Your starter home

[Muushka]

Mine:

1000 SF

2 BR

1 BA

20% down

Details:
Small home, good area. No granite. Formica would have been nice. No heating system (we had to put one in order to get a mortgage).
Needed fixing up. 1 car garage

I didn't include a price because it would get too complicated (salary was much lower back then). But when we qualified, it fell within the banking guidelines of the debt/income ratio (can't remember what they were, but it was close.)

What about you?

 

[ilovemk76]

Mine:

1000 SF

2 BR

1 BA

20% down

Details:
Small home, good area. No granite. Formica would have been nice. No heating system (we had to put one in order to get a mortgage).
Needed fixing up. 1 car garage

I didn't include a price because it would get too complicated (salary was much lower back then). But when we qualified, it fell within the banking guidelines of the debt/income ratio (can't remember what they were, but it was close.)

What about you?

Only one home for use. We never bought a starter home but the home we wanted to grow old in. We saved for longer to be able to purchase our home.

 

[Marionnette]

Mine:

1900 sq. ft.

3 bdrm/1 bath

1 car attached garage with no entrance to the house.

.2 acre lot

busy street

all stone

built in 1948

I swear it had the original kitchen, bath and boiler.

paid cash

ETA: It is also located in a school district that was marginal when we purchased it and the schools have continued to decline in the 27 years since. Hence the affordability of what sounds like a very nice home. If I could have uprooted it and moved it to where I am now, we would still be living in it. I loved that house. I hated its location.

 

[angierae]

1400 square feet, 1.5 bath, 2 bedrooms, an office and a family room (the office you have to walk through to get to the family room addition - it used to be a 3rd bedroom). Half of the basement is finished.

First and last house. The only other real estate plan we have is to buy a summer home in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan in 20 years or so, but the plan is to pay cash for that.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

1,200 sq. feet
3 bedrooms
2 baths
semi-finished basement
2 car detached garage
10% down
Built in 1955

It was our first and (hopefully) last home and it will be mortgage free and all ours in just 2 short months!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Swimalie]

When I married my husband, he already owned a home so I consider it my start home. The first home I purchased (with him) was 5 years later across the country.

Starter home:

1300 sq ft.
3 bed
2 full baths
1 car carport

The kitchen was original and horrible. We fixed it up a lot. The lot was large but not in great shape. My husband paid cash for it before we met.

My first home:
1500 sq ft
3 bed
2 full baths
2 car garage

The house was really nice with skylights and vaulted ceilings. No need to really do any fixing except we put in tile flooring in the kitchen. Small mortgage that was less than an apartment rent near by.

 

[SC Minnie]

First home purchased in 1991--

1700 sq ft
3 bedrooms
2 full baths

Built in the mid 70's. Still had the original orange formica in the kitchen and the original orange, green, brown, and harvest gold wallpaper in the bathroom. Also in that bath the tub, toilet, and sink were harvest gold with brown formica counter top. Lovely. There had been about 4 owners to the house before us and I couldn't believe none of them updated the counter tops and wall paper.

The best thing about the house was the location. A 1 acre corner lot with a backyard that went out onto the golf course.

 

[RitaE]

1100 square feet
3 bedrooms (each barely big enough for a bed)
1 bathroom
kitchen, dining area, living area
1 car garage

By far the best feature was a nice deck and backyard

We bought it for around $62000 and sold it two years later for $85000 and we did nothing but paint. We thought that was a great return back then (early 90's) but it was nothing compared to the real estate run-up of the early 2000's.

 

[tinker&belle]

We didn't buy our first home as a starter, we went with one we thought we wanted to raise our family in. We are glad we did since price values in our neighborhood went up considerably right after we bought and our house is still worth about 25% more than we paid for it, even with the market tanking. We are hoping to move to a smaller but more upscale home after the kids go to college.

Our first home:

~2400 SQ Feet
3 beds, 2.5 baths and bonus room
2 car garage
Nothing too fancy, but nice enough

 

[HM]

980 sq feet, 2 bed, 1 bath, 1/4 wooded acre, Energy Star compliant. Built in 1990, first owners.

 

[Disneychix]

Our starter home together (we each previously had our own homes):
1050 square feet, raised ranch
3bdrm, 1 bath
unfinished basement
no garage
Nice neighborhood, dead end street with no neighbors in the backyard

DH grew up in this house, we bought it from his mom. Since 2005 we've:
Finished the basement (although no bath)
Built a 2car garage, new concrete driveway
Remodeled all parts of bathroom
Replaced all floors, doors, windows
Added dishwasher and new kitchen countertops

The only thing that's keeping us in this house is the central AC and the value. We've desperately outgrown it! The only thing I'll miss is the fact that I can hear what everyone in the house is doing from any room in the house-and the 'free' central vaccuming!!

 

[Madison'smommy]

My DH was building a townhouse when we started going out. So, I eventually moved in there.

2003 in the DC area
1300 Sq Feet
2 bedrooms
2.5 baths

After 2 years, we sold it, made a good bit of money and moved to North Carolina. Our money went MUCH further in NC!

So, my first home ( and our only for a few more years)

3500 sq feet
4 bedroom
3 full bath
double garage
nothing special, but nice

 

[skw444]

Our starter home was back in 2000 built in 1997.
2000 sq feet
3 bedrooms
2.5 baths
2 car garage
no basement
.75 acres

 

[bettymae1121]

Well...I had two "starer" homes, one when I was single and another just before I got married.

Single Starer home (condo)

3% down (but payment was still only slightly higher than rent)

900 Sqft

2 bed/2 full bath

1 car attached (sort of) garage

builder grade appliances and finishes, no granite or stainless in sight

Married Starter Home

20% down, payment (including taxes/insurance) managable on one income

1300 sqft

3 bed/2 full bath

60 year old fixer-upper (still fixing 6 years later)

1 car detached garage

entry level appliances (newish though, when we 1st moved in)

no granite or stainless, but we do have original hardwood floors!

We've been here six years and are only now replacing the furnishings that I had when I got my condo in 2001, and most of that I got used - it wasn't even new when I bought it!

 

[4HppyCamprs]

Our starter home. It was supposed to be the 5 year plan starter home. We are on year 6 and with the currently depressed home prices we will not be moving any time soon. Our neighbor has had his home on the market twice in the last 2 years and it has not sold. It is back off the market currently.

Bought in 2005

2 bed 1 bath 950 square ft.
Attached Garage
Crawl Space
Attic
1/4 acre
Built in 1953
Gutted the bathroom
New floors throughout
painted (of course)
New Furnace
New countertops
Rearranged cabinets
Cheap taxes Great school

It is a great home BUT there are no sidewalks since we are in a older neighborhood and it is too small for our family. We need to sell or convert the garage.

 

[Kae]

We built our first home(still in it) 1993. Well when we bought it, it was just framed.

1900 sg ft 3 Bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths- we finished the basement. Have redone tons of things- Just wish the Laundry room was bigger.

Kae

 

[4under4]

1100 sq ft 1930's bungalow

3 bed

1 bath [claw foot tub, no shower]

original porcelain farmers sink & depression era glass front cabinets in the kitchen

original hard wood floor/trim [thankfully never painted!]

no garage, no driveway, just street parking or an alley in the back if you were willing to give up part of the backyard to a parking spot (we did)

a nice neighborhood that was right "on the edge" of a run down neighborhood, about 2 blocks north.

A great front porch where we spent many evenings hanging out with friends.

We paid it off in less than 3 years [DINKS at the time], and moved a year later using all our equity as a down payment for our first "family" home

 

[eliza61]

My old guy owned a house when we met and I moved in after we were married.

1400 sq
3 bedroom
1.5 bath
basement
1 car garage.

We had the house we live in now built so its a bit bigger.
3800 sq ft
5 bedrooms
3 baths
basement
3 car garage.
I love it for the kitchen, at the time huge kitchens were all the rage. Sunday dinners are great because there is enough room for all the women in my family to have space to cook.

It's in South Jersey, right outside of Philly nice area but sort of the cookie cutter "suburbia" development. ***yuck***. very good school system.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

1st home was with my ex husband.
Built in 1999
Purchased in 2004
3 BR
2 Bath
2 car attached garage
Small back yard/no fence


My 1st home *on my own* 2 minutes from the first 1st home....
Built in 1957
Purchased in 2009
Red brick, new windows *put in prior to my purchase* the A/C unit went out late summer this year!!! We plan to replace that early next summer. We replaced the water heater a month ago - our neighbor's in the business and let us have the heater at his cost and DH and he did the work - our neighbor is huge *played college football, DH isn't teeny either, the water heater is in our teeny crawl space - it was quite funny seeing them work.
4 BR *1 too many* *I know a family of 5 in a 2 BR house!
1 bath *would love even just an additional 1/2 bath
No garage *what was the garage is now the 4th BR *where DH & I sleep.
It started out as a 3 BR, 1 Bath, living room, kitchen - sometime in the recent past a huge family room was added on the back as well as a big laundry room *I love my laundry room.
Large fenced back yard, facing the really close mountains.
I don't plan/hope to be there long - just a few more years hopefully.
Schools aren't great but my kids go to an excellent charter school close to my work *and we car pool with a family across the street. If they weren't at the CS I'd use my mom's address and take them out there *7 minutes from us.

Both of my 1st homes had been forclosures so we/I got good deals.

 

[mrseace711]

Our 1st home, I am NEVER moving or BUYING again lol too hectic

MAJOR fixer upper! Tax Sale.Cigarette STAINED ceilings and walls blue and red shag carpeting with dog eurin and possibly human eurin soaked in over 30 years of this smh...... BUT the neighborhood was PERFECT, the layout of the home PERFECT, HUGE fenced in yard, I had a vision for this home =)

Built in 1967

2200 sq ft

quad-level = 4 full levels upper, main, lower level, and basement.

2 1/2 bath

4 bedrooms

we paid a quarter of what the home values in the area are. Neighbors stopped by daily to thank us for cleaning up the eye sore and welcoming us to the neighborhood underneath all of that discusting SHAG carpeting was beautiful hardwood floors! Chucked ALL carpeting and linoleum, refinished floors and layed tile. GALLONS of bleach and down on my hands and knees scrubbing walls and floors! 2 layers of Kilns Primer, 2 coats of paint and our house is everything I envisioned. 8 months to gut and finish our home we will retire there