UUGHH!! - House buying anxiety!!

[Growin'upDisney]

I cannot believe how nerve wracking it is buying a house. I have been so ready to do this for the past year and now that we are getting into the process I can hardly sleep I am so nervous/excited/worried.

First of all, DH and I live in the Bay Area - so buying a home here is a BIG, BIG investment. The housing prices are astronomical. I cannot believe we are looking to buy over a half a million dollar house. It blows my mind. The houses I would really like are close to three-quarters of a million but are out of our range at the moment.

We have spent the last couple of weekends looking at open houses and finally met with a realtor this weekend. We saw at least 20 houses and ony 2 jump out at us. There is one we really like - 2600 sq. feet (which is huge for an older home in our area) 4 bedrooms/3 full baths. Definitely a house we can grow into.

So I think we are going to make an offer today or tomorrow. But just thinking about it kept me up until 2am last night. Then as if that wasn't bad enough when I got to work and was telling a co-worker about us looking to buy, he went on to say he believed that the market is artificially high right now and everyone is pushing to buy while interest rates are still low. He also believes that rates will rise before the election and it will drive home prices down. Great - thanks for the pep talk - I know he was trying to help but it just made me more nervous. My biggest fear is overpaying and an impending housing market crash. But everyone else is telling me that you can't make decisions based on what if's and that if the market goes down (which it hasn't in 20 years) then you just don't sell.

Does anyone have some advice/experience and can help calm my nerves??

Thanks - Tausha

 

[kild]

Find a house you like and can afford and buy it. You cannot do anything about the market or what it may do in the next few months.

 

[Pin Wizard]

No! Sorry! LOL! House buying is VERY nerve wracking. I like things done ahead of time, and buying a house is NOT that way. Everything is last minute. The buyer of my home couldn't actually buy it until the buyer of his home sold three of his condos. So in two days, the three condos sold. That second day, my buyer's home sold. On the third day my home sold. Wow! Okay...am I really selling and moving to another state or will it fall through and I'm stuck until another buyer comes along. Thank goodness it all went through. Yes, homes are very expensive now. I was in mine for 7 1/2 years. In that time, it more than doubled from what I paid for it...NICE! Good luck! And if you really want something, I'd put a bid in ASAP. In both FL and this area of VA, houses are selling the same day they hit the market...or before! I bought mine before it was listed. My realtor heard of it by word of mouth.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I do not believe for one minute that a house in the "SF Bay area" will lose ANY money.

Get some sleep and if anything it will go up to a million not down.

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

A bigger regret will be having someone else buy the home you hae your heart set on. If the house will be considered your HOME, then you need to leave your "investment" hat behind. If you like it, can afford it and the home inspection does not turn up anything major, I would just go for it.

 

[Growin'upDisney]

Thanks everyone - I know that no matter what the price of homes around the country everyone goes through this nervous stage because buying a house is a big comittment. I definitely am going to try to not worry about the impending fluctuations in the market and just "go with my gut" on the houses we like and can afford.

 

[arminnie]

Originally posted by The Mystery Machine
I do not believe for one minute that a house in the "SF Bay area" will lose ANY money.

Get some sleep and if anything it will go up to a million not down.

I'd only worry if you think you might have to sell in the next year or two.

CA real estate does go down - but it also comes back up in the long run.

I bought in the Bay Area during the slump that started after the earthquake. I paid $100,000 less than the peak a couple of years earlier - BUT five years later I sold it for double what I'd paid.