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If I rent an apartment and determine I don't like living there, I can bail out at the end of the 6 month or year lease and strike it up to experience. But if I buy a house and don't like it, then I am stuck. If you include the closing costs of the home purchase and the sale, you are talking about big money. Assuming a 3% increase in the value of your home, after paying all your real estate and moving costs, it would take at least three years to break even if you wanted to move out of a house you bought but did not like.
Have you taken a big loss on a house you bought simply because you had to move quickly right after buying it? Tell us more!
Well, when you buy a house you take your time and know what you're doing.
You check out the neighborhood. Drive through many times on different days of the week and at different hours of the day. You decide what things are important to you about a home. Look at the design, the floor plan, the condition of the home, the lot, etc.
Make sure you know what you want in a home. Don't look at the seller's furniture or what color they painted the walls. Look at the bones of the house and whether your furniture fits. Look at the flow of the home, whether it's bright and airy, how the rooms go from one to another. Have a good home inspection .
Check the outside-- can you maintain the grounds easily; is there sun, shade, open lawn, etc.
Don't expect a house to be perfect. Unless you have millions upon millions to spend and can build from scratch, you're most likely going to have to compromise on some things. Just make sure you can accept your compromises before you buy.
Just go slow, pay attention to details, make sure you know what you want. Do this and you won't have to worry about if you want to move three weeks after you move in. A house is not an apartment. A house is a long term situation and you should treat it as such. It requires a lot of thought beforehand.
Have you taken a big loss on a house you bought simply because you had to move quickly right after buying it?
No. I don't take the decision to buy a house lightly, therefore I would have done everything in my power to vet the house against my needs and requirements before putting my name to paper.
Have you taken a big loss on a house you bought simply because you had to move quickly right after buying it?
Never. To my way of thinking that would be foolish. So, I never buy a house unless I am absolutely sure that I will be living in it for at least 7 years, and absolutely sure that I adore it and that there is nothing wrong with it.
Of course, this can drive my real estate guy nuts. Back in 2002 when I was shopping for a house, I made him take me inside 2-3 dozen homes before I finally found one that I was sure I liked that much.
Never. To my way of thinking that would be foolish. So, I never buy a house unless I am absolutely sure that I will be living in it for at least 7 years, and absolutely sure that I adore it and that there is nothing wrong with it.
Of course, this can drive my real estate guy nuts. Back in 2002 when I was shopping for a house, I made him take me inside 2-3 dozen homes before I finally found one that I was sure I liked that much.
I am the same way. I give my buying agent a list of 'must haves' and a list of 'deal breakers' before we even start looking but it still takes time (and they will ALWAYS show you houses with deal breakers anyway)
The one time I considered it was when I bought a house then accepted a new job just a year later. Commute went from 15mins to 1-1.5hrs. But then the crash happened and that basically made the decision for me. Ended up making that commute for 10 years.
We sold a house about 18mths after buying it. It was a great looking house. We knew initially that we needed flood insurance but had no idea the extent to which the basement flooded. We're talking 7ft of water if the sump pump clogged, which it did.
So knowing that the local market was hot, we sold it (with full disclosure on the water) for a 100K more than we bought it for. Best decision ever, I still have dreams 13yrs later about the sump pump breaking.
If I rent an apartment and determine I don't like living there, I can bail out at the end of the 6 month or year lease and strike it up to experience. But if I buy a house and don't like it, then I am stuck. If you include the closing costs of the home purchase and the sale, you are talking about big money. Assuming a 3% increase in the value of your home, after paying all your real estate and moving costs, it would take at least three years to break even if you wanted to move out of a house you bought but did not like.
Have you taken a big loss on a house you bought simply because you had to move quickly right after buying it? Tell us more!
No, because I do not buy houses without being sure.
Never. To my way of thinking that would be foolish. So, I never buy a house unless I am absolutely sure that I will be living in it for at least 7 years, and absolutely sure that I adore it and that there is nothing wrong with it.
Of course, this can drive my real estate guy nuts. Back in 2002 when I was shopping for a house, I made him take me inside 2-3 dozen homes before I finally found one that I was sure I liked that much.
I viewed over 300 before buying my last one. I needed to find the perfect house for me and I was not going to settle.
Difficult to do that in the hot seller's market here with places often getting multiple offers same day as listing. You have to make a snap decision that day or the place is gone.
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