We Bought a House!
We’ve been renting since we couldn’t find a house we liked when we initially moved to AZ and we recently started looking at houses again. We found one we liked in our price range and we close July 10th! Which is absolutely crazy being a month before baby is due, but hey, life is crazy. So watch for lots of posts about moving and making a house a home, especially pregnant and then with a newborn!
7 Tips for House Hunting
Look within your Budget
Yes, the houses that cost $50,000 more look way nicer and your banker says you COULD afford them at the top of your range, but focus on what you can afford COMFORTABLY. Your banker isn’t going to remind you that the loan lasts 30 years and for that time period you have to pay it every month. If you want to work fewer hours, or take a big vacation, or one of you can’t work for any reason that couple hundred dollars a month does make a big difference. So, pick a price range that YOU are comfortable with and stick to it.
Plus, before the monthly payments even hit, you have closing costs. 5-20% or whatever you are putting down, plus a couple thousand for closing costs (everyone wants their bit), plus another thousand or more for repairs and changes right at move in (painting, curtains, flooring changes, etc). It adds up fast, don’t let it blindside you! When looking at a house, make sure your budget can handle any renovations it requires.
Bring your Kids
Bring your kids house hunting! Your older kids will appreciate having input, and your younger kids will run wild. How is running wild good? It will help you see ways that the layout and yard are good or bad for your family. Do bring some little toys to help restrain the wild though.
On the other hand, get a babysitter for the little ones when you go to do paperwork. It’s boring and you need to be able to focus on what the papers say.
Buy for the Area
This has a double meaning:
1) Buy an appropriate house for the weather. Two story houses in Bullhead City, AZ are not-so-good because it costs a lot more to cool the second story than just one. Homes in MN need basements because or tornado possibilities. And so on, buy appropriate for the weather of the area.
2) Pay attention to the neighborhood and area around the house. Look at where the schools, playgrounds, crime areas, and noisy pets are. You are going to live there, make sure it’s a good place for your wants and needs.
Plan for the Future
Whether your family is going to grow or shrink, keep the next few decades in mind. It’s hard to know what the future will bring, so be sure the house you buy is right for your future plans. You don’t want to realize your house is too big or too small just a year or two down the road! Plus, keep resell value in the back of your mind. Make sure you aren’t going to be stuck with a hard-to-sell house when you are ready to move on.
Get an Inspection!
Hugely important! A good inspector should spend at least 2 hours at the house taking pictures, telling you what’s what (fyi, you should be there too), and putting together a thorough report. Unless you are a contractor or inspector yourself, you don’t know it all and this is worth the money.
Pick a Good Realtor
The realtor will help you find available houses and then navigate the confusing legal stuff that goes with buying a house. So pick a good one. We bought the house with the third realtor we’ve worked with. The first one kept pushing our price range and showing us condos and her own listings. The second one was never available to show us houses until a week later. The third one was super nice and has been incredibly helpful.
Walls, Windows, and Floors
Should be straight and functional. Crooked walls and floors are bad and hard to fix. And windows are expensive to replace. The core of the house needs to be solid, don’t ignore it!
Enjoy house hunting and take your time! Don’t settle on a house just because. Renting is fine and we are super glad we rented for a while to give our bank account time to rebuild after moving and give ourselves time to find the right house for us.
House hunting can be stressful; thanks for the tips on how to make it enjoyable!
Congrats on the new house!!
I agree with your tips, especially knowing your budget. In my experience, the bank wants to give you more than what you may be comfortable spending. We didn’t want to be stressed by a high house payment so we stayed in the price range where we were comfortable – not where our bank or realtor thought we could be.
These are such good tips in looking for a good home. The schools and the area where you live is very important to check out when buying a new home. Try to find out about the neighborhood and the people that you will be living by. Bad neighbors can really ruin a good home.
I like all of these tips, Another one I think is extremely important is know your bill estimates from previous owners. One I always look at is the foundation, if it’s cracked it is usually a red flag.
These are some great tips! My husband and I bought our house before we were expecting and these ideas are definitely useful for our next go around (but maybe the kids will be grown? Who likes moving?)!
We are going to be house hunting for the first time since we had kids. Love the idea of taking them. For some reason I thought we would leave them with Grandma. But I think they would love going
some good tips and points,,the inspection is really important and so is buying within your budget not what you wish you could get,,ive seen too many ppl buy and pay way too much for a house they just cant afford
Glad you found a home, and these tips do sound very helpful. I’ve been looking to purchase, and it can be frustrating, so you starting looking higher, but I know I can’t, so then it is back down in the trenches. It is so true everything $50K more looks perfect.
Thanks for finally writing about >Tips for House Hunting – Grinning Cheek
to Cheek <Loved it!
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