Purchasing First House

[ellik]

After a full year of looking for just the right place (or one we can both come to an agreement on) we finally putting an offer in on a house. Doing the paperwork and submitting the offer tomarrow!! [img]graemlins/banana.gif[/img]

[imported_admin]

Congrats! We're still in the "how much can we REALLY afford" stage... plan on finally sealing the deal next summer. (Has to be after the wedding in May!)

Take some pics!

[ellik]

Thank you. We went through that.... after looking at many MUCH more expensive houses that we actually only marginally liked, in the end we decided instead of pushing the limits of what we can "really" afford and having things we dislike about it anyway.... We settled on one we can "easily" afford.... especially once we found this place. We both love the old world detail in the older houses.

Its an older house that has been on the market for a a while, interior is gorgeous for the most part (kitchen needs to be re-done and hardwood floors need to be sanded and re-finished), exterior needs some work. The real downfall is on street parking, but Ive already got a spoken approval from the boroughs building inspector for a curb cut and excavating the front bank and landscaping walls for driveway.
After the mortgage and taxes we'll still have enough money to cut the driveway and landscape the front, redo the porches front and back, update the kitchen and put a hot tub and barbeque pit in the backyard.

http://home.comcast.net/~ellik/House1.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~ellik/House2.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~ellik/House3.jpg

[Skapimp]

That's a SWEET house for Pittsburgh. I know real estate there is crazy expensive, atleast by UPitt. Congrats! And it looks very clean and well maintained.

[sswannabe]

congrats
my wife and i close on our house this friday, we had been looking for the past year, finally found this one, cant wait until friday
BONUS: GARAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[98GREENGLOW]

Thats great to here.....There can be nonthing better than your first house purchase....

Me and my wife are currently looking as well....

Im kinda like Stephan though....Theres what you really like and hen what you can really afford.

It's hard to compromise....I know what you mean about finaly agreeing....I'll think a certain house is the best we could possibly find and then my wife will think it's ugly...

Im very happy for you and hope to one day follow in your foot prints....KEEP US POSTED...

[ellik]

Thanks everyone for your responses.

Skapimp - housing costs are all relative. This one is in a decent borough, but not quite as nice as where we are currently renting (which is also reflected in the taxes!!).... I mean it has all the services, stores and what-not and is well maintained and such, but my wife and I will actually be on the higher end of the average household income for the area. Oh, and the listing price is several thousand (like 15) less than the appraised value, which is unheard of around here anyway.

There is very little work that NEEDS to be done to the house, actually none, its just Im an architect and have a good background in carpentery so theres a few things Im kinda anal about, and of course the few upgrades we want to do.

[img]graemlins/banana.gif[/img] Just spoke with the loan officer from the lending institution were using, if the offer is accepted as we're submitting it, mortgage, taxes AND home owners insurance combined is going to be like $40 a month more than what we are renting at!! woo-hoo

[sac2165]

Looks good, you probably went the right route by not stretching yourself credit-wise, It would kinda suck to be stuck with a nice house you can't afford to furnish.

Good choice on the older house too [img]graemlins/rock.gif[/img]

[cassie]

Is that on the South Side?

[ellik]

Its just outside Carnegie.

5 bedrooms, full basement, 1 1/2 baths

We've already been furniture shopping and found great old world style living room furniture that goes perfectly with the mahogany fireplace mantle, and raised panel pocket doors. Waiting for offer to be accepted before we buy it.
Had bought bedroom suite earlier this year. One guest room will be of canibalized stuff we already have, one small bedroom off the master will be converted to a LARGE closet and the two rooms on the 3rd floor will be his and her office/ den.

[ June 07, 2004, 12:46 PM: Message edited by: ellik ]

[ellik]

SSWannabe - congrats on your place. I know how excited you must be, we write the offer tonight (although we have spoken with the owner) and Im getting all anxious and just want to move in... though that means I get a shovel (more likely pickaxe) and wheelbarrow to start excavating the driveway while Mary does the fun stuff inside....

OH..... and this place is puppy friendly and a friend of my Dad's just had a liter of beagles born about two weeks ago!!

[cassie]

it's gonna be a hot one in Pittsburgh this year! Better do that diggin in the wee mornin' or late @ nite

[sswannabe]

Originally posted by ellik:
SSWannabe - congrats on your place. I know how excited you must be, we write the offer tonight (although we have spoken with the owner) and Im getting all anxious and just want to move in... though that means I get a shovel (more likely pickaxe) and wheelbarrow to start excavating the driveway while Mary does the fun stuff inside....

OH..... and this place is puppy friendly and a friend of my Dad's just had a liter of beagles born about two weeks ago!!

the house we are buying is about $7000 out of our range, but we were able to get a %80/20 loan which means no motgage insurance, which saves us about $50 a month, then add the $7000 extra for the house and it equals the same amount as a the top amount we were lookng at, so we are looking at a $690 payment which includes insurance and taxes

we were gonna get a dog, but with the possibility of me getting a new job, then there would be no one home to take care of the dog, so we are gonna get another cat instead

good luck on the house offer, keep us posted

[ellik]

Good and bad news.

Good: We wrote up our offer last night and should get a response by end of day today. Clsoing date is set at August 8th, with a good possibility of moving it up by a couple weeks.


Bad: When we looked at the house, 3 of the mantles were missing from the fireplaces. We assumed they were being reconditioned, since the floors had been stripped and sanded, but not stained yet. Well, we found out that the owner hasnt lived in the house since last november and sometime in the past 6 monts some bastards broke into the house and stole them. He is in the process of finishing the claim with the insurance company and they will be replaced. I spent quite a long time with the agent writing very specific terms into the contract about the quality and finish of the replacements that will be going in. As long as we can get that resolved, everything should be ok.

[kaygee08]

Originally posted by ellik:
Thanks everyone for your responses.

Skapimp - housing costs are all relative. This one is in a decent borough, but not quite as nice as where we are currently renting (which is also reflected in the taxes!!).... I mean it has all the services, stores and what-not and is well maintained and such, but my wife and I will actually be on the higher end of the average household income for the area. Oh, and the listing price is several thousand (like 15) less than the appraised value, which is unheard of around here anyway.

There is very little work that NEEDS to be done to the house, actually none, its just Im an architect and have a good background in carpentery so theres a few things Im kinda anal about, and of course the few upgrades we want to do.

[img]graemlins/banana.gif[/img] Just spoke with the loan officer from the lending institution were using, if the offer is accepted as we're submitting it, mortgage, taxes AND home owners insurance combined is going to be like $40 a month more than what we are renting at!! woo-hoo

Nice, Looks good, I just bought a house at the begining of the year.