Question to all buying or have bought 1st home?

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by jessealva

I would suggest to buy new if you are planning to move in about 5 yrs. just build in an upcoming place and the prices will hopefully hold steady or jump up. My feeling is if you are going to live in it you should like the place you live in.

Only problem with this is that if there are still new homes going up in the neighborhood, it may be hard to convince a buyer to buy your 3-5 yr old home instead of the same brand new never lived in home unless you're offering great incentives like a significant savings, which may mean getting less for your house.

[perticusrex]

I think buying a home is a personal choice and you have to weigh what is important to you, your family, your budget, and your lifestyle.

[JAL71]

Originally Posted by perticusrex

we chose something 30% less than what we even qualified for. Someone told me to get something 15-30% less than what the bank (or mortgage co) told me I qualified for. What I qualified for just seemed ridiculous to be quite honest.

Another GREAT piece of advice that we also experienced.

We qualified, on one salary at the time, for some outrageous amount for a home. It was unreal the amount of a loan they were willing to lend us. We went wayyyyy under that amount.
Realtors, family, friends, etc., kept saying that we "would get a much better home for that qualified amount"......Oh I am sure! But, would we have a second car right now? New furniture? Able to grocery shop without a calculator? Buy the extras we want? It is exactly as perticusrex stated....what is important to you and your family, your budget, lifestyle.

[jwebtx]

Did you buy a starter home or your "dream" home?

For SA, we bought our dream home in a well established neighborhood. I knew exactly what amenities in the home & area were essential to our happiness and ensured the home met those needs.

Remodeling & refurbishing said home and staying under budget is a long rant for another forum.

Don't over spend for whatever neighborhood you are going into. If you are going to be in the home less than 5 years, you might seriously consider renting. Taxes, maintenance, closing costs (coming and going), etc. etc. can eat away the appreciation, if any, quickly.

[Torkey]

Originally Posted by Dopo

I'm mad, because it's been about 2-3 weeks since we signed the papers and it looks like we still have to wait 1-2 weeks before they start building.

I'm more than ready to move. So I have to completely forget about the house.
Otherwise I'm gonna be in a bad mood all the time.

Yeaaah the permitting and stuff takes a bit...it was 2 months before they got the forms up on ours...but after that, it FLYS...

[V3rtigo]

i can't believe only one person mentioned renting. i wish someone had told us to rent when we bought our first house. if you know you'll be moving in 5 years or less, don't buy. you won't build any equity in 5 years. it's just a bad financial decision. disregard my statement though if you have the cash to not worry about this, and by that i mean, if your payment will be 10 or 15% of your gross income.

[joe123456]

I bought a home for the first time Jan of last year. I went "no holds barred" and spent $45K on upgrading the home after closing. The 204K price included 30K in upgrades making the total thrown into the home at $249K.

Putting $45K turned out not to be such a bad idea. It was all retirement money invested in the stock market. Since the market is down about 50% from its highs, it probably wasn't a bad choice.

My lesson learned is that a home is a huge money pit, and it will take considerable amount of money to make it look as good or better than the model home.

After sinking 45K into the home granite, security cameras, skylight, crown molding, chair rail, trim around windows, in wall speakers, HVAC zoning system, extra insulation, water softner, sprinkler system, 10x10 storage building custom built, slate tile patio, bamboo floors, laminate floors upstairs, custom tile work bathroom tub surrounds, landscaping, custom electrical work during build, fiberoptics/Cat5E, Cat6 custom run throughout the home, surround sound two zones, adding windows during construction, inspection costs testing concrete during slab pour etc, hurricane ties, home wiring media center with power, paint, $130 bathroom vent fans, appliances, new door knobs, bathtub sliding doors, etc. And I still have one more project left...adding decorative columns attached to custom built lighted shelves to give better definition between the living area and breakfest dining area.

After all of that I then went out and spent about 20K in furniture.

When I look back at the experience, it's hard to imagine I have already sunk 45K into the house and another 20K in furniture. I was very frugal with materials etc and all of the electrical work was done on the side (builder didn't offer the options) as the home was being built, additional windows (not offered by builder as option) etc. I also was lucky to run into very good carpenter to do all of my crown molding and chair rails etc.

No regrets, because I was able to get a semi-custom home at not much more than a track home price. It was a huge pain to do, but well worth it in the end.

I plan on keeping the house for the long haul. The other downside to all of my upgrades is that I now am probably the most expensive home on the block.