D.C. Area Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
How long did it take you to buy your home?
DH and I are currently renting - and our lease expires end of July. We'd like to buy rather than continue renting. Just wondering how long it took you to buy your home from the beginning of your search to the time you moved in. Thanks!
Re: How long did it take you to buy your home?
We had somewhat of a window of time to meet - DH got transfer papers and we had to be here in DC within 120 days... we started looking in mid-March and did 5 separate trips and saw around 90 houses. We settled on the one we are in now and closed the second week of July, though the builder would have liked for us to close by the end of June - so basically we took the full 4 months but probably could have done it in 3 (especially because this is the first house we looked at out of the 90 - we probably could have done it faster).
I was surprised to see how quickly closings take place down here - almost everyplace that we were interested in were willing to close within 3 weeks of an accepted offer. The two homes that we owned in CT both took about 6 weeks to close from acceptance.
Do you already have an area/neighborhood/specific home in mind? Are you able to go month to month on your current place after your lease is up in July if you haven't found something yet? From what I understand, a lot of houses go on the market in the spring in anticipation of a move at the end of the school year. From our experience, I would think if you found something in May or June, you should be in good shape to close by late June or early July. There is so much inventory out there (and so much of what we saw was completely disgusting - no matter how great the pics looked) I'd get hooked up with a realtor now and start looking at places within your price range.
Total about 90 days. It would have been less but our last offer that was accepted needed a 60 day close.
We were renting and the landlord was selling the condo - we didn't want to buy it. Our options were either to rent again or buy. Our mortgage is double what our rent was and we were not able to do 20% down.
End of May - started looking, offer in, they countered at asking price, we countered, they countered again at asking price and we walked away. (they refused to budge - it was a flip house)
End of May- another offer in a week later, accepted, sellers realtor screwed up and contract voided (back to drawing board) I really cried since I LOVED the house
First week of June - another off - this time we offered FULL asking price with no closing assistance, accepted. Sellers wanted a 60 day close which we did. I don't love this house as much as the 2nd offer but for our first home it's not bad (3 bed, 3 bath, 2 car garage but it's a split level).
Closed Aug 18 (2010). I would say DH and I saw maybe 20 houses total. We made a list of what he'd like to see with our realitor and then DH and I would drive by at night or after work to see the outside, area, etc and rulled out based on the amount of work the outside needed.
To me, the timeline is dictated by your budget and your "must have" list. If you are looking for a SFH and you have a small budget there are fewer houses out there that meet those requirements, so they tend to go quickly.
If your budget is larger, there is usually more options available.
We started looking mid-January and closed beginning of April. We put in contracts on four different houses before one "stuck".
You also need to be mentally prepared to be able to see a house and decide that you want to put a contract on it. That was the hardest part for DH. He had a hard time pulling the trigger. That meant, by the time we decided to put in a contract the house was gone.
Good luck. This is an exciting step!
Also, DH did not want to feel as though we had to chose our "forever" home by x date, so we made arrangements for short term housing. (we were selling our condo so the date we needed to move out was set.)
We ended up using it for a month. It really helped take the pressure off.
Baby248 - ETA 1/10/13
We do have a neighborhood/area. It's close to where we are now, which makes things easier. However, we have a 9 month old and looking at places at night is a challenge since DH works late. So, we'd have to cram everything into weekend days, so I'd like to give us as much time as possible. I've contacted a realtor and we've started peeking in at open houses to see what's out there. I just don't want to jump the gun, so to speak, and have too much overlap with our current least. Ideally, we'd like to close in June, so I'm hoping that will work out. But, yeah, things do move fast, it seems, around here
Ditto. I don't think we looked at any houses in the evening, but this was pre-kid so we had no problem spending an hour or two with our realtor every week or two.
Also keep in mind that a lot of people start putting their homes on the market in Feb./March, so I wouldn't put off your start too long or you'll miss out on some great homes that might sell quick. (Not to scare you - just that there are a ton listed early spring, then you see fewer new additions to the market by April/May.)
Thanks for asking this! This is something DH and I have been wondering. We're not looking to buy until July/August 2013. But I like to be able to plan ahead.
Good luck in your search! I'm so excited to finally start this process hopefully a year from now.
Off to the beach
DS 7/18/2010
Handy 2.0 Due Early August
2011/2012 Races
12/17/2011 Christmas Caper 10K
2/11/2012 Have a Heart 5K
3/17/2012 DC RNR Half Marathon
4/22/2012 10M Parkway Classic
10/28/2012 Marine Corps Marathon
I'd start looking now. Good luck!
We started looking in May, I think, and closed in August. Our REA was a Nestie (Dawnmichie) and was awesome.
The first time (buying a co-op in DC), just about a month.
The second time (selling the co-op and buying a SFH in Takoma Park) was more complicated - took from March to October.