Oh wow! How exciting, soz!!!! I wish I could see it!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
sozobe wrote:We made an offer!
It was accepted!
It's a gorgeous house!
Still contingent, though, pending inspection etc. We'll see!
Thanks for your help in getting me this far, folks. Mwah!
Great news! I'll bet you're relieved and excited and anxious to move in and start living there. Hope all the rest is smooth sailing.
Congratulations!!!
I'm a little late, but I think Piffka pretty much covered the basics. I skimmed through the three pages, so I'll add the following. Somebody mentioned lead paint, but you also need to make sure the roof, foundation, wiring and plumbing (no lead pipes) are in good shape. Depending on your age (close to retirement), don't buy a multi-storied home. If you plan to paint the house yourself (as I have), single level homes are the easiest. Multi-storied homes are not practical when you age. The other issues that needs to be addressed is flooding and low land where water collects or rushes through when there is heavy rain (especially if you have a basement). Inspections are highly recommened; it's the biggest investment you will make. Finally, make more than the once-a-month mortgage payment when you can; it'll save you thousands in interest.
DONT TRUST ANY REALTOR....they are all out to sell that million dollar home...they are only in it for the money. Go check the house out at least 4 to 5 times. Be sure and go at different times during the day. Pay close attention to NOISE!! Noise from traffic and noise from aircraft! Pay close attention to how wet or dry the yard is. Scope out your future neighbors and get a quick grip on them right away...
If you don't like them within 5 minutes then you will most likely have other issues with them once you move in. And just remember!!! YOU WILL HAVE UNEXPECTED REPAIRS...so make sure your mortgage amount stays within your means so you can afford to fix things. Check little things like the water pressure....turn on all the faucets and flush the toilets. Taste the water and make sure it doesnt have floaties in it. Make note as to just where everything is located ( septic, well, fingers, city water lines, plumbing shut off)etc..., many times a surveyor will come out and just make estimates...make sure they locate the damn things because if you dont you will be sorry when something goes wrong and you cant find them!! And just know that if the seller or realtor tell you that they "DONT KNOW" if something is broke or not, that usually means that it is broke!!! And last but not least....if you are a first time homebuyer you need to do research on first time home buying programs. If your realtor doesn't mention these programs its either because they dont know about them or they dont want to tell you because thats more paperwork and less money in their pocket. So If they dont mention these programs it is immediately a bad sign!! Good Luck!
Soz.....Congrats
Important information you might need to know:
In Ohio it is illegal to...
1. Get a fish drunk
2. It is illegal for more then 5 women to live in the same house
3. It is only illegal to mistreat anyone of "great importance"
4. No one may be arrested on Sunday or the 4th of July
5. It is illegal to walk a cow down the road
6. You can't catch mice unless you have a hunting license (in Cleveland)
7. In Columbus it is illegal for stores to sell corn flakes on Sunday
8. It is illegal to eat a doughnut while walking backwards on a city street
9. It is illegal to run out of gas in Youngstown.
Last but not least.....and certainly MOST important.....
(drums roll)
It is illegal for a woman to wear patent leather shoes, lest men see reflections of their underwear
Welcome to Ohio Soz
~Brooke
Heeheehee!
Good thing I didn't catch that mouse at my second-favorite house, then. It was cute, though!! It was a baby, I think. Running around willy-nilly and then just stopped in the middle of the carpet and looked kind of sad and tired and "I want my mommy" and both sozlet and I wanted to pet the poor little guy but I decided that might not be the most hygenic path. Cute, though. Remember that 80's remake of "A Star is Born", some British "punk" (it was pretty commercial) thing, that had a song that had the lines, "I want to live it a house/ With my own little mouse"... kept going through my head.
Anyway.
That second-favorite house was perfectly gorgeous in a lot of ways, but just too crumbly and the noise thing was a specific issue -- on a major street, with fire engines screaming by all the time. 2 went by when we were there. But it was a house built in late 19th century with a 1920's addition -- so a living room with original wood columns and original wood (decorative) fireplace with original mirror and original(!)fancy iron screen, and pocket doors between that and the dining room, and built-in china cabinets, and just OOOH! Then the 20's addition had the archetypical mission thing that I adore -- a fireplace flanked by built-in bookcases with a big ol' oak mantel over it and two oak-framed windows above the bookcases. Ahhh. Pretty.
But whispered "money pit money pit money pit" with every step. Had a scary basement. One chamber was a swear-to-god dungeon. Spooky.
The house I was obsessing about here turned out to be a total flippy bust. Somebody bought it last August and then put in a new kitchen, slapped on some paint, and installed some really stupid cheap fixtures and stuff that look lovely in photos and then turn out to be cheap glass with painted on "lead" and "stained glass." And a horrible yard. Hmph.
OUR house... hopefully!... more needs to happen... could still be burned in the home inspection phase for example (hopehopehope not) is... sigh... just so nice. Built in the 20's, working fireplace, recent very well-done addition, airy, light, roomy, but WEIRD -- not boring or bland at all. LOVE the neighborhood.
Quelle emotional rollercoaster. Being prepared to within an inch of my life helped. (None of the top contenders were found by the realtors, all me, and I knew when the houses were built, what they were bought for, what the current total market values were, etc.) The realtors had taste different than ours (bland, boxy, Upper Arlingtony) but were VERY good at what they do and had tons of valuable advice. And were generally very very nice and helpful.
It all went pretty efficiently, we saw enough to be sure that this house is the one we want, not so many that we felt like time was wasted. Sozlet was very good and also had a fun time. She said when we got on the plane, with a sad face, "I miss Columbus." That is EXCELLENT news.
Fingers crossed! Lots could go wrong yet, and it would so suck to have to go through this again...
Thanks again for your help everyone!
Good luck Soz. I can remember waiting on pins and needles, until I finally got word the house was ours.
Sozobe! Wonderful!
I hope you came "home" with room measurements and floor plans. From now until the Grand Relocation you can have a great deal of fun playing house in miniature.
Hold your dominion.
Noddy, that's exactly what I have been doing! Tons o' fun.
Piffka, I think it was in an earlier discussion that you talked about the importance of a house fitting with its site -- that's something I really love about this house. The addition is very, very thoughtfully done, maximizing light and views. The deck was built around an 80-year-old trumpet vine. Etc.
One important thing I think to remember is if you are willing to pay "X" amount for a certain house, than certainly there is someone else out there that would be willing to pay that much for the house also. Therefore, if for some reason you want to sell it, you should be able to get at least most of your money back. Houses are not like cars. They tend to hold (or increase) in value over time.
I found this neat web site that has links to several cities/state tax appraisals. You can use it as a reference to the tax value of a property.
http://www.iaao.org/1234.html
Good luck!
Thanks, Buffalo!
My realtors sent me "Full buyer reports" for each house I was interested in -- those had a link to the tax assessor's information on that house. Really excellent info there.
That looks like it's the same info as your site. But after seeing "Joe Testa" (the tax assessor for Franklin County) over and over, cool to see his picture on your site. :-) ("Oh, hi!")
May all of Franklin County become as familiar to you as the photographed face of Joe Testa.
When is moving day?
Hold your dominions--new and old.
OK, so I did something really, really dumb.
It's the kind of thing that I knew was dumb as I was doing it, and a little voice was screeching "don't do it! It's not too late! Stop while you cannnnn....!!!!" But I did it.
I checked realtor.com for new listings.
Background -- yesterday, everyone (us, sellers) signed the "request to remedy", and so all that is between us and closing is getting financing, which we've already been pre-approved for. I'm in no position to be looking at other houses.
The house that we're going for is gorgeous, I love it, but we of course made some compromises. This house is a bit above our target price but a great deal, everyone assures us. Our ideal house is brick, built in the mid-20's, has a walk-up attic, a fireplace or two (working preferred, decorative fine), and natural woodwork with built-ins. The house we're about to buy was built in the later 20's, a small but not very useful (and not walk-up) attic, one working fireplace, and some refinished wood/ built-ins. Wood siding. Really a very nice house. And we LOVE the location. Close to my husband's work, close to good schools, close to everything, very cool neighborhood.
Well.
Checked out realtor.com, and the first result from the parameters I entered was... brick, built 1925, 2.5 story (walk-up attic), one working fireplace and one decorative, *just* under our target price, and... get this... RIGHT DOWN THE BLOCK!! So all the same "perfect location" stuff applies.
Arggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...! How do I deal?
That helped...
I want to get a buyer report on it (the realtor.com listing is just one photo, buyer reports have many.) The idea is that the photos might show that it's shabby (the price is a little low for what it apparently is), or the wood has all been painted, or something that will make me say "Oh, OK, it's not that great." But that same little voice is telling me just drop it already. Should I listen this time?
Let it go Soz.
There could be any number of reasons why it's at a lower price but if you start that game you'll have to live with heartburn for the rest of your life.
You got a house you like at a price you seemed to think was fair. Don't waste your time with wondering if you could have found a better deal. Move in and be happy.
Very reasonable. I'll try. <nibbling fingernails...>
msolga said something about this, didn't she?
Repeating "I love the house, I love the house, I love the house" to myself... (It really is just great.)
I figure this is kind of like pre-wedding jitters. OK, this one is great, but is it really the BEST I could do? ;-)
