Saturday, June 13, 2009

First Night House Hunting Update

Buying a house is definitly a learning experience. The market is supposed to be a buyers market, a lot of inventory with not many takers. Interests rates at an all time low however mortgage rates have been going up the past few weeks BUT house prices have not been going down. Go figure!

I've looked a two house so far in the neighborhood I want, both are bank owned which I thought would be a great opportunity (more about that later).

The first house is on Arnold St about 2 blocks from my parents. Now I know what you're thinking, why that close? Well we may argue and pick on one another but we really are pretty close...so back to the house.

It was listed as a 3 bedroom 1 bath house, living room, dining room, full - unfinished basement, single house listed at $119,900.

At first site it is completely adorable. Front porch, stand alone garage with drive way, rear yard - a bit small but still a good size. We enter in the back door into the EIK however the only thing in the kitchen is cabinets and a sink. So it needs a little work no big deal. Two rooms on the ground floor, turns out one is not a bedroom (no closet), bathroom needs a total rehab, third (really second) bedroom is on the second floor.

After completely walking thru the house I've decided the house needs way to much work. The house needs to be lifted at the back door, new windows, doors, bathroom, paint, floors refinished, a bathroom added to the upstairs and the basement finished. Oh and the construction loan would be at a higher interest rate and all bids would need to be approved by the bank holding the escrow account.

The second house was 4 bedrooms 1 bath, living room, dining room, kitchen and too big for two people and a bit further from my parents house. Along with being too big the house also needed a lot of work to make it liveable. It is also too large for just two people and the cost to heat and cool would be astronomical. So this one is out.

So is the first one...with it being a bank owned house I would need to cover all closing costs for both sides which means needing around $20,000 at closing! HA!! No Way!!

So the plan is to hope for a house on short sale or owners willing to wiggle A LOT on the cost and cover closing costs.

Can this all happen? My philosophy...Everything happens for a reason so if it's meant to be it will be.

The search is still on...

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