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Moving!

4K views 44 replies 13 participants last post by  Meechy 
#1 ·
I haven't said anything, even with all the posting I do on here, but for the past several months we've been looking to buy a house. Poor Jeff has to commute to Charleston every day and it takes a big chunk of his day. Plus he often works 10 to 12 hours so there are nights he hardly has time to sleep so we're 'compromising' on location and we've been looking at houses half way between Charleston and Huntington.
Well, we were approved for a loan recently and we found a few houses that would be great for us, and one of the owners just accepted our bid!
Still some crap we have to go through, and as first time buyers we have to be really careful, people around here like to screw 'ignorant' home shoppers, so we've done a lot of research and I've talked to a few law student I went to school with (soon to be full on lawyers) about what to look for and my friend said she'd look at the paperwork for us before we sign anything.
Talk about 'vibrating'! You think I was gushing over my new guitars? I'm absolutely 'orgasmic' over the idea of OUR OWN HOUSE!
No more rent, just mortgage, taxes, upkeep and.... oh Dear Lord, don't think about that just yet! LOL
If everything goes smoothly, or at least; not too rough, we should be done with all this and moving by the end of next month, or early the month after that. The house is great. Three bedrooms, two baths (HUGE shower in the master bath, love to take long showers, and it has this gigantic shower head that comes out of the middle of the ceiling. :) ) It's all modern, an older house but it was recently updated. New kitchen, baths, they said even the wiring was totally redone. No knob and tube crap. :)
The inspection will be this week, and Jeff's father knows the inspector that's doing the walk-through, so we know he'll do his best to catch anything and everything that could be an issue... so........fingers crossed. :)
And why am I telling you guys this? I'm telling EVERYONE! LOL
We've kept it under wraps so far. We didn't want to tell anyone and then have it all fall through, but it looks like it's really going to happen now. :D
Okay, enough. I should actually get to work. I just got the call from the Realtor and posted this to every forum I frequent... and sent a text to everyone in my contact list. LOL
Only one real downside I see.......no new guitars for a long time. :(
But I'll have a HOUSE!!!! :D
1001 :p
 
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#2 ·
Good on ya... Renting is throwing money away. Buying requires much more responsibility, but you can usually get your money back out of it. Plus extra $$, providing the real estate market doesn't crash and you take good care of it. :)

Have you guys already picked out the "music room"?
 
#4 ·
That's why we were looking at three bedrooms, or anything with an 'extra' room somewhere.
Our room, guest room, guitar room. :) Then if/when we have kids; our room, kids room, guitar room. Sorry guests, you get the couch. :p
We've been renting a house. One floor ranch with a finished basement, but the rent we're paying is nearly as much as what we'll be paying for a mortgage.
We have some money saved and our parents are going to give us 'early wedding gifts' to make the down payment even larger so we can lower the principal on the loan even more.
I'm stuck here in this office another hour, but I'm hopping in my chair to get out. Right after work I'm gong to drive out and look at my new house. :D I'm keeping in mind that things can, and sometimes do, not go right so......but still..... :D :D
 
#6 ·
Good luck on your hunt. :)
We'll see once everything is calculated what's going to be what. We're still in the banks hands on that.
I doubt it's going to be a great rate, even though they are low at the moment, we both have very little credit. Jeff more than I, but not only is he older than I am, I just recently got a 'real' credit card and since my student loans were minimal, thanks to Mom and Dad saving money so that me and my sissy could go to college, even that doesn't help me with my credit. I haven't even started paying on them yet. I have a Sears and a Macy's card, but I used restraint using them, so not a lot of credit built up there either.
It's kind of annoying how the banks do things. We are 'pre-approved' for the loan, but they can't tell us yet what the interest is going to be. I guess they were waiting to see how much we were going to spend and will adjust accordingly.
I don't know. My brain is really good with numbers, patterns, and such, but the convoluted way banks work even makes me confused. Like I said; that's why we're being careful and not signing anything until people we know, trust, and know what they are looking at say, "Okay, it's all good." :D Some of that is happening tonight. Jeff is leaving work early so we can see the Realtor and get some of the paperwork to show to our 'attorney'. ;) Well, law grad, she hasn't passed the bar yet but she was in the top five of her class, so I trust her knowledge.
I'm rambling, back to work. :)
 
#10 ·
Congrats! Welcome to home ownership!! :D


Ahh, mortgages. Nothing makes you feel more poor every month than a mortgage. lol.

$100,000 homes :O. Which area? I don't know much about the US, but some friends of ours from there were telling me about how much cheaper homes and land are over there. It was enough to make me contemplate a massive change.
 
#11 ·
Well, the average income here is much lower than in most of the U.S., so the real estate is priced accordingly.
I have family in New Jersey (I'm in West 'By God' Virginia) and my cousin has basically the same job that I do; receptionist in a doctors office.
I started this job a few months back at $15.00 an hour. She started her job several years ago and started at $20.00 an hour. At the rate they give raises here, and if I keep this job, it will be many years before I even reach what she started with.
And my job is considered one of the high paying jobs in the area.
Average mechanic makes around $50,000 a year here. I know in New Jersey most mechanics make a lot more than that. Another cousin in New Jersey married a mechanic. He's a 'hired hand' at a shop, it's not even his, and they live in a big house, have three cars, blah blah blah, and that's even with the higher cost of living there.
The cost of living in the U.S. swings so incredibly far from area to area. It's like you're in different worlds.
People see how low the prices of houses are here in West Virginia and think, "Wow! Everyone should be able to afford a house!"
Not so, too many people here trying to live on $8.00 an hour, and many more trying to live on minimum wage. $7.25 an hour.
The best paying jobs are in the coal mines, if you don't mind 'black lung' and the ever immanent chance that the roof of the tunnel is going to cave in on you, or you'll die from methane gas poisoning if a vent is hit by accident.
Other than that, most of the jobs here are call centers. Amazon has one of their biggest call centers not far from where I live. And the people I know that work(ed) there are broke, and/or on Zoloft or Prozac because there's so much stress involved in a job like that.
The only reason this is happening for us is how well my fiancee is doing at his job. He's managing a branch of a shipping company, and while I have no business telling anyone how much he makes......I'll just say: his salary makes mine look like a part-time, summer job. ;)
 
#12 ·
Ah, *******. Thanks for the info. hehe.. didn't mean for you to go into specifics with your money and jobs and stuff, but still, thanks for the info! :)

It's all about balance I guess. No point in having a giant house with a giant mortgage if all you're doing is spending the majority of your life out of your house in a job, slaving away, and not doing what you love.
 
#14 ·
Congrats.

You have two big plusses going.

First you are young and that is self-explanatory.

The other is that this still slow real estate market does not always lend to buying as a smart decision. In the last decade most of my friends who have bought in my area have lost 30-60% percent of the value of their house with only a 15-20% percent uptick since the great bust but those are Northern California numbers, specifically the coast which was hit the hardest.

The ones renting back in the height wanted to own but either didn't have the money or actually saw the bust. One house a block from me was listing for 4.8 mil (stupid by any standard) and when it all broke down it went down to less than two million. The person/people/company who bought it at the high are paying five bones for a house they will now have to wait at least 30 years for to break even according to my realtor friend. A lot of people lost their shirts. The buying got stupid because nobody actually lives here but mostly buy and sell houses internationally via the internet sight unseen, a lot from China.

Unless the market drops huge again I think you should be in an OK situation. It is usually better to pay a mortgage over a rent when the house is not to lose half of its value overnight in a bomb of the real estate market. Chances are you will be OK either way because if your house is valued at $500K (just using round number here) and it goes down to $250K, you are young enough that you will be around when it recovers and then gains. But if it goes up, to let's say $750K in the next 10 years to 20 years and this time goes by as fast as lightening, then that could get you a down on a second home which could provide you rental income. It's at this point you don't have to live hand to mouth like the vast majority of us.

Of course nothing is safe but if the idea of buying a house, and just one for a home to live in, and not try to buy a whole crop of houses, is still pretty sound. One house can't set you back into hell like my neighbor who had a moderate job but bought ten during the height of the craze only to lose it all and then some. In the 21st century it may become a thing to buy a house for the idea of having shelter and not getting rich. The only millionaire in our family lost it all because of this business of real estate. Rant over and enjoy your place, make it a home, and don't buy next one until you have this one paid off. ;)
 
#16 ·
Our intent is to make it a 'home'. Unless something really brilliant happens in your lives, this should be enough house for us to live in until we retire.
Something I don't talk about a lot, because it's no ones business ;) is the fact that children may not be in our future, and that's all I'll say about that. Not that we both don't want, just the way things are.
We're close to family, not crazy far from work for either of us, and it's the perfect size for two people to live in for a long time. :)
If it goes up or down in value, I don't want to worry about that. We may end up dying there, old, gray, wrinkled and playing our guitars. :p
I only talk like that because my parents are still in the house they bought before my sissy was born, and the only thing that would make them move is the fact that the city is getting a little rougher as the years go on.
The house we're buying is in the suburbs, and I know that's no guarantee that it'll stay peaceful, there's a better chance of it.
Same with my fiancee's dad, he's still in the same house his parents lived in. Same problem, getting rough there, but even though he's talked about selling and moving to his cabin on the hill, we know he won't. Too many memories there. It's where he grew up, and where he made his family.
I want that.
:D
 
#15 ·
Bingo! We intend to enjoy life. We're not going to the Jersey Shore this year, too much to do with the house once we're in, plus: we'll not have a lot of money left over, but we intend to take vacations, have weekend cookouts, have friends over for games, even games we don't normally watch. (not big on hockey here, but what the hell. LOL) because we want to work to live, not live to work.
We should be able to fairly easily handle just about any mortgage they throw at us, and it's not a huge house anyway, we do not intend to try to live beyond our means. And hopefully we'll be able to pay it down pretty quickly. I hate owing money, for anything. That's why I have so little credit history. I hardly ever use my cards and when I do; I pay the balance ASAP.
I've even been able to control myself when it comes to buying shoes. Now; that's hard for me! ;)
 
#17 ·
Congrats IPT
you will find in a few short years the house payment is less than it would be to rent in the same area.
Every month when you make your payment you will be happy knowing it is going to something other than some other dudes bank account. If you ever need tips on fixing up any part of the house yard anything please do not hesitate to PM me (I am on my 5th house and every one I have done all the work myself)
 
#28 ·
Congrats on the house! Always good to hear about that kind of thing.

Stealth, I'm both laughing and shaking my head at the $100k house, too. Vancouver is a lot like DC for housing. $100k is like a downpayment on a house :lol:

Not sure what you ended up finding, IPT, but like you, what I ended up with is a ranch with three bedrooms on the main floor and a finished basement. There's a 4th bedroom down there, although it's not legally a bedroom because it doesn't have proper egress. Right now my "guitar room" is on the main floor, but it will eventually end up down in the basement.

Welcome to the joys of home ownership!
 
#29 ·
Thanks. :D
Same thing, basically.
Ranch with three beds, a main bath and a small suite in the master bedroom. Half finished basement (in that it's insulated, waterproofed but no drywall, we can do that ourselves.)
There's is the start of a room in the basement (studs are up, but no wall, door or wiring), and there is a window so I think we could turn that into a bedroom, if we choose. Everything seems to be going to plan. <fingers, toes, and other parts; crossed> :)
Check the houses for sale in the Huntington WV, USA area. You'll be shocked.
They go from $50,000 all the way up to $800,000, depending on where you are.
We were told our sellers wanted a fast sale, so they priced it a little lower than what's normal for the area, She said that house should have listed for about $120,000, so they low-balled the price. I'm amazed they dropped another $5,000 after I heard that.
That's why we're so keen on an inspection, a thorough inspection. We're hoping they don't want to dump a 'money pit' on a couple of 'innocent' first time buyers. Not signing anything final until we get a full report.
My luck, the septic system doesn't go into the sewer, or a septic tank....it'll dump somewhere in the backyard. (Not unheard of in houses around this area, believe it or not.)
 
#30 ·
Thanks. :D
Same thing, basically.
Ranch with three beds, a main bath and a small suite in the master bedroom. Half finished basement (in that it's insulated, waterproofed but no drywall, we can do that ourselves.)
There's is the start of a room in the basement (studs are up, but no wall, door or wiring), and there is a window so I think we could turn that into a bedroom, if we choose. Everything seems to be going to plan. <fingers, toes, and other parts; crossed> :)
Check the houses for sale in the Huntington WV, USA area. You'll be shocked.
They go from $50,000 all the way up to $800,000, depending on where you are.
We were told our sellers wanted a fast sale, so they priced it a little lower than what's normal for the area, She said that house should have listed for about $120,000, so they low-balled the price. I'm amazed they dropped another $5,000 after I heard that.
That's why we're so keen on an inspection, a thorough inspection. We're hoping they don't want to dump a 'money pit' on a couple of 'innocent' first time buyers. Not signing anything final until we get a full report.
My luck, the septic system doesn't go into the sewer, or a septic tank....it'll dump somewhere in the backyard. (Not unheard of in houses around this area, believe it or not.)
When you are buying a new house, why, in a year, do you think you can afford a wedding? Why not just go down to the courthouse, turn in the papers, have the local Justice of the peace do the ceremony, and you'll save $$$$. The house is more important than a wedding imo :)
 
#31 ·
Oh, we'll figure something out. We don't plan on having anything too big. Neither of us really cares that much about doing a big party, but we do want to have something nice.
Mom and Dad said they would help with that too. Traditionally the father of the bride would pay for the wedding, but, while they aren't really 'loaded', they've done pretty well for themselves. :)
We will have that wedding! ;)
Even if we have to have it in our living room. :p
You know, women do want to have the 'fairy tale' wedding, we all do. Some of us are simply practical enough to know it's not something that's always going to happen, so we try to just have at least the nice dress and good friends/family. The only way we would do the Justice of the Peace deal would be if we had to get married in a hurry for some reason. :)
 
#33 ·
Yeah, your house sounds really similar to ours. The basement has a fully finished family room, bedroom and bathroom and then a large semi-finished room. The semi-finished room has a wood paneled ceiling and some crappy vinyl tile right on the concrete that's starting to break up with age, but the walls are just painted cinder blocks. It actually works out really well. We have two large storage shelves we got at Lowes in there but more importantly, I have an 8-foot Craftsman workbench in there. That's my official guitar station ;)

With the inspection, I feel like our was little more than paying someone to say it was done. We got very little value out of it. After paying $576 last week to get the A/C fixed when it went down in the middle of 90 degree weather, here's a tip:

Ask the sellers who has done past maintenance on things like the A/C, furnace, hot water heater, etc. Then call those people and find out the maintenance history. I'm not saying you'll find out anything Earth shattering, but I just found out that they had maintenance records for my furnace and A/C going all the way back to when they were installed in 2003. I found out that the system has a slow leak and they'd been having the refrigerant semi-recharged every year or two going back to 2006. Had I known that up front, I may have used it as leverage in the closing.
 
#34 ·
Thanks for the tips, I'll definitely discuss that with Jeff. Seems like a really good idea. That's all I'd need is to find out something like that just doesn't work one day.
I'm a reall wuss when it comes to cold. It can be 80 degrees and I'm wrapped up in a blanket. ;)
 
#35 ·
Okay guys; thanks for all the tips.
We went through everything, bought the house, have a mortgage and are all moved in. Just doing the 'small stuff' now. Figuring out what's going to go where and stay there, what we've brought that we don't really need, blah blah blah.
We couldn't sleep a wink our first night here. We were so excited. :)
We did discover something we weren't expecting though: the AC runs really cold.
We set it for 78 (I'm always cold) and the thermostat in the hall said 78, but the bedroom was about 70. We had to cover the vent, we didn't want to turn up the temperature and make the rest of the house too warm. Jeff went in the basement and it looks like the duct for the bedroom is its own branch, nothing else attached to it....so it blows right into the bedroom from the exchange.
Having an H VAC guy come out soon to see if there's anything we can do, besides cover the vent. In my mind, having the house so unevenly cooled/heated isn't a good thing at all.
However; with it like this I'm pretty sure I'll never be cold in the bedroom in the winter. ;)
Poor Jeff would end up sleeping with no covers, and still sweating, though. :p
Your Friendly Neighborhood 'Troll Girl' is now a 'Homeowner'. :D
As a side note: as far as the wedding, it's going to be really small, just good friends and close family. We're even considering having it in our yard. It's big enough for a small party of people and we both like the idea of the symbolism of doing it here; start of a whole new life in our new house. Our life together starting, really starting, in the place we believe we are going to spend our lives together. (I'm keeping my name though...nothing wrong with 'Michelle Bates', but I just have this thing about always being 'Me', not 'Mrs. Someone', even though I can't wait to be his wife. Is that strange?
I don't know how to explain it, why, but Jeff said he understands. He's not changing his name either. LOL)
 
#37 ·
Yeah, and the hell she has to go through changing everything to her new name. Drivers license, all the insurance, (car, life, medical, etc.) and a whole list of other things... bank accounts, credit cards, etc. etc. etc......
I'm sure that's a riot for husbands to watch too. :p
The whole point of getting married is to be bonded, for life, both spiritually and legally. A woman doesn't have to change her name for that.
My parents, and his father, aren't really keen on the idea of me keeping my name. (I'm Catholic, he's Baptist) It's 'tradition', but I (We) don't care about tradition.
I always say, "I'm a good little Catholic girl" but the truth is, I only go to church because of my parents. I still believe in, and Love God, but I think He doesn't care much about the ornate churches and the 'chanting' of prayers every Sunday (which, by the way, is not the true Sabbath Day) and I talk to Him every day, whenever and wherever I feel like it. Even at work, while I'm waiting for the phone to ring if there's no data entry at that time, I'll talk to God. I don't even like calling it 'praying', I just ask Him to keep me and mine safe, and what will be will be with everything else.....and for shoes, I always ask for shoes. ;)
We'll see. I have more than a year to change my mind about it, but right now I want to stay the person I was born, and your name is part of that.
Michelle Bates may end up being a different person, but Michelle Stanza, hopefully, will remain the same. ;)
Wow, now that's digression from the topic.
Bow to The Queen of Digression! :p LOL
 
#39 ·
I thought of that (adjustable vent cover) and I think it's going to be the way to go.
We're still going to have the guy come in and look at the whole system. Even though the inspector looked at it all I still want a professional to look at it before winter hits and we end up with no heat for whatever reason. My father is friends with a really good heat and air guy and he's going to come look at it when he gets a free day.
I'm cold when it's in the 80's, so heat is a MUST. :)
I keep going back and forth about my name. I love my fiancee and I know all of our families want me to change it (again; Catholic and Baptist expect name changes) but I've always been the kind of girl that doesn't want to be something like, "Oh, that's 'such and such's' wife." Not that I mind someone saying I'm Jeff's wife, but I'd prefer they say, "Oh, that's Michelle Stanza. She's married to Jeff Bates."
I want to be a wife, but I still want to be the individual I've always been, too.
I can't really explain it. I'm usually very good with getting my point across, especially when I have time to think about it in front of a computer, contemplating how to say it 'just so', but this is one I really can't put into words properly.
I want to still be 'me', as well as 'Mrs. 'someone-else'.
People around here think if you're a woman not married before you're 20, there must be something wrong with you. Well, a lot of people around here do, not everyone. Of course; there are people living on the Ridges and in the 'hollars' that still refuse to have running water put in their houses and use an outhouse. (I'd explode, no way in hell I'm going outside in 10 degree weather to pee!)
Aaaand, digression session ended. :p
 
#42 ·
I'll add this here:
My future father-in-law is now living on the hill and has the house up for rent.
Anyone know of someone honest near Huntington, WV that's looking to rent a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 story house? LOL
My parents are soon going to list their house too. They'll stay with us until they find a new one, but they have to get out of there; it's gotten so they can't even risk walking the streets after dark, too much crime. :(
Did the house get sold, Matias? How are you doing with it if it did? :(
 
#45 ·
Yes my friend Ted. He works as a door to door salesman for high end vacuums. He is of outstanding moral character.

He smokes crack and worships Satan too but only on Thursdays.
Oh Hell, he'll fit right in the way the neighborhood is going.
Even the Satan worship.
As long as he keeps the place clean and calls right away when things need fixing, he's in! LOL
 
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