Your starter home

[IUTBAM]

Our starter home...a 10 year old home bought in 1991 for $45,000 in Round Rock, Texas.

1200 sf
3 bedrooms
2 baths
2 car attached garage, but the washer and dryer were IN the garage, lol

It was a foreclosure and the bank had replaced the carpeting and paint, so it was in good condition. We put 3% down (we qualified for a $90K loan but were much more conservative financially at the time...that $45K was slightly over our yearly income at the time).

We put our blood, sweat and tears into doing some amazing landscaping on that house, and sold it less than 2 years later for $70,000. Times were good back then!

 

[DawnM]

Our first home:

1350 sq. ft.
Built in the 1960s
4 bedrooms
2 bathrooms
Kitchen was VERY out of date
Stucco box style! ;-)

Honestly, we SHOULD have kept that house. It really was a great house.....and room to make additions and we could have had it paid for by now and been able to stay in SoCal. We bought it in 1998 and put 10% down I believe it was. Our oldest son was about 6 months old.

 

[neatokimmo]

We are back in my starter and I prefer it. (and thank goodness I rented it instead of selling it when we went to the bigger house)

1050 SF
3 bed, 1 bath
bought about 10 years ago for 35K after an insurance check for something that broke (wind storm).
put about 20K in it - new windows, siding, kitchen, bath, all walls, refinished hardwood, roof.
trying to decide now if I will finish out the basement as a garage (15K) or as 1 large room with plumbing (25K DIY)

Because I bought it for so cheap, the back let me heloc it instead of getting a traditional mortgage (3% rate no fees). If I remember correctly, I had 10-12k down on it. Paid it off Jan 2005. I have 6/10 of an acre so I can expand if I want to clear out some wooded parts.

 

[VAfamily1998]

~1870 sqf, 4 bedroom 2 bath

0 down with a VA loan, new construction

We sold it about 8 years later for approx. triple what we originally paid!

 

[scrapquitler]

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?

15 years in our 'starter' home and no plans to move anytime soon.

1700SF home built in the late 50s 1/2 acre lot 3br 3 baths, basic 80s kitchen that still needs remodeling 15 years later 5% down.

We now have less than 50% of the original mortgage balance remaining. Value is still about 25% above the price we paid despite the poor market.

We originally spent about 30% of the amount we were pre-approved for. It was one of the smartest things we ever did.

 

[princessmom29]

Unless something happens to change our plans, our "starter" home will be our only home.

1650 sqft
3 bed
2 bath
We had it built in 2006 in a new construction subdivision. We put in several upgrades along the way including tile rather than vinyl and cultured marble in bouth bathrooms. We did nicer fixtures and ceiling fans than the standard as well.

Put down not quite 20% and fell well within the debt to income guidelines. We could have borrowed enough for a much larger house with a garage, but we plan to add a garage out of pocket later.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

We're still in our starter home from 1987. We dormered and added on to it 6 years ago:

Built 1947

under 1000 sq foot

no basement or garage

3 bedroom

1 bath

about 20% down

 

[Styx Fan]

1,000 square feet Bungalow 1.5 story
Built around 1950
3 Bedrooms
1 bath
detached garage we never used because it was so tilted you couldn't use a garage door opener!
tiny lot, mature trees
partially finished basement
1970's stove and fridge, yellow/goldish counters...no dishwasher or room to put one

In a decent blue-collar neighborhood of a failing rust belt city. We paid $44,000 1992 and sold for around 70,000 7 years later. We always planned to move in that time frame as the schools were horrible and we wanted out before DS started. We knew we would make a little, but never dreamed of making as much as we did. Gave us a nice down payment on our current home.

That house was small, but it had so much character. Arches going from living room to hall and small dining room. Cove ceilings in living and dining room. Hard wood floors through most of first floor. In those homes the upstairs wasn't originally finished and were under the eaves. This one had been finished with cheap paneling, but had a decent sized area you could stand up straight in, making for a large bedroom. The basement family room was paneled in knotty pine with lots of built in closed cabinets. Low ceilings, but very cozy.

We painted the original siding, replaced 2 windows and put on new storms in others. Pulled carpet and had the floors refinished. Painted the kitchen cabinets and changed the hardware. Painted whole house, of course.

It was a great little starter.....our current house is much nicer, but has zip character.

 

[mrudman]

When we first moved in, our starter home was:

Built in 1930
Excellent school district, very safe city.
1400 sq ft
2 story bungalow type
4 bedrooms (3 upstairs, master downstairs)
1 bathroom (upstairs, clawfoot tub, no shower)
Unfinished basement (showered in basement, with curtain rod draped around a hole in floor)
On 2 1/2 acres (very rare to find that in our city)
70's styling everywhere (dark green carpet, paneling, dated kitchen, etc.)

In the 12 years that we've lived here, we've:
Added an approx. 200 sq ft. addition (large bathroom and walk-in closet) off the master bedroom.
Stripped all walls of paneling and painted everything, new carpet everywhere.
All new cabinets in kitchen, new flooring in there, new appliances.
New furnace and added central air conditioning.
Updated electrical to whole house.
Other little improvements here and there.

Hoping to stay here for a long time, if not forever,

 

[CAFarmerGirl]

900 sf cedar A-frame
2 bed, 1 bath

It had..."character" (i.e., the stove was not in the same room as the kitchen...)

We have moved 3 times since then and are now put in another house with "character". I don't know how much more character my hubby can handle...

 

[mombrontrent]

we bought our starter home in 2001 and lived there for 9 years

1050 sq ft townhome

3 bdrm

1 bathroom

1 car attached garage

It was on a nice quiet dead end street and had had a walkout finished basement that backed onto a forest. We made good money on it when we sold, we had to move up as it was way to small for our family of 5. Our new house is double the size with 4 bdrms and 3 1/2 baths and it's perfect for us.

 

[marie1203]

We still live here. We bought our house 2008 DH was 21 and I was 20.
Build in 2007
1200 sq ft
3 bedrooms
2 bathrooms
2 car garage attached
1 acre .9 of the acre is fence.
Other than painting we have not change a lot except the flooring we hate carpet because I feel is always dirty and with 5 dogs it doesn't help so we put laminate. we love the location because we are at a quiet cul de sac only 3 other houses in our street and less than 10 miles to DH work.

 

[ZellyB]

I loved our first house.

Built in the 40s
765 sf
2 bdr
1 ba

10% down on a contract for deed sale back in the early 90s. We sold it seven years later for double what we paid for it.

Our next house had a garage with more square feet than our entire first house had.

 

[Minnesota!]

Starter (town)house

About 1100 sq feet
2 bed
2 bath
Paid $124K for it in 2002 and sold it in 2004 for about $139K

Then we bought a money pit. Seriously. We gave it back to the bank vs putting any more money into it, losing our sanity, and losing our marriage. Yes, it was that bad.

Bought our current house this year. Had been renting it from my mom for 3 years.

It's small (about 1200 sq feet)

Has 3 bedrooms, 1 bath. Huge lot (250 x 76 or so - and we are in the city), finished basement.

No garage

But...great neighbors, fantastic school up the street, I grew up there so it's HOME.

Couldn't ask for more.

 

[hopemax]

We just bought our starter home 2 years ago (10% down). It may be a long time home, or it may be a starter. We bought this one because it has the potential to be either.

Built: 1971
Sq ft: 936 plus a finished basement (so livable area is ~1700)
4 bedrooms (1 in basement), the largest is 9.5 x 14, so they are all small
2 baths (1 in basement)
Lot size: .4 acres, largest in our subdivision
2 car garage
Kitchen: wood laminate flooring, black appliances, formica, original cabinets

We just replaced the furnace original to the house.

The biggest issue is the kitchen/dining area is tiny. But with our lot size if we decide we want to stay for a long time, we can push out the back of the house and expand the kitchen, master bedroom and add a master bath.

 

[Kitzka]

we currently live in our starter home:
build in the 1930's it has 2200 sq feet, 2 bedrooms 1.5 bath. we put 50% down when we bought it and hope to have it paid off in another 5 years (we bought in 2003). we still have a good deal of equity in the home and we love it.

the plot of land is small but we are hoping to do a few small things to the house. we currently have a screened porch, we are hoping to enclose it with glass/windows and turn that into an office/guest room and add on to it and make a full bathroom (with a shower) off of that so we have another bathroom with a shower for guests. we hardly use the porch in the winter and we wanted to be able to use it more.

Lara

 

[JaymeC]

We just bought ours

20% down
1200sqft
1 car garage
About a third of an acre
Built in 2004
Decent school district for elementary.
We put in laminate flooring replacing the carpeting (that was horrible!) when we moved in and we want to fence in the backyard.
And we had to replace the a/c when we moved in because someone stole it.

I'm not sure how long we'll stay here. We may stay here awhile or move on. We WILL move on eventually, but not to get a bigger house, just in a different area. Dh and I are a bit nomadic in some ways by nature When we move we intend to keep this one to rent out, it's in the perfect situation for that and the mortgage + taxes/ins is about half of what local rent for it would be.

 

[Muushka]

Kind of fun remembering your first house. For me, that was 7 houses ago!
My first house was in such a great area that today it is only worth a little less than the house we moved up to 6 houses later!

 

[Katy Belle]

Starter home , purchased in 1998, it was 10 years old when we bought it.

1100 sq ft. 3 bedrooms , 1 1/2 bath. 2car garage.

We lived there 6 years

 

[DisneyRunner2009]

We purchased a three acre lot to build our first home on. Then we decided to look for something and within a week we made an offer on a condo. It was located about 20 minutes from the lot. We thought it's an easy drive to keep an eye on the construction. Well need less to say, we are still in the condo. Once we started the kids in school, we liked the district, so we decided to sell the lot. Now, one daughter is in college, the other in high school. Soon, it will be perfect for empty nesters. The condo is townhouse style, 1000 sq feet, two bedroom, one and a half bath, full basement and attached one car garage. Small and nothing fancy, but we're . Recenty, we had to replace the original furnace. We knew it was coming, but you are always hoping you can get one more year.