ZOMG! B's Housing Adventure (in the works)

[Big B]

So, anyway, me and ruler-of-B have discussed things like a house since last summer when we'd just started dating. We've driven around the town, looking at cool houses, but in the past month, we've started to make some concerted efforts to actually see this through.

As of right now, I'm getting my W-2's, pay stubs and bank statements together to go meet with the mortagage company.

The house itself is a 3-bedroom Cape Cod style 2-story with a detatched garage, and a sweet interior that's not a dump. The best thing is, the seller is helping with the downpayment and covering closing costs. The trade off was paying about $3,000 more than the listing price, so it evens out. However, for the condition of the home, $56,700 is still a steal. (Note: I live in an extremely affordable area of the US, so other places will likely cost more for something like this) From what both the real estate agent said and the guy at the mortgage company said, this is probably worth $10,000 more than will be paid for it.

As far as payment's go, finding a 2-bedroom apartment for that price is going to have few good options. I'll pay in the $450-460 range for the payment, which includes the mortgage, taxes and insurance. Most 2-bedroom apartments are hard to find below $500 or so...well at least the good ones.

I know it'll be a little tight going in, but in the long run, I'm going to have to move anyway, and right now is the least complicated part of it all.

I've attached a shot of the front of the house, but I plan on taking more once we get things set up.

 

[thomas234]

Looks nice! Are most houses in Amercia built of wood? I realise you have more natural disasters than us, but surely not everywhere in the US does? I haven't ever seen any here in the UK which are, they're all brick.

 

[Big B]

It's vinyl sided, and I've only been through it once, so I'm not sure what the construction is today. I know it was built in 1944 and is on a partial basement made of concrete.

 

[Swansen]

my parents flip houses as something to do on the side, and regardless, i don't even care. Like i know the housing market is real messed up right now in the US, but i don't see how you could pass that up. A car can cost $30,000, i mean, friggin A, thats absolutely nothing for A HOME!!!! Yeah, its kinda small, but i'm sure a family of four could fit in there, plus, it looks pretty nice, obviously no interior shots, but the exterior looks really nice, unless they have done a renovation is a good sign. Also, the house is only a little over 50 year old, thats awesome, seriously though B, i'd jump on it for sure.

 

[Big B]

It's something we can work with. I had the inspection done on Thursday, and I've asked the seller to fix a few things, as well as put a fridge in the place (that was part of the agreement, so they have to do that). However, the structure itself is sound, the big key there.

My main project on it this year will be to clean out the gutters and cover them with something. I'll need to have someone come out and trim back the oak tree in the front yard as well since it's likely to get loaded with some ice and scrape the roof.

 

[Big B]

Well, I just found out I close on the 30th at 1pm.

 

[sabashuali]

This house looks Sweeeeet! $56,000????? If you are not buying, um agonna come and buy it myself! Man, that is less than 28,000 squids!!! For a three bed house? And a garage?

Houses in England just do not have that, leafy suburb look to them......
It's not Jason I can see behind the corner, is it? :chk:

Good luck, I hope it goes through and you get the place. Hope it brings you and the boss mucho happiness... :cool:

 

[Big B]

Now that I have it, I found some interesting things.

(I finished all my paperwork in about 20 minutes.)

1.)Nobody has the keys. We planned on replacing the locks anyway, but this made it a priority, so that was done.

2.)I have a garage door opener that works, but I'll need a remote too.

3.)We need to paint the basement with Killz primer. It's been uninhabited for awhile, and we noticed the stuff had started to grow, so we went out and snagged some stuff.

Today, I get to mow my lawn and look at appliances. And I need to get ahold of Verizon to get the internet ball rolling.

 

[sabashuali]

Well done BB!
As they say here - wish you well to live in it.
And if I had any rabbinical authority:
"May this home and this family
Always know only health and joy
With love and with peace,
with livelihood and with success,
Please bless, O God, this abode.
Amen, may it be God's will!"

"Please allow light and gladness,
peace and companionship
to dwell in this home
and bestow abundant blessings and holiness
in all of its rooms and corners,
and may the illumination of Your holy Torah
and your commandments shine"

Obviously in your case (unless you are a part of the J clan) we shall omit the Torah part... ;)

 

[Anti-Trend]

Obviously in your case (unless you are a part of the J clan) we shall omit the Torah part... ;)

B professes Christianity, so the Torah is inseparable... but I'm sure he calls it part of the "old testament" instead. :) And from me as well, "shalom, shalom on your new house dude."

Simply a great time to be buying right now by the way, I wish I had the money to buy right now. Some houses that were worth 4 million in the bay area of California are going for $200k! :doh:

 

[Big B]

Thanks guys. I'm back for another 2 weeks (then I get married Sept. 3--vacation time, FTW!). Got my FiOS 10M up/2M down installed yesterday, and am taking the wireless route.

I'll have pics once the house is more cleaned up inside.

 

[Addis]

B professes Christianity, so the Torah is inseparable... but I'm sure he calls it part of the "old testament" instead. :) And from me as well, "shalom, shalom on your new house dude."

Simply a great time to be buying right now by the way, I wish I had the money to buy right now. Some houses that were worth 4 million in the bay area of California are going for $200k! :doh:

I don't really understand how the housing market's going in the US at the moment. Are prices really falling like that? Aren't mortgages harder and harder to obtain with the current economic state? It would just seem that way since over ehre in the UK house prices are falling overall but nobody can afford to buy them.

 

[Big B]

I guess it depends on what kind of financing you get. I got an FHA loan, which depending on who you ask, can be harder to get. I have very good credit (in the 700's), so I'm sure that helped out as well.
Additionally, sellers wanting to ditch a property are more willing to make more concessions to the buyer. I got downpayment assistance and closing costs covered, as well as some issues with the air and heating taken care of. I got at least $5,000-6,000 in concessions, if not more.
The lenders are a little more cautious, since they've been getting burned. We think this house was repo-ed or ditched by the last owners.
For me, the only snag was some law that dictated a 90-day waiting period between sales, or I'd have been in the house about a month earlier.

It was a smooth ride, and I even finished signing the stack of papers at closing in about 20 minutes. (That was also because I was playing beat the clock with the parking meter--I use my debit card a lot and usually carry less than $1 in my wallet.)

 

[Pimp]

Very nice house and hope it all works out for you :)

If you lived in the UK you will not be able to even get a studio flat for the price of the house your buying. $56k is around £30K and that a good deposit but won't buy you a full house not even a flat. a studio flat in London will cost you around £80K+ easily which is around $150K just for a friggin studio. As for central London well were talking about hundreds of thousands for a one bed flat

so in ym opinion your well lucky to get a nice house for that price.