Just got back from our 1st time looking at houses...

[cinmell]

We went to open houses today for the first time and it stunk. The first house was a mess, dishes in the sink, toys sticking out from under the couch and beds, floors not vacummed or washed, grass hadn't been touched in a while apparently and the rooms were sooooo small and off a very busy main road, it took forever to backout of the driveway. I can't imagine what the house must look like on a regular day when they are not expecting visitors.

The second house had very small bedrooms and the 3rd house was in the neighborhood we really want but out of our range. I know we've only looked at 3 houses but I'm not looking forward to doing this again next weekend. How long did it take you to find your house once you started looking and did you enjoy going to open houses?

 

[GailT]

what town are you looking at in Mass?

 

[Silky]

Open houses are fine, but I'd really urge you to find a realtor in the area where you're looking. He/she can help you with comparative values ("comps") as well as alert you to properties just coming on the market. We're in a western suburb of Boston, where we looked for about 5 months before buying.

Good Luck,

 

[MomE@Home]

I agree with Silky, you should find a realtor-you can tell them what you are basically looking for(# of bdrms.,area.pool, price range, ect..) and they can give you a list of all the listings.
We did not go to any open houses. It took us two years to find the right house ( I'm sure you won't take as long as we did. We were very picky and went through several realtors till we found the right one for us). Don't get discouraged-your house is out there waiting for you !

 

[cinmell]

Originally posted by GailT
what town are you looking at in Mass?

Our first choice is Milton. We are also looking at Weymouth, Braintree and Quincy.

 

[disykat]

I have to say dh no longer thought I was sloppy after we went househunting! I couldn't believe the shape of some of the houses.

We've purchased twice. Both times it was hard work and we looked at about 40 homes (I'm guessing but that gives you an idea!) Houses didn't just fall into our laps and it was pretty discouraging - this last time two of our offers had multiple offers and we lost out before getting our current home. Both times, however, we ended up finding houses that fit us just right.

Try not to get discouraged!

 

[cinmell]

This may be a dumb question but here goes.

Is it okay to work with more than one realtor? I've had people tell me to contact a couple of them and have them show us around and then I've had others say you have to work exclusively thru one realtor. Which is correct? Does it matter?

 

[dennis99ss]

You do not have to work with only one, as long as you do not sign a contract. However, look into a buyers representative. The agent then works as your agent, a regular real estate agent works for the seller.

 

[Jenzebelle]

We were lucky - we bought the 4th house we looked at
I looked at 2 in MA and 2 in RI and the last one we knew was it.
Good luck!

 

[jwsqrdplus2]

I agree with using a realtor, especially a buyers agent or dual agent. DH and I have bought 4 houses and sold 3. Big picture we are ahead in $$. We lost money on the sale of one house, but we only owned it for 15 months. We had an unexpected transfer, and we were just happy to have only one house payment.

You are lucky to be looking in areas where you already live. DH and I have always been moving to a new state, so working with realtors is paramount. We had 4 days to find our current house. But we spent a month on the phone and e-mail with our realtor while we were in another state. She knew exactly what we were looking for by the time we showed up. The house we ended up buying had come on the market 3 days before we looked at it. The sellers had a contract 5 days after they put it on the market. I fully credit our realtor for finding our house!

 

[AllyandJack]

I spent much of last year house hunting in Massachusetts. That is why I live in New Hampshire now. The prices were unreasonable. Without getting into detailed financial discussions, my husband and I pull in 6 figures (more than $100,000, but less than $200,000). However, with me just being out of school and having student loan debt (also in the 6 figures!) and, obviously not wanting to spend just for the sake of spending (i.e. buying a home at the upper limit we qualified for), it seemed we had two options - buy a crappy house for $350,000 - $400,000 or leave the state. I was shocked that our self-imposed limit of $350,000 couldn't get us something decent. Sooo......

We left the state. We bought 4.5 acres of land in a great little town in NH. We built a 3,000 square foot colonial. After adding in all of the things we wanted (central air, a deck, etc.), it came in at under the $350,000 average we were seeing in MA. In MA, we were looking at 2 bedroom capes with less than .25 acres. The houses were barely 1,500 square feet and rooms were tiny. The second floor rooms barely had enough room for me to walk around because of the low ceilings in the capes. I didn't think they were worth $350,000. Plus, how was I supposed to build equity? The lot is too small to add on. The house is what it is. Five or ten years from now is someone going to give me $450,000 for it. Most likely not.

So, I can't offer any advice for house-hunting in MA, except to say that it is discouraging and, in my opinion, not worth it. I would also recommend getting a realtor. It saves you from having to spend hours on the internet searching for houses. They have better search capabilites and can hear about things before they even come on the market.

Good luck with everything!