can you believe it’s almost been a year?

I wrote this post about buying our first home in February. I can’t believe we’ve almost been here for a year but I still love it and we’re not even finished decorating! Keep reading for some great tips on buying your first house!

Originally published on February 5, 2009:

There it is! (Well, not the exterior of the house, because I don’t need any stalkers showing up at my house asking for Young Mommy. I don’t think the Young Daddy and the Young Kids will like that very much.)

But we did it! We bought a house.

Turns out, third time was the charm for us, after putting in an offer on a house that was cute and spacious but needed a lot of repairs and then an updated home that was very much overpriced. There was a lot of heartbreak and tears shed (all by me).

BUT! As it turns out, the house we ended up buying had only been on the market for SIX DAYS when we made the offer. So if the other houses had worked out, we would have never ever seen our dream home. God works in mysterious ways, indeed.

I’m ready to start packing and pick out some paint colors (mostly for the basement, where there’s an EXERCISE room. Is God trying to tell me something?)

But I’m happy to have a place, mostly for the kids. They deserve a place where they can run around, go in the backyard for some fresh air, and have a safe neighborhood and great schools. (Seriously, the schools here are fantastic. They’ve got swim team for the 6-year-olds. For comparison’s sake, my elementary school took us on a field trip to the local JAIL. What kind of scar-us-for-life type of BS was that? I’m still mad my parents signed the permission slip. *shuddering*)

In short, if I had any advice for any young mommies looking to buy a house, it would be this:

1. Find good people to work with. Ask your coworkers or parents’ friends for referrals. It’s really the only way you’ll really know how they operate and it will save you time from having to interview five or six people you found on the Internet.
2. Make a list of all the features you’d like to see in your house and share it with your real estate agent ASAP. How many bedrooms, bathrooms, closets, fireplaces, etc, do you want? Do you need a big fenced in yard? What about a playroom for the kids where you don’t need to see their stuff? How much square footage do you need?
3. Determine ahead of time what is the maximum amount you are comfortable paying and whatever you do, don’t stray from that. We told our lender what we thought was a fair mortgage price and she worked backwards from there to tell us what type of price range we were looking for.
4. Be realistic. You might start your search trying to get every single thing on your list. You’ll knock houses out of consideration for silly reasons, like one of the bedrooms didn’t have a ceiling fan. But you have to give a little. Mark down the top 5 things your house must have and be a little flexible and creative about everything else.
5. Save, save, save! Buying a house isn’t crazy expensive but it definitely isn’t for people who don’t have their finances under control. There are so many costs associated with buying a home, from the home inspection (we got a discount and it was still $450) to the appraisal, to repairs you’ll make once you’re in the house. Once you know your price range (see #3), you will have a good idea about your down payment. Save that first, and then work on saving roughly $2,000 – $3,000 for miscellaneous expenses.  
6. Do not, under any circumstance, fall in love with a home before the home inspection. Just don’t.

So there you have it. Homebuying 101. I don’t consider myself an expert now, but I learned so much from the process. It is intimidating at first, but if you have good people helping you through it (see#1) then it all works itself out.

 Happy house hunting!