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Tuesday, March 8, 2011

House Hunting

I'm still sick. I am so sick of being sick that I don't even want to talk about it. So instead, let's talk about some exciting news!

While we were in Grand Cayman we had to turn off email and internet on our phones so that we didn't incur a million dollars in roaming fees (or whatever they are called these days). When we landed back in the states, we turned everything back on. One of the emails AJ recieved was from our landlord asking us if we could move out at the end of May. Our initial reaction was to freak out, but we talked about our options and adjusted our time line. I think it is all going to work out.

The most exciting part? We are heading back to NY this weekend to look at houses! We have been browsing online, sending my parents to open houses, and have my mom and our real estate agent looking at houses today so that we only have to look at the best on Saturday. So far there are two that we are really interested in seeing. Hopefully we will find something we love!

Any house hunting or house buying tips?

11 comments:

  1. I know this may seem like common sense but get the inspection. The sellers for our house wanted to get rid of our home as quickly as humanly possible and wanted us to forgo the inspection process. We of course said no and were so glad we did, they found minor termite damage and a few small mold spots. So we had to write it in to the new contract we had drawn up that they had to treat the mold and spray the termites which came to $1500. When you are buying a home and have your funds being pulled every which way it was eaiser to pay $300 to have our home inspected than how ever much it would have costed before we caught the problem.

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  2. Soo excited for you! My advise would be as first time home buyers, be realistic about the level of DIY you can do. For example, we knew we couldn't/ didn't want to remodel kitchens or baths, so we made sure that was taken care of. We did a lot of painting and carpet replacement but all that was relatively painless!

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  3. That's so exciting! So, you're moving back to NY?

    I don't have any advice since I've never bought a house, I only moved into a bachelor pad!

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  4. Hope you're feeling better soon! My brother just bought a house, but the project was a bit lengthier than I think he imagined...so just be patient! Happy househunting and I can't wait to see the contenders. :)

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  5. See if you can get the seller to pay closing costs. That saved us $9000 (included in that is the home inspection, other fees, etc). Good luck.

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  6. I wish I knew more about buying a house {we're still years away...oy!}! How exciting are all the things happening for you, my dear! I am so happy I stumbled on your blog--I'm a new Northerner and am adjusting ;) have a great night! xoxo {av}

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  7. Good luck and take your time. We just bought a house a few months ago and are so glad we did. It's nice to have something of your own that you can do whatever you want to!

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  8. I agree with the advice about being realistic about how much DIY stuff you want to take on. And just finding a real estate agent who is blunt, honest and you can trust is KEY.

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  9. yay! we are going through the same thing! We are moving to Michigan, went to Michigan last week to try to find a home, saw about 20, put in offer and now still negotiating price. I hope we get it, and I hope you find a home soon!

    One piece of advice is when negotiating, start LOW- they will always always ask for way more.. at least in our case, and then you have to meet them half way, etc.. it sucks

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  10. Also be aware of what you can and can't change about a house. You can install carpeting over wood floors, build an addition, build a second bathroom, paint the walls, buy new appliances, etc. But you can't change that it's an hour commute to work, or that the area floods frequently, or that it's down the street from a fire station.

    When you find it, you'll know- "this is it. this is the one".

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