Friday 11 April 2014

HOME BUYING: What I've Learnt So Far

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We're about a month into our full ongoing first home search and it's probably about time for an update. I've learnt a lot, both about myself, and the process of buying your first house. It's all been about home buying classes, mortgages, visiting places and waiting.

So what have we learnt and what you don't see on home buying shows;
  • I have zero patience, like none whatsoever
  • Joe is as cool as a cucumber 
  • I get too emotionally attached to a house but then I struggle with the concept of not having any attachment when you're going to be spending so much money and will be living in said home for an extended period
  • Insomnia is a regular occurrence, although it's been getting better
  • Try and attend a home buying course - you might think you know everything about home buying or mortgages, you probably don't
  • Black mold of doom really is a thing and mortgage lenders don't like mold
  • There's more to just "sticking in an offer on a house" dam you TV house buying shows - they never show you all the paperwork - like 20 pages of contracts to sign
  • Basements seem to leak, quite often and mortgage lenders don't like that either
  • Don't assume a house has gutters - oops
  • Some houses have really odd layouts
  • Some houses are missing their basements, they had them once, you can still see the original windows, yet you can't find the way to get into them .... are their bodies hidden inside?!
  • Bungalows with tight, steep spiral staircases are scary to get down
  • Hardwood floors are the in thing right now
  • Oh and I have lots of blog posts about home buying lined up - but I a) feel like it's tempting fate to publish them and b) that they won't be of interest to people - le sigh!
So we found a house, it had a great living space, was one short on the number of bedrooms we wanted but it had an open "living" space upstairs so it was workable. It's basically been a flip house, it's had some work to it but there's a lot of things that could be added to, a project house but it looked okay and okay enough for us to tackle. The way things work in Michigan is that you see a house stick a bid in and then do the home inspection but the contracts are written in a way that you see the results of the inspection and then ask the seller to fix them, ask for a lower price or walk away.   

I guess we weren't expecting there to be so many issues. Like big electrical safely hazard kind of issues, like exposed wires, and missing circuit breakers and ungrounded plugs in the kitchen of all places. So we sent off a list of 14 things that need fixing before we'd consider moving forward.

This is where home inspections are worth their money in gold (ours cost around $350), I was a little on the fence about them prior to this I will admit. We went through the Buyer Projection Group (who were recommended to us through a lady at the home buyers course and who we'll certainly be using again if the occasion arises) who offer a really thorough attic to basement plus exterior inspection and you'll end up with a number of reports filled with advice, photographs and actions that should be taken or considered. Big tip is to always tag along and attend the inspection too (although I was out with the lurgy so only Joe attending ours).

So here is a snap shot taken from our home report which was comprised of two thorough room by room inspection reports, this part being from the electric panels inspection which as you can see, has some rather interesting issues.


The home inspection was especially helpful for us as we're inexperienced first time buyers doing this alone, I wouldn't have known the fume was missing a screw or to have looked that the bedroom ceiling fan was incorrectly fitted. To be honest I'm glad we didn't even touch let alone look inside the electric box after seeing how dangerous it is as it currently stands.

So the inspection helps you the buyer know what to do next - to carry on with the sale, back out or ask for changes. For us, right now it's in the sellers hands, we've sent what we want changing, it's up to them. Nevertheless with the majority of the issues being dangerous and electrical all these concerns are going to come up again with another buyer if we back out, it's probably in their own interests to get it fixed. Also as a side note, any buyer that backs out of a sale, this report has to be passed on to any future buyer by the seller.

This whole house buying malarkey is certainly a huge learning curve. If things don't work out with this house, knowing what we know now about the process of sticking in bid and all the paperwork that goes into it alongside what we should look out more for from doing this inspection it will have been worth it.

Every had a home inspection turn up anything funky? What did you learn when you were buying a house?

15 comments:

  1. I've learnt that I am soooooo impatient too. Our offer was accepted in October. It's April now and we're no nearer completing, it's frustrating the hell out of me. I just want to get in and rip the woodchip from the walls.

    Fingers crossed that they fix the issues for you and this turns out to be 'the one'. x

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    1. Oh man I feel for you, I think i'd of given up all hope by then! To be honest, we're not bothered at this point if they don't agree to fixing the issues just means we'll look for somewhere else. We don't have the spare cash to fix it ourselves with not owning any white goods.

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  2. I don't anticipate having to buy a house any time really soon, but I definietly enjoyed reading this! It's never too early to learn helpful tips!

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  3. I could not live in a house that had a basement you couldn't get in to, that would freak me out so much! x

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    1. Well it's more of an issue for the home inspection because they need to be able to see what the house is building on, it's just odd as to where the entrances have "vanished" too lol

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  4. Gosh, so much goes into it, huh!

    Hope it goes in your favour!! And that they fix a few of the issues before you get your hands on it!

    Good luck bud.

    Gemma
    Faded Windmills

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    1. Well we'll be backing out if they don't that's for sure! Ah well just have to wait and see some more!

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  5. Kris is always the cucumber :)

    It's great that you've found something you're keen up but there's always something... We had a similar inspection for our rented place here, but they do it after you move in and it's to record the current state of the house and then compare back to when you move out to make sure you pay for any damages and such. All about the deposit on the house. But they take it quite seriously and take pictures of some mould and such...

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    1. Yeah I had a couple of those other the years with my university housing, although we had a major mold running down the hallway wall issue for two years that never seemed to get sorted.

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  6. I love the fact you have photos to prove what's wrong in the house. The first house we found has asbestos in it so it was a huge no for us right there. Right now we are STILL waiting for everything to clear from their side. It really does test you this whole buying a house thing, I'm like you with it all extremely impatient where the boyfriend is just laid back, it really annoys me lol x

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    1. Yeah, the report is just filled with photographs and explanations in like normal words what's up and things which is great, their reports are really helpful and we'll certainly use that company again because of it. Sucks about your wait, I know what you mean about those cucumber laid back men!

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  7. The house inspection was so helpful for us. We also had an advantage because boyfriend works in the construction industry.

    The biggest thing I learnt buying a house is that I am terrible at negotiating.
    But when we started the process we put him in charge and I wasn't allowed to do anything. And I'm glad we did because we waited it out and got the price we wanted.Very grateful for the cucumber men.

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    1. Oh yeah the negotiating is too much for me at estate sales and flea markets so house negotiating for me is a no no, plus with the market demand in the cities we're looking in there isn't too much give and take with the prices.

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  8. I remember when we were searching for homes, how much of an emotional rollercoaster it was. We'd be excited because we found a house, bid, then lose out or find out it was already sold. And, yes, we learned firsthand that not all houses come with gutters; in fact we had to specifically request that they put that on our house before we bought it. It's definitely not an easy process and can be frustrating, but it is worth it in the end, when you have a place all your own that you will build equity on. -Jess L

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    1. That's what I mean totally! I want to be able to see myself living there and I can't do that without some form of connection, ah well - i'm actually rather detached from the house right now - if it swings either way I won't mind! So yeah the gutters are on the to fix list that they have to sort before we go ahead that's for sure!

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