OT: Finally buying a house

[WestCoastSVX]

Well as a few of you know my wife and I have been looking to buy our first house for almost a year now. It has been a long painful process (getting approved, getting screwed by a shady real estate agent, fighting to get money back from the bad deal we had to back out of, finding good agent, getting approved again, saving money, dealing with the fact we can't afford to buy where we rent now, saving money, searching endless hours, finally finding a house, making the deal, etc).

Anyway, it has been a.... educational..... year.

Finally found the perfect house last week and got our first offer accepted by the desperate sellers! Our financing is already approved and inspection is this afternoon. Provided that goes good and then the appraisal, we should have the keys by Christmas!

What this means for the SVX is I will be living 20 miles from work (instead of 1) so it will get to be a commuter car again for a while. It will be mostly a country highway so it should be fun.

It also means that once we settle into our new payments and budget, I will be able to start putting some money aside to finally get her painted.

Hey, Troy! Congratulations. I dream of some day owning a house.

So... what I'm dieing to find out... DOES IT HAVE A GARAGE!?!?

Mike

[Landshark]

congrats! i'm in my second year of being a homeowner. get your SVX repairs and maintenance squared away now, because you will be busy! i'm going out to rake up 3 tons of leaves now....

[WestCoastSVX]

Yep, going from an apartment to a house is going to definitely reprioritize some of our time (Home Depot ads will take on a whole new meaning), but we're looking forward to the challenge!

Yes, Mike, it's got a nice big garage! My SVX will be very grateful.

[mattski]

Troy, just a piece of unsolicited advice from someone who has done this a couple of times. Apply for a mortgage with two different institutions. Lock in the rate with one and float it with the other. This way, if the rates go down you can go with the lower one. If they go up, again you go with the lower one.

The other advantage is if the lender starts giving you crap as the closing date approaches, you can just switch lenders and that option will have an amazing effect on the original lender.

I purchase our current home a few years ago and it is on a private road. At the last moment, 3 days before the closing, the bank decided that they would have a hard time selling the mortgage and decided not to give us the loan. So I called the second lender, explained the problem and they told me that they had no issue with the private road. So I called the original lender, told them of the potential change, and they all of a sudden decided to go ahead with the loan. Three months later they sold my mortgage anyway.

Bottom line, I will never buy a house by dealing with just one lender. They hold all the cards and your ba**s as well. The ~$300 additional application fee is well worth it.

Best of luck with the house.

Matt

[benebob]

Congrats. Hope your inspection goes well. My wife and I just moved in 3 weeks ago. Its a real fixer-upper but is in a great neighborhood. One thing that I would've looked into more was an FHA loan. We had the $$$ for downpayment and such so didn't even look at it but with an FHA if you sell the house the buyer is locked in at your rate as well (if they go FHA). Since rates are the lowest they've been in 30 years. Its bound to go up again before you sell. Big selling point!!!! Best of luck! Hope you got a garage for your baby too!

[CigarJohnny]

Congratulations!!

I look forward to being in that position again one day in the future. I lost my house several years ago when I injured my back and couldn't make payments (self-employed in the construction industry) and it's been an uphill struggle ever since to restart my life all over again in a new profession. My wife and I dream of that time coming once again when we can call a place ours again. Best wishes to you and yours! Your living the American dream...a house and an SVX in the garage

[Landshark]

on the plus side, you now have an excuse to buy more cool tools. just finished the leaves - used my new blower/vac. as Tim Allen would say, "Grunt, grunt, grunt ."

You guys will hate me but I have my OWN garage. Sorta. My moms house sorta looks like a duplex; it has 2 seperate garages on each side of the house.... anyway, one of htem is mine. I have it well lit, tons of tools, car posters, hubcaps, musclecar stuff, racing banners, and a killer am/fm/cassette/8track stereo to listen to the tunes while bustin' knuckles. I love it. Only downside is I don't get to use it anymore because I don't live at home. DOH! OH well, its still where I work on everything.

- Ca$h

[wawazat??]

Great news. Best of luck to you in the move.

Good to see you realize the work involved in home ownership.

Todd

[mohrds]

Congrats!

I hope it works out well for you.

Doug

[Alycone]

Congrats on the place, perhaps we should have our next meet be a housewarming party, you don't mind if we all park on your lawn, do you? Just think how surprised your neighbors will be.

[ensteele]

Troy

Hope it goes through this time. Great to hear that you found a good place.

I think that would be great fun. Park on the lawn, have a nice fire in the middle of the yard (oh, we could use parts of the deck for wood - you do have a deck don't you ) and the street would be full of our SVXs. Good luck.

[LarryIII]

Mac,

Does your new house have a stargate ?

Congratulations and best of luck.

[WestCoastSVX]

Well I guess I never really officially stated that yes, the inspection and the month's worth of other processes that followed, all went off without a hitch. We got the keys to our house on January 1st and have been spending the last 3 months turning into a home.

Here's a quick picture, eventually when we get everything how we want it maybe I'll put a few more in my locker.