How We Did It: Buying a Home

A common theme since deciding to buy a home has been "don't give up." 

It's all to easy to look at the economy and decide to horde your pennies for a rainy day...to look at those student loans and bank statements and just think that you'll never get there.  Or you live in an area like southwestern CT and home prices are through the roof so you think you'll never break into the market without a winning lotto ticket.  It can be infuriating when you are doing everything 'right' but it still just isn't enough.

Don't give up.

Work hard.  Save what you can.  If your income changes keep your spending the same and put the rest away.  When I finished nursing school I went from being a nurses aid to a registered nurse and my income more than doubled.  We resisted the urge to move and splurge on a nicer apartment closer to work and instead funneled the extra dough toward paying off debt and filling the savings account.  After a year and a half I'd paid an extra 5k off of my loans and saved 10k.  Plus I did have to buy a (used!) car during that time, so we did have one new monthly expense.   The easiest way I've found to save is to set up automatic deposits to your savings account on payday.  That way the money just goes away before you've even seen it.  I've gradually increased the weekly deposits and it's amazing what a difference its made.  Even if you only do $25 dollars a paycheck over the course of the year it adds up!

Now, not everyone can make a major career change and there's no guarantee of a pay increase so if your income doesn't change look at cutting corners where you can.  Tip: Don't buy snacks/drinks from vending machines!   I'm still amazed at how much Jim and I wasted on buying soft drinks and waters at work.  Now we try to keep a stash of drinks in our respective lockers/offices so we're not always throwing money away at a $1.50 to $2.50 a bottle.  It helped a ton when we were living on my student income.

The other thing I learned was to keep your options open.  Jim and I looked at 100's of houses online and more than a dozen in person before finding the one we loved.  Our search area was huge and we didn't turn down houses that didn't fit in the 'dream house' criteria list.  We knew we were looking for something with privacy (my number one requirement!)  Hopefully 3 bed/2bath.  Garage maybe?  Open floor plan?  More than that and we had no idea but we looked at anything in our price range.  We weighed whether we wanted a move in ready house or a fixer upper.  Did we want something small and perfect or roomy and dated?  One level or two?  Lake community? 

Then we met with a mortgage guy at the local community bank and talked though our financing options and learned that there were many more choices out there than you find online.  Even for people in the low income end of the spectrum.  I was actually stunned to learn what we could afford. 

After all of that was the actual home buying process.  We found a house (which ironically belonged to the mother-in-law of our former realtor, can you say awkward?!) fell in love and then there was the tumultuous home inspection process in a 30 year old home.  One inspector, two contractors, a structural engineer, a radon repair crew and an exterminator later we had agreed on a price.  It. was. ridiculous.  But finally, we had a closing date.  That fateful day when your bank accounts cry but you drive home with keys.  I'll spare you all the details of the closing... it included lots of paper signing and check writing and bank documents and at the end of it all we were homeowners.

The moral of it all?  Don't give up!

Old pictures of the new digs!

This post is LONG overdue.  About 4 months ago Jim and I bought our first house!  We've been steadily making changes throughout the house since moving in.   Now I'll admit my first impression of the house was not all positive.  It had none of the finishes or small touches that I'd fallen in love with at other houses we'd seen.  It was 2100sq feet of brass fixtures and orange colored trim and miss-matching floors. I don't have any current pictures but here are the realtor shots from when we first saw the house.  Maybe you'll see some of the reasons why I did love this house...

First off, this is the view as you drive up to the house... hello deck and under-deck patio with walk out basement... I dream of a pergola on the right side of the deck with an awesome dining area and a hanging bench/hammock underneath the deck.  I'd like to make an opening to the yard from the front of the deck as well. Right now there is a gate off the far left corner of the deck to the driveway but it's not convenient to get to the yard.

 

 This area on the right side of the house gets the most sun... Hopefully we can put in a garden eventually!

 

This is the front side of the house.  Look at those WINDOWS! Love!  That two car garage also had me at hello.  Unfortunately then we go to a front deck covered with astroturf, hideous brass light fixtures, half-dead evergreens in a 'flowerbed' full of stones and 2 ancient air conditioners.  I've got lots of work to do out there!

 First look inside... On the upside, look at that 2story living room?  Lofted second floor open to the entry way and the living room, with windows galore!  If you can see it past the yellow walls, ugly trim and metal fish scale-esque railings... or the broken fan, giant eyeball track lights or HUGE hideous brass chandelier in the front entryway (not shown, and already taken down, thank god!)

 

Another interesting detail in this house is the fireplace.  I have a love hate relationship with it right now.  I love having a wood burning fireplace... but the staggered brick and weird slanted wood over it??  Ehhh.  Not my deal at all.  But it's slowly growing on us as I get rid of the 80's brass and dated decor around it.  We'll see if we end up refacing it at some point in the future. 

 For now the only thing we've done with the fireplace is had it cleaned and inspected.  Safety first!

 

Dig those awful brass and crystal chandeliers??  Gone, gone, gone baby. 

 

 The dining room is open to the sunken living room, and that whole wall to the right side of picture is sliding glass doors... Yup, the whole front of the house is sliders.  9 total  I'm still not sure how to deal with them.

Now you see the kitchen...  More wood, bad florescent lighting and a bad tile job with grout that runs from off white to just plain gross.  Add in a tiny wall oven and microwave that is original from 1981... oy.  Also, who makes a lower breakfast bar?!  Those stools shown?  No normal person can sit at them and get their knees under the counter.  It's just weird.  BUT, it's a huge kitchen, with TONS of counter space and storage several pot lights and that massive island??  It's got a nice cook top in it and means I actually don't have to cook with my back to the rest of the house.  There's also a really cool pantry unit next to that door (to the garage) and a little coat/broom closet on the left side of the picture.

Kitchen and dining room are open to one another... I just wish they had the same flooring throughout.  There is tile in the kitchen, laminate in the dining room, hard woods in the living room, carpet in the master bedroom, another tile in the bathrooms and a third type of tile in the entryway... and that's all on one floor!  I dream of someday ripping it all up and putting in hardwoods throughout the whole first level so it all flows together instead of being chopped up.

The second floor has a loft area and then two bedrooms with giant closets.  The bedrooms share a jack and jill bathroom.  We haven't done any work upstairs yet except starting to paint the trim white.  There both pretty basic rooms.  Need paint and new carpets and some closet systems so they can actually be useful.  There's also a tiny linen closet upstairs that has no shelves so eventually we need to finish that off.

This is the view of the master bathroom.  It's tolerable, and hey, it's a master bath, but I do wish the vanity area was closed off from the bedroom so I could get ready in the morning without waking Jim up.  Same goes for him waking me at night when he comes to bed!  The door to the right goes to the tub/toilet room and there is a door on the left that goes into our walk in closet (YAY CLOSET!)  Eventually we want to remodel the bathroom and make it all one big room instead of two little ones.  We dream of putting in a jetted tub... okay, I dream of it, Jim doesn't really care as long as I don't paint the room pink.  Right now it's just one of those tiny tub/shower fiberglass unit things.  And everything is original so the fixtures all leaked and the tub/toilet are cream colored.  Not good.  The first thing Jim and I replaced when we moved in was the faucet. Pictures to come someday... lol.

Weird little cubby next the the sliders.  Like I said, still getting used to sliding glass doors everywhere.  Also getting used to the cats walking through the vertical blinds.... I really need to find new window/door coverings that block light and provide privacy (it's the bedroom!) but still can be pulled easily out of the way to let light in!

 I'll finish up with the yard... it needs work.  No more white picket fence please, and there has to be a better way to divert water than that horrible plastic sheeting but for now we're taking it a day at a time.  I love how private it is and that it's all ours! :)