Buying a house?

Stackeye210

I think that house is so appealing because they dressed it up so nicely.  You could really always contact them and see if they'll rent it out to you.  Sometimes it doesn't hurt to ask if they're really in need for the money on the place. 

All the problems we've had here we didn't notice until we moved in, but I'm sure an inspector would have caught the majority of them though. 

I imagine that size house would be perfect for you and your H......it's way too small for us now that Jocelyn is a little older. 

Snippylynn

Stacks, are you going to be moving since you're there for a bit?

Stackeye210

Yep, we're still moving this summer regardless where we are.  Not buying yet b/c we know we'll probably eventually end up in PA, but we do need a bigger house and we can afford more house these days so we're ready to get a bit of a size upgrade.  

abbalish

stacks, what area(s) are you going to look at moving to?  In town, I mean.

MyNameIsNot

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_buying-house?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:fc73df92-fe2b-4f9f-8f5b-2b5abbe27fb5Post:c28e9e88-832c-4b69-ae09-936e9f21c1b3">Re: Buying a house?</a>:
[QUOTE]MNIN, I worry more about the potential big expenses of any kind of repair than about them actually paying their mortgage. And how much risk anyone is willing to take on something like that is just a personal decision. Also, my comment to you wasn't meant to be rude, I was just clarifying because I wasn't sure if you were talking about unemployment or had missed that they are both probably losing their jobs.
Posted by emilyinchile[/QUOTE]

<div>I know you weren't!  I just don't like being the minority.</div><div>
</div><div>But I totally see what you're saying, and it's true.  Houses are freaking expensive, and when stuff goes wrong, it costs a ton.  One would hope that an inspector would catch all that, but there's always something, especially with an older home.  You just have to hope that it's small things or that it waits for a couple of years, but you can't really make financial decisions with hope.</div>

[Deleted User]

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_buying-house?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:fc73df92-fe2b-4f9f-8f5b-2b5abbe27fb5Post:d1460ad8-7949-4b3e-8b0b-4afaa27d39ce">Re: Buying a house?</a>:
[QUOTE]Yep, we're still moving this summer regardless where we are.  Not buying yet b/c we know we'll probably eventually end up in PA, but we do need a bigger house and we can afford more house these days so we're ready to get a bit of a size upgrade.  
Posted by Stackeye210[/QUOTE]

No, you can't move until I get a chance to meet you.

And I have enjoyed reading this thread for some more tips for when we are finally ready to buy.

mandysmear

don't forget utilities, property tax, maintenance, etc. 

our house is only $60ish more than our rent was.  but it's costing us about $500 more a month to live here and maintain this house.  depending on how old your house is a lot could go on it.  A/C, furnace, water heaters, electrical stuff, etc.

Birdie1483

I skimmed over this post, but I just wanted to tell you to make sure you check out the neighborhood real good before you move. So you don't find out after you buy it that high speed chases go by your house and police helicopters fly over routinely. Or that your neighbor LURVES to jam to latin music. Or your other neighbor likes to throw mothballs in your yard and poison your dog. Or your other neighbors watch you 24/7 and kidnap you to watch Bosnian music videos and show you pictures of their dead sons grave. Cuz you know, that would have all been helpful knowledge before we bought our house.

Also, when you become a homeowner you get to go without AC and Heat for two weeks and then pay a guy $80 to come out to press a button that you've pressed 13924873497 times. And then it all suddenly works. Yeah that happened yesterday.

mkrupar

Coming from someone who has a house we were expecting to have for the next 10 years I would say wait. Lucas took that job up in MD and now we're going through the process of figuring out if we can even sell it. Luckily, we have some wiggle room as we bought it as a foreclosure and it was appraised at a much higher value than what we paid. That doesn't mean we'll be able to sell it right away. Lucas is getting antsy to sell and have me move up to MD, but a lot of things have to fall into place before we can do that. We may have to try and rent it out, but that might prove difficult if we're not around to manage the property. We'd have to pay someone to do that. More money out of our pockets.

ahhhitsshannyn

I guess I will go against the grain on this one. Yes, even though there are a lot of things that can go wrong with a house, I still think that the benefits outweigh them. I bought my house a little over 2 years ago and I have never once regretted it. I never rented though before this, I went from my moms house to my house.

I don't want to get weird with talking numbers, but I just want to give you and idea of what gets tacked on to your monthly mortgage (keep in mind I am in CA). My mortgage is only about $430, but they roll in my homeowners insurance and property taxes in, so I pay $675 per month. I also put down 20% so I do not have to pay the PMI. Of course, there is also gas, electric, water, and trash.

In my area, there are a lot of renters and not really enough houses for people that want to buy. When I bought, I knew that something could happen, but thought out my options. If I was to lose my job, I could rent my house, I could get a roommate, or I could try to sell. My house would run about $1200 per month to rent. I know it sounds so backwards that you can buy for cheaper than rent, but that it just how it goes right now.

After all of this rambling, I say go for it. You can also purchase a warranty on your house in case anything breaks in the first year. They pretty much cover everything . I do also agree with birdie though, thoroughly check out the neighborhood, go at different times of the day and night and see what's going down. Also call the police dept. to see if there has been any trouble. Also check the sex offenders database.

That is about it! Good luck!!

Birdie1483

I was mostly joking about checking out the neighborhood. Since their friends live there, they'd have a pretty good idea of what's going down. And the sex offender registry looked like it had chickenpox when I checked for my neighborhood. Bad news bears...

LVB, I can give you more advice later from my own experience if you'd like, but I'd say right now I would at least wait until you find out what is going on with Mr. LVB's job situation. I'd hate for you guys to commit to a house and then find out he's going to have a hard time finding another job. That's too much stress that you can avoid right now.

ahhhitsshannyn

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_buying-house?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:fc73df92-fe2b-4f9f-8f5b-2b5abbe27fb5Post:7779c3c1-9e6b-4856-8972-ecdeda3e459e">Re: Buying a house?</a>:
[QUOTE]I was mostly joking about checking out the neighborhood. :) <strong>Since their friends live there, they'd have a pretty good idea of what's going down.</strong> And the sex offender registry looked like it had chickenpox when I checked for my neighborhood. Bad news bears...
Posted by Birdie1483[/QUOTE]

Oops, missed that part!! I live like 1/2 from a school so none in my immediate area, but my mom who lives like 2 miles away looks pretty bad.

Birdie1483

Yeah FI was looking at a house not too far from the house we bought and it was in a decent neighborhood, so he figured this one would be too. Not so much.

I almost had a heart attack when I looked up the registry for our house because I grew up in a neighborhood that was full of old people and near a school. We had maybe one in the entire area. When I checked the registry here I found that at least 10-15 were living within walking distance from me.

specialk84

I would hold off on buying it, at least until your job situation is straightened out.  Besides, everything I always read about buying a house said you should expect to live there for at least 5-7 years, or all the closing fees won't make it worth it.  Something like that, at least.

LVB, a house of that age will need work.  Ours was built a year earlier, and we still need to get around to getting all of the wiring redone.  In the 50s, individual rooms weren't on a designated circut.  Rather, all the lights were on one, and so on.  It's a pain in the ass when you need to work on something.

Also, you're probably going to have asbestos in there somewhere.  If you don't tamper with it, it's not a huge deal, but if you start ripping it out, you'll run into all sorts of problems.  We found ours in the tile under the carpets.  An air quality test came back safe, but that would have been thousands of dollars to fix.

You'll need to buy appliances, and you'll have to be prepared to fix/replace existing things, like the water heater and furnace.  FI thought he would save lots of money by buying, and he was in for a shock.

Snippylynn

I honestly don't think the sex offender registry is a "good" thing.  You can see people who've been convicted of things that aren't dangerous and you should really just... use that information very carefully.

Birdie1483

Yeah and there is nothing I can do about them living near me anyways. So I just dont look at it.

I've learned all about circuits in the past few months. They're fun. The portion of the circuit that runs half of our living room (including main light source and tv), pantry, and spare bedroom is really touchy. It's gone out a few time just from turning on the tv. It's all centered around some faulty wiring in the spare bedroom's ceiling fan. It took us awhile to figure that out. We were so afraid we'd have to rip out a wall to find the problem.

emilyinchile

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_buying-house?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:fc73df92-fe2b-4f9f-8f5b-2b5abbe27fb5Post:7d70990f-dbf5-4f6b-8fe2-181a97268426">Re: Buying a house?</a>:
[QUOTE]I honestly don't think the sex offender registry is a "good" thing. <strong> You can see people who've been convicted of things that aren't dangerous</strong> and you should really just... use that information very carefully.
Posted by Snippylynn[/QUOTE]

You mean because you can see stuff like the over-18 boyfriend who got convicted of statutorily raping his underage girlfriend when her parents found out, even though they were in love and it was consentual? I don't actually know if you can see that kind of thing, which is why I'm asking - what kind of stuff are you referring to?

I was actually just thinking that because all this talk made me go look up my house in CA, and the nearest person is an old man who looks like such a creeper in his photo...but what if he was wrongly convicted, and now there are people all over the place seeing his photo and thinking he's a disgusting old man? That would be really sad.

Snippylynn

As far as I recall, there is no differences made on the registry site as to why someone was convicted.  That might be different now?

emilyinchile

I think it must have changed then. It has different colored dots to distinguish stuff like offenses with a minor, rape, other offenses and then in the one that I opened there was a tab you could click on to see the actual conviction. It creeped me out though, so I didn't look at any others.

I just figured you maybe meant people would see a name and judge without evaluating the color of the dot or the actual conviction.

Snippylynn

So, I just looked on there, and of the 20 people listed there is one who stands out as sort of... famously (around town) as being severely mentally handicapped.  It doesn't change what he did, but he barely knew what he was doing.

Also, there are people that were convicted in 1991 and won't drop off the list until 2022.  Wow.

Stackeye210

Abs and Missysue - we'll be moving to a different school district.  Right now we're in Groveport which we definitely don't want J to go to.  We're trying to move somewhere where she'll go to either Canal Winchester, Pickerington, Bexley or (last resort) Bloom Carroll.  Just definitely not Groveport school.  Ick.

ahhhitsshannyn

I think it is mostly a good thing. One near my mom says his conviction is "Rape by force" and "Rape of a drugged victim." Another says "Lewd acts with a person under the age of 14." I know I should not judge but I can draw my own opinions of them based off of those convictions.  

I really do not know if they show a 21 year old having consensual sex with a 17 year old, if they are convicted of that do they still have to register as a sex offender? Some of the ones I clicked on also said "under 14 OR 15 with 10 years their senior" so it looks like they may just have to report if they were 25 or older with  15 year old, which I still think is inappropriate, but that's just my opinion.

Milsey32

Have you looked at auction.com? Majority of houses are foreclosed so they are in good condition, the state just wants to sell em cheap. Or, rent until December and see where you two are financially by then. Good luck!

Snippylynn

It might be different by state too, the people who are/aren't on the registry.

hlq2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_buying-house?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:fc73df92-fe2b-4f9f-8f5b-2b5abbe27fb5Post:6e0b4562-f52c-406d-ae94-8aa7fe1cfef7">Re: Buying a house?</a>:
[QUOTE]It might be different by state too, the people who are/aren't on the registry.
Posted by Snippylynn[/QUOTE]


This.  Different states have different systems.  I can't remember if it was Massachusetts or Connecticut, but one of the them, the registry indicated different categories, and the most detailed info wasn't available on the lower-tier offenders.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

It will be almost impossible to make ANY money on the house in 3-4 years, even if the market bounces back, especially if you put nothing down. Plus when you sell, you have to pay realtor commission and often closing costs. I wouldn't buy for less than 7 years, hopefully more like 10.

ETA: also consider resale. A house that small won't appeal to people who have kids or want kids soon. Also, in 4 years, you might have to do some cosmetic updates to make it more sell-able.

louisvillebride21

Dave set an appointment to go see it tonight Poor guy has serious cabin fever.

On the plus side, I did get some encouraging news. My bosses are fighting REALLY hard to keep my job for me.

ahhhitsshannyn

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_buying-house?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:fc73df92-fe2b-4f9f-8f5b-2b5abbe27fb5Post:23a0e432-e731-4013-9431-6e465e3b24f6">Re: Buying a house?</a>:
[QUOTE]Dave set an appointment to go see it tonight :/ Poor guy has serious cabin fever. On the plus side, I did get some encouraging news. <strong>My bosses are fighting REALLY hard to keep my job for me.
</strong>Posted by louisvillebride21[/QUOTE]

That is great news!

Good luck with whatever you choose! House hunting is such a roller coaster so  who knows you both may hate the house so you will not give it another thought, or you may fall in love with it and forget the cons. :) Have fun!

[Deleted User]

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_buying-house?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:fc73df92-fe2b-4f9f-8f5b-2b5abbe27fb5Post:68677774-fa5f-4180-b629-3744d285d2ae">Re: Buying a house?</a>:
[QUOTE]Abs and Missysue - we'll be moving to a different school district.  Right now we're in Groveport which we definitely don't want J to go to.  We're trying to move somewhere where she'll go to either Canal Winchester, Pickerington, Bexley or (last resort) Bloom Carroll.  Just definitely not Groveport school.  Ick.
Posted by Stackeye210[/QUOTE]

I gotcha. Mike's brother lives in Groveport. He doesn't have any kids, but his GF has 2 from a previous marriage and they attend schools there.

I know Bexley and Pickerington have good schools. I am not sure about Canal Winchester, but I would assume they are pretty good, too.

[Deleted User]

LVB - yay for the good job news. I think I have some news, too. But I am not sure if I should share just yet.