when we put an offer down (not the downpayment, just the offer), pay the inspector(s), the mortgage company kept asking for this and that. Every time we sat down with them it was like, oh, and we'll need a check for blah blah blah.

We are currently in the market for our 3rd home, and the biggest stress this time is finding one. there is just nothing on the market where we are moving.

I would say educate yourself, I found the home-buying for dummies book to be easy to understand and very helpful. Try to have more money on hand than you think you will need. Hard to do, I know, but do what you can. Make sure you get a pre-approval letter from your mortgage company. Helps when making an offer. And bring that checkbook with you! If you find the perfect house and want to make an offer, you'll need it.

Good luck!

 

[KJo719]

We just recently bought a house and the most stressful part for us was looking for a house. It was fun at first, but after a while it got very frustrating! It also didn't help that I live an hour and half from where were looking, so we could only go on Saturdays. But be patient if you don't find what you're looking for right away. Don't settle for something just because you're tired of looking. The perfect house for you is out there somewhere! Like a few other posters have said, there are a lot of hidden costs, so be prepared for that.

 

[4greatboys]

I think having a good realtor makes all the difference. You need to have one that's looking out for your best interest. It should be fun looking at houses and not to painful making an offer. Closings are always long and tedious.

 

[caitycaity]

i second the home-buying for dummies book. we are still a ways away from buying something, but i bought this book recently and found it to be very informative.

 

[FreshTressa]

I don't know, but I have found it to be kind of exciting the last two times. I love looking at houses, I love the excitement of all of it and all in all I found it fun...

So, it just depends on how you approach it. If you are generally an optimistic person, it should be fun.

Happy House Hunting!!

 

[Planogirl]

House hunting is fun to me but I was a little stressed when it came time to make the offer. I wanted the house we picked out but I kept wondering if we were making the right decision. DH always tells me that I second guess myself too much.

DH, however, was very nervous at closing but I wasn't the least bit concerned at that point.

 

[CamColt]

Congratulations!!!

Our problem was we found our "dream" house without even looking. We werent pre qualified, pre approved , nothing, because we had no intention of moving. Luckily the builder took a chance on us and accecpted our offer, however he kept a clause in our contract that if we were unable to get funding because we couldnt sell our current home, that wouldnt(usually it would) void the agreement and we would lose our deposit.
So, the pressure was on us to sell our house. It all worked out in the end and sold in 9 days. It felt like 9 months though.

Forgot to add, my best advice for making it go smooth is to get a lawyer. We werent going to but my family suggested a family friend so we went and saw him. He handled a lot of the paper work and basically spelled out each step, exactly what we needed to do. He really did help.

Good luck to you!

 

[believe]

Our first home buying experience was uneventful and not stressful at all.

Our second home buying experience was stressful because of the timing we chose. I was 7 months pregnant, 8 months when the closing was to be. Our house sold quickly and we didn't have a home yet. We bought a market home and thought it should be easier than even our first time, only to realize they didn't position the house correctly. The day before the closing everything was called off by my mortgage company because of the positioning of the house not following code. Not a good thing to be told at 8 months pregnant. Everything turned out fine, we lived in the house for 2 months before closing on it...the builder handled all the paperwork to get the house approved through the city.

I find the worst part to be packing and unpacking. I told DH next time we will be paying for a moving company

 

[Mskanga]

For us the most stressful thing was that we bought a house that was a foreclosure, there were liens on the property that had to be removed before closing, our closing was delayed twice but the third time went through without a problem. The worst part for me was the packing and moving, for that reason alone , I will not do it again unless I can pay a moving company to do it for me.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Buying isn't nearly as stressful as building! We purchased one house, and are building our third. Buying is a piece of cake compared to building!

 

[Poohnatic]

First time, ex husband and I bought a house that was financed by the owner. The lesson learned there was "GET YOUR OWN HOME INSPECTOR". We paid way too much for the house, and there were many undisclosed faults.

This time, DH and I had a house built to avoid the problems that buying a ready built can have. It went very well, except our stress was that the house took a month longer than scheduled. In the long run, it was worth it. The house is worth half again what we paid for it in less than 5 years.

I'd say the most stressful thing for me is packing. We're looking to move out of state, and I dread the packing! DH just wants to pitch it all and start new. We will with his horrible furniture, but I can't pitch everything.

A piece of advice I have is that you will have a lot of unexpected expenses come up. Two ways to combat is to buy a house for less than you're preapproved for (gives you more wiggle room each month) and have a stash of money that doesn't go towards the down payment. My sister had two accounts set up...75% of the money after paying bills went to one, 25% to the other. The 75% fund became the down payment and the 25% fund was the 'oh my God, we have to buy what?" fund. It's a good way to remove a lot of the stress.

Suzanne

 

[WishingStar]

The most stressful part for both houses DH and I bought was the loan process. We were prequalified both times, yet both times it took over two months to finish the paperwork. There was always an excuse from the loaning agent, it was horrible. We bought the last one in September and were supposed to close October 1st. The closing was pushed back on a weekly basis. We finally closed December 9th. Hopefully you won't have to go through the same thing.

 

[RUDisney]

My advice is to buy for the future. My sister & BIL bought a small house 3 years ago. They already feel that they've outgrown it and are building a house more than double the size of their existing home. They plan to fill the new house with kids. So, buy as big as you can afford, in the area that you want to live in.

If you take my other sister's advice, buy the smallest house in the best development that you can get into. She did this and has upgraded to a bigger house in the same development since her property value went up and it was also easy to sell her last house because of the exclusive development that it was in.

We got lucky and found a 5BR, 3 full bath home in our price range. We call this our "starter home." Yes, that's a joke. We love our house and our neighbors and told the ones next door that if they ever decide to leave we'll throw our bodies in front of the moving van.

The most stressful thing for us was waiting for the family to move out of the house we bought. We agreed that they could stay in it for the summer while their house was being built. That extended to the end of September and we finally moved at the end of October. There were extenuating circumstances. They were very kind to us during the whole process and left a bunch of stuff that we liked that they didn't need anymore. (bar stools, custom curtains, etc.) That made it alot easier for us to allow them to stay in the house longer. They also gave us a very favorable price on the house.

I also think the most stressful thing was not knowing what the expenses of the house were going to be. How much would it cost to heat? How much would the electric bill be? Homeowners insurance, taxes, Etc...? Then you move in and realize that you really can afford the mortgage and all of these other expenses. You can even still go out to dinner. Whoopie!

Good luck in the process of selecting your new home!

 

[Desnik]

Within the past 3 years we have had a house built, talk about stress sold that house, couldn't find anything and had to get out because we got our price and the buyers wanted to be in ASAP. We are now in a townhouse temporarily, while we are still looking.
To me the whole experience is stressful. When you are buying a house you have people working for you, lawyers, realtors, mortgage brokers. They do nothing!! You end up doing most of the work! Then waiting for a closing date was so stressful. I guess for me I couldn't take so many people having control over my future! I can't even begin to tell you how many houses I have "lost", being out bid, or we actually would find a house, then after inspections found out they needed way too much work. That actually happened 4 times!! We had to pay for so many inspections, we used the same guy, he felt bad that he had to keep charging us, he did one for free, discounted 2 and one house he had already inspected and warned us about!!!
I do think that selling your home and buying one is alot more stress. If you have nothing to sell and are just buying, sellers love that. You can go at your own pace when looking. Do alot of searching yourself, and on the internet at realtor.com. Know what you want where you want it and remember to figure out the taxes into your mortgage amount. Where I live, the takes are like $8,000 and way higher. Educate yourself about the area you want to be in and how much the houses sell for, not what they are listed at, there sometimes is a big difference.
Good luck and remember, you really need to have a sense of humor through it all, otherwise you could go crazy!!!LOL

 

[preshi]

Most stressful part for us was having my MIL as our agent... man... not a good idea... other than that I guess the inspections were the worst part... and they arent over yet...

I like my home buying experience.. 17 more days until it's ours

 

[cinmell]

Thank your for the replies everyone! You've been very helpful. I know this step is a way off for us, but when you got an inspector, where did you go for one. I know not to use the realtor's inspector but not sure where to find one. Did you find yours by word of mouth?