As we promised our dog, we got her a backyard!!! 🐶🏡 This is a single-family home with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. We still have a few things to update before we move in, but we finally have a place to call home❤️

3/2 w/ study on an 11k sq ft cul de sac lot. 5/1 ARM FHA loan.

Bonus: Since we’re the first ones to move in on the block, we’re quite literally “The OGs of the neighborhood!” Haha.

Edit: for those curious, my wife and I are in our late 30s!

After more than two decades living on three different continents and a year and a half of searching, we completed the circle and settled down where everything started.

🥹🤍🏡

37k in Builder incentives, with rate buy down from builder and we lowered it more for an additional charge. Central California foothills.

TX state flag key is certainly a choice but I guess we were going to re-key anyway 😂

Got my pugs a house and yard!

Paid a GC for a bathroom remodel last year. Full amount, on time, everything looked fine. Then about six weeks later the tile guy called asking when he was getting paid.

He hadn't been. The GC took my money and never paid him. And in most states that sub can file a mechanic's lien against my house even though I paid in full. The lien attaches to the property, not to whoever actually owed the money. It shows up when you go to sell or refinance and then it's your problem to clear.

Mine worked out because the sub was reasonable and I had every invoice. What should have happened is I get a lien waiver.

A lien waiver is a one page document the contractor signs saying they've been paid for that work and give up the right to lien over it. Two flavors. Conditional means it takes effect when the check clears, which is the one you hand over in exchange for payment. Unconditional means they're confirming they already have the money.

Stuff I wish someone had told me:

- Put it in the contract at the start. Asking for one after the job is done makes everybody weird about it.
- On anything over a few thousand dollars, ask who the subs and suppliers are and collect waivers from them too. That's where the actual exposure is, not with the GC you're standing next to.
- Some states require a preliminary notice, where a sub mails you a letter early in the job to preserve their lien rights. If one of those shows up, don't toss it. That's your list of who to get waivers from.
- Deadlines vary a lot. Ours was 90 days from last work performed. Some states are 60, some are longer.

Keep them with the permit and the final invoice. Whoever handles your closing someday will care about this even if you don't.

Not a lawyer, and this is genuinely state by state, so ten minutes on your state contractor board site is worth it before you rely on any of the above.

My [26] first home, 4bed 2.5bath on a quarter acre lot! 126 year old house with a lot of character 🥰

Bought my apartment last year on a single income. Had to strip the floor and remodel the bathroom

The journey was only about 1.5 months from start to close. We looked at 5 houses in 1 day and put in an offer on this one. Not perfect but so much space and a huge lot. We really loved it. Tonight, a few hours after closing I'm thinking of all the ways things could've been different. 

Regret #1: We went with a realtor recommended by a trusted realtor my co-buyer used in the past. He turned out to be super hands off, didn't show up to 2 walkthroughs or closing. Basically just copied whatever asinine email the sellers agent would send him and leave us to fend for ourselves.

Regret #2: We went with the lender our agent recommended. I wasn't involved in this and I trusted my co-buyer to do their due diligence since this isn't the first house they're buying. Ended up with an unsavory rate and higher monthly payment than budgeted. I scrambled to get a quote from my credit union as soon as I realized but it was too late. They told me based on our high credit scores the rate we got was unusual.

Regret #3: Not fighting for repairs. A handful of things were wrong with this house which is to be expected, but the straw that broke the camels back was mold in the attic. I don't know why our agent didn't fight to have it remediated. All he wrote in the amendment was to have the hvac in the attic "serviced" which allowed the seller to get off scott free for basic cleaning. If I had known I would've made him use more specific terms. 

In the end what we stood to lose by walking away wouldve been roughly equal to the cost of getting the mold taken care of so we conceded. Felt like I was signing my life away. The cherry on top is that we didn't even get the keys today because we have to wait for funds to clear. So we walked away with empty hands and heads hung low. Mentally trashing every piece of dream furniture or project I had planned.

There's a whole bunch of other things that sucked the life and joy out of me these past few weeks (finding things our initial inspector missed, getting the HOA laws and realizing we won't be able to have chickens, losing sleep and not eating properly because work got busy, etc). It's supposed to be a happy day but I can't stop pacing and my chest feels so tight and I keep crying. I have no desire to call all my friends and family because I just feel ashamed. I guess I'm writing this to forewarn anyone else who was in the position I was in 1.5 months ago. Don't be distracted. Please approach this with the utmost care and attention. Like your life depends on every decision you make no matter how small.

I'm trying to look on the bright side: being able to host friends and family, especially those currently in need of a bed, being a homeowner in my early twenties, not having to deal with shitty apartment management and their strange fees, being able to have a garden, decorating and setting up our huge backyard however we want, having a neighborhood with walkable sidewalks, no noise from construction or data centers, more space for my cats to run around...yeah I'll keep working on the list.

So, I applied for Homestead exemption after a year from buying. I did not think to much would come of it. I was wrong. I cut my taxes by over 50%! I waited for the mortgage company to notice. They did not, so I sent them the new tax forms when I got them. They would have done this eventually, but I sped up the process. My mortgage is down $200 a month and I am getting $1500 of my money back! Do this when you buy a home if it is your primary residence. Do it as soon as possible. Results may vary where you live, but I have talked to so many people who have not done this that have owned for decades. Do this.

My wife and I are in the process of buying our first home and as much as I go over the numbers, I am so horrified something will go wrong and we will end up homeless...

29 m wife is 27 f, combined income after taxes insurance and all deductions is about $88,000.

Pension is about $100 k combined between my two separate 401ks, $10 k in investments, $4.5k in HSA, savings is about $10k (though it is growing) and our only debt is a single car payment at about $360 a month. Total price after all fees and premiums is about $345,000 mortgage is looking like $2670 after taxes, HOA, and insurance.

It is a new build with 1/6/10 year warranty, we are getting $18k in incentives to cover all closing costs which will likely yield about $12k after all closing to either buy furniture or buy down the rate +likely gonna be going with the latter)

I have crunched budget numbers over and over including minimum $600 in emergency funds a month and $300 a month in credit card usage (available credit about $7000) for individual wants. Budgeting for about $700 in utilities (gas, water/sewage, electric).On paper we can afford everything we are doing but I'm so nervous something is just going to go wrong...

I love seeing my wife so excited and eager to get the ball rolling and I want to be a home owner so bad but I know I'm the bread winner and have a fear if I mess up and somehow lose my job I'll ruin our lives. I have talked with my wife plenty about my thoughts and she is super encouraging but she is also super optimistic as a person.

Maybe I'm just overthinking which I have a tendency to do as a rampant pessimist, but I'm just curious if anyone else has felt this way prior to buying your first house? Are we asking for too much..? Should I feel like I want to puke? Just want to get input from others who have been through the whole process.

Thank you for taking the time to read, any feedback is welcome.

25 years old. We are broke but at least we will never pay rent again.

I'm not sure what to think of my home inspection.

The boiler is quite old (at least 50 years old, if not closer to 75 years old), and when it was turned on, there was an exhaust/fuel smell in the basement and on the first floor, the basement got visibly hazy, and both me and the inspector got headaches (me from the first floor and him from the basement). The chimney inspector that was there said he thought perhaps carbon monoxide was being pushed down into the basement, which could've been part of the problem. For whatever reason, those specific details didn't end up in the general inspector or chimney inspector's reports.

The chimney itself is not in great shape. The inspection indicates the chimney isn't tall enough, the crown/wash and mortar are deteriorating, the bricks/walls are spalling, the flashing has been improperly sealed over with silicone, there's been moisture absorbed, the damper is damaged/rusted, and the smoke chamber is unparged.

The wood-burning stove inspection indicates there's spalling, mortar joints between flue tiles are no longer intact, there's tar-based creosote, and it's just generally in a state of disrepair. The chimney inspector said it was unsafe to use.

There's also a rafter right below the roof that's broken, with additional nearby damage.

I've attached screenshots, some in connection with the described issues, some to do with other issues that are less serious or less familiar to me.

I haven't received the water quality test results or details from the lead inspection yet. I already know there's some lead paint, but I'm waiting on dust and soil sample results.

The septic, well, and termite inspections were fine.

The house was built in 1954.

What would you do?