December 2007 Weddings
phanie624
member
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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.
tips on buying a home
so, now that we're back in the states and hope to find something and stay put for a while...we're interested in buying a home once we figure out where we'll be working, etc.
i know a lot of yall own homes, so figured i'd ask what your tips are on buying a home. what are you glad you did? what do you wish you would have done differently? i've googled it a bit - but it's nice to have friends who have been there/done that recently 
Re: tips on buying a home
I should preface this by saying that I still really like our house and I love our neighborhood. But...
I wish we'd taken a little more time to really look around, and I wish we would've actually bought something a little smaller (for less money). I think we got sucked in by the whole "it's a foreclosure, but it's in great condition...so it's probably an awesome deal!" In hindsight, despite the fact that it was a foreclosure, we paid too much for it.
Definitely take the time to scout out neighborhoods and pick something that you really like. An awesome house in a crummy neighborhood won't make you nearly as happy as a really good house in an awesome neighborhood, IMO.
Take the time to discuss what your priorities really are, before you ever start looking at houses. How many bedrooms would you like (and how many do you need)? How many bathrooms? How important is a big kitchen? If you had to give up a bedroom to get a nice kitchen, would you do it? What about a yard? Garage space? What about making home improvements...do you want a place where there's room for improvement, or do you prefer a place that needs nothing more than a little paint?
My absolute biggest piece of advice....find a realtor you really like and that you trust. Ask people for recs, and take the time to interview a few of them. You need someone that the two of you get along with and feel comfortable hanging out with (since you'll end up spending quite a bit of time together!).
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"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain."
Decide if you want a fixer upper or a move right in and do nothing kind of house.
Definitely make sure you get your house inspection, and counter on lowering the price after. If you see ANYTHING in the house you plan on making an offer for, write those items into the offer (washer/dryer, any fixtures, fire-pit, a piece of furniture you love, etc.)
You decide what's important to you and keep an eye out for those characteristics. For us, it was a nice quiet street with a large yard, hardwood floors, large basement, and something we could make our own with improvements. Look at the shell of the house, the space. If it has a good flow and enough room, you can do almost anything to it! Remember, if fixing things up doesn't bother you- paint and cosmetic things can be changed to your liking
It took us almost a year to find our house, take as much time as you need! Good luck and have fun!!!
We were very lucky in that we both fell in love with the first house we saw. But to me it was like wedding dress shopping you can not possibly purchase the first one you tried on. So we ended up looking at 5 houses after. And everytime we walked out we judged the houses to the first one. We went back to the house and immediately when we walked in we knew it was our house and wrote a offer out. And by 7:30 the next morning we were in contract.
So my advice is when you walk in after you have toured the house to close your eyes and see if you can imagine it being your home. Cause if that feeling is not there then that is not your house.
Also, I know alot of people get distracted by paint, furniture, lighting, knobs just remember all that can be changed you need to look at the bones of the house.
Also, I am not sure where y'all are looking at but you both need to cosider is how much land or lot size do you need.
The whole process is very overwhelming but if you get a great realtor that will work with you and you get along with great then it really makes the process so much easier.
Are you looking to buy a starter home or a forever home? Check out the school district and specific schools your kids would attend.
What helped us was making a "must have" list and a "really want" list before we met with our realtor (who was a friend and suggested this to us). It will make the beginning stages of house hunting a lot easier.