First Time Homebuyer

[skinsguy]

Originally Posted by Daseal

Skinsguy,

Great advice. Thanks a lot. I'm hoping the home inspection would do a deep dive on the foundation, but I'll definitely look into that when looking at homes. What I want to avoid is a major construction project. When it comes to renovations we only want to deal with renovations that wouldn't displace us from the property, even if it's annoying for a while.

I'm definitely looking at fixed-rate only. But that's a good piece of advice and helped solidify my decision.

As far as buying a house with my girlfriend. I do realize it's risky, but our price range is something that could be absorbed by either one of our salaries if necessary. We could afford a more expensive home, but I want to keep our payment relatively low so we can get a decent amount of equity in the home by paying over our mortgage a bit. If I did end up with the house solo, I'd be more comfortable with a roommate, but wouldn't require one.

Yeah, small jobs like painting, staining the deck (although that wasn't a small job for me this past weekend, lol), things, like you said, that don't displace you from your home is definitely something that you can deal with. I would say if it was an expensive issue like having to replace the HVAC system right away, I'd either get the seller to knock off the amount of that cost or get them to fix it. And like you said, hopefully the inspection will be detailed enough - it will at least show you if there is anything majorly wrong.

Even if you are under the "due diligence" part of buying a particular home, you still have time to back out if you wind up finding something else that better suits you. My wife and I were under contract with a house, but our realtor had mentioned another house that was close to where her parents lived. We loved that house so much more, we wound up backing out of the first contract and buying this house.

Sounds like you got a good head on your shoulders with this! I like that you're thinking in terms of building equity. I know a lot of young couples start off just wanting to get the most they can get by stretching themselves the most they can stretch. It can get pretty stressful!