Buying my first home!

[kirk98]

WOOHOO! My fiancee and I have been looking for our first home for almost a year! Looks like we finally snagged one! We've been living in my sister's basement for two years, it's time to move on! (Think Wedding Singer! hahaha) I live in Gettysburg, PA (where the Civil War was) so some of you might think this house is expensive, but to me, its CHEAP! A nice house around here is over $200,000, I simply can't afford that much. My new house is gonna be in Deer Park, how redneck does that sound :D It's a little community with a bunch of small houses. What what kind of prices have you guys and gals paid for your homes and where do you live? Also, how big is your house and yard? Here's a link to my house....


http://www.jgr.com/property/property...d-e6467460c0ad

[HokieBird]

Thats pretty sweet. Congrats man! I used to live in New Freedom so I am a little firmiliar with the area. Housing prices by me now are about 300k+ to get into a 900sq ft condo. Thats assuming no one else bids on it. Which is pretty unlikely. Needless to say I won't be owning a place for a long time :(

[sac2165]

That sounds like a good price. Its getting hard to find houses under $150k.

[loser]

house looks nice, congradulations. i wonder how far away that is from me. keep us updated on the house mods once you move in/get settled.

[JohnD.]

Jeez, real estate is expensive in some places. We built our home 2yrs ago, 3BR, 2Bath, 2Acres, ~2k sq ft for 135k.

But in that area I can understand. That would be a great house for a newlywed couple. Good luck.

[MTMike]

Nice looking house! Congrats!

Now the fun begins.... You'll go through the house and make it yours - paint, window coverings, new this, new that, and the next thing you know you've spent $20k more on the house. :D

Here's my "first house" story....

Around here the only thing you can find under $150k is in the "tree district". All of the older homes that aren't in the historic district... We got ours 2 years ago for $96k. It was built in 1900, 3bd, 1ba, has a 10x18 garage (that's not car ready, but great for tool & spare truck parts storage), and is 1440 square feet + a 360sq.ft. basement with concrete floors & walls perfect for storage The downside is it needed a LOT of work. We had to paint every wall & ceiling in the place, every square inch of flooring needed to be replaced. We had to replace the windows because the 100 year old single panes didn't insulate at all, and just this weekend we had to replace the exterior back door. We found a burlap sack, a glove and shredded newspaper stuffed into the wall complete with petrified mouse crap. Since most of the other houses in the same price range were half the square footage, we've really increased the value of our home by freshening it up. Before alot of the improvement's we've done (but after the flooring & paint) we had it reappraised at $120k. We'll be in here for another 2 or so years and then we'll be ready to buy some acreage and build. I can't wait.. (read 30x60 attached shop/garage on 10+ acres) :D

At any rate, good luck with the house, it looks like a nice one. Keep us posted.

[Johnny Ray]

Nice house, you and your fiance will have fun making into your home! :D

Congratulations my friend.

:cool:

[TucsonBird]

Congrats! Place looks nice.

[Fbody3400]

Sweet, sounds like a good price to me. My neighbors house just went on the market at $385,000

[Mighty Thor]

That's a nice house. I would hit it.

I have to admit, I'm jealous. Here in Calif. is crazy. A 3 bedroom, 20 year old house can cost over $600,000. A 5 bedroom house is over a million. They are not even that good looking.

There's just no way I can live here anymore and raise a family. My wife and I are going to Oregon this April to apply for jobs and see where we could go from there.

My parents are thinking about putting their house in the market for me to buy it. They're thinking of retiring and getting a smaller place. It would cost me about the same as when they bought it. We'll see.

Good luck on the house.

[kirk98]

Thanks for all the compliments guys! I'm so excited!

Mighty Thor- all I can say is: Holy ****! California is messed up! cripes- I thought prices here in PA were crazy. I'll never ***** and moan about prices again. Good luck in Oregon, or with your parents place.

[CoreyCamaro]

NOOOOOO! Thor, you can't go to Oregon. I just got back and believe me if you don't snowboard all day every day they you will die of boredom in a week. What city were you planning on? Why don't you stay in socal but halfass it and live in (gags) Riverside. At least there is a nightlife there. Plus you could school all the ricers in your camaro at the Ontario dragraces.

[CoreyCamaro]

Damn, Thor I just saw your cardomain. You already live in Corona. Have fun in Oregon.

[SpeedingFirebird]

Originally posted by Mighty Thor:

I have to admit, I'm jealous. Here in Calif. is crazy. A 3 bedroom, 20 year old house can cost over $600,000. A 5 bedroom house is over a million.

It's not just Cali. A 3 BR POS here in lower NY state is $500K to start. I could sell and make a mint now. :cool:

[kala]

Taxes: $917 :eek: :eek: :eek: taxes are high over here. Our house we bought couple month ago for $250k but taxes are 2700. In my city, casino's pay so much taxes that's why our property tax is low. but in our neighbouring cities, people are paying 3600 - 4600 tax a year. btw, awesome house. For that price, over here you will get a 2 bedroom house that was build in 1914. Congratulations man!