House shopping

[whitetrash]

Anyone else find this to be an utter beating?

We started a few weeks ago and I've literally had a headache and I indegestion since we started. I blame the wife

[mstng86]

Its a huge pain in the ass but well worth it if you make the right decision.

[lincolnboy]

Before we were ready to actually start looking, we would just eye shop online fore months. Each house we looked at was a big no or was over the choo choo we wanted to spend. On the first day we went looking with the agent, we found our house. but yea what a eye ache. get you a good home inspector and good luck.

[slow99]

Wasn't that bad.

[Big A]

Same here, it wasn't that bad. We looked at maybe 10 properties total, asidd from scouring the online listings to get an idea of what we wanted and what was available. If you're having trouble, perhaps your expectations are higher than what you can afford, or you need a new realtor.

[Sgt Beavis]

Our experience wasn't bad at all. But now the house is a damn PITA...

Found this under the porch when replacing fascia boards. I've spent the last few days bracing, ripping it out, and replacing... Now I can finally get back to putting up the hardie plank..

[Sean88gt]

Yeah, it's a beating. In certain areas not so bad, but trying to move to Ft. Worth is proving to be a giant pain in my ass.

[whitetrash]

Same here, it wasn't that bad. We looked at maybe 10 properties total, asidd from scouring the online listings to get an idea of what we wanted and what was available. If you're having trouble, perhaps your expectations are higher than what you can afford, or you need a new realtor.

None of the above really. We have a reasonable budget, about 180k. It's getting the old lady to agree to one.....

We did put in an offer on one but it had a few other offers and I wasn't willing to go into a bidding war and over pay for a house I felt was already priced at the top of the spectrum for the area.

[Silverback]

Yeah, it's a beating. In certain areas not so bad, but trying to move to Ft. Worth is proving to be a giant pain in my ass.

their anti-gay policy is really putting you down, huh?

[mstng86]

None of the above really. We have a reasonable budget, about 180k. It's getting the old lady to agree to one.....

We did put in an offer on one but it had a few other offers and I wasn't willing to go into a bidding war and over pay for a house I felt was already priced at the top of the spectrum for the area.

Get used to that very situation. You are going to get it on almost every house you try to make an offer on. We lucked out on our house and sent in our offer the first day on the market.

[1carcrazyguy]

Anyone else find this to be an utter beating?

Don't let anyone talk you into something you don't feel is right for you. That even means don't let the wife talk you into something you don't think is right. It is always easier to "upgrade" to a bigger, better home later than to bite off more than you can chew. And if you end up having money issues. The marriage is much more likely to go south also.

[Big A]

None of the above really. We have a reasonable budget, about 180k. It's getting the old lady to agree to one.....

We did put in an offer on one but it had a few other offers and I wasn't willing to go into a bidding war and over pay for a house I felt was already priced at the top of the spectrum for the area.

I gave mine my list of my needs and wants, and let her do the "shopping." In the end we put bids on two houses at the same time, for the max that we were comfortable with, expecting and willing to walk away from both. Both came back asking for a best offer, which we held to. We got outbid on one, and shared the highest bid on the other, but had offered to split some of the costs which are traditionally taken care of by the seller. So the difference was a literally few hundred dollars. It's a seller's market right now in many areas, accept that, and set expectations accordingly.

[lincolnboy]

Don't let anyone talk you into something you don't feel is right for you. That even means don't let the wife talk you into something you don't think is right. It is always easier to "upgrade" to a bigger, better home later than to bite off more than you can chew. And if you end up having money issues. The marriage is much more likely to go south also.

tru dat, comfort zone at least have $6,000 in saving for emergencies after moving in. something always comes up.

[SVT Lurch]

I gave mine my list of my needs and wants, and let her do the "shopping." In the end we put bids on two houses at the same time, for the max that we were comfortable with, expecting and willing to walk away from both. Both came back asking for a best offer, which we held to. We got outbid on one, and shared the highest bid on the other, but had offered to split some of the costs which are traditionally taken care of by the seller. So the difference was a literally few hundred dollars. It's a seller's market right now in many areas, accept that, and set expectations accordingly.

Best advice you'll receive right now.

[black2002ls]

We got extremely lucky with our purchase. We had been looking for 6 months or so when our house came available. We paid asking price, though. We were second in line to buy and they accepted our offer. We bought it for about $16k less than the average value on the street, probably because it needed work.