I have been dreaming of buying a house for as long as I can remember. In fact, when I was young, I played "Ivory Homes" with my sister. We pretended to be real estate agents and even had Ivory Homes booklets. My personal favorite model was the "Savonna" because it was a rambler with the master on the main floor. Just last weekend, my parents moved into an Ivory Home. Much to my dismay, they didn't end up in the Savonna model, but their home is still beautiful.
After watching numerous episodes of "House Hunters" and growing up with a mother who is obsessed with real estate, I know what I want. We have tried to be realistic with our wish-list and don't want to be the nightmare first homebuyers you see on T.V. You may think this is funny, but our number 1 priority is a 2 car garage. No garage=DEALBREAKER. We just escaped Rexburg and now live in snowy Utah and have scraped enough windshields for a lifetime. I can't wait until next winter when I get to sleep in longer because I don't have to go scrape my car for 15 minutes.
Our number 2 priority is that the home must have at least 2 bathrooms. I don't want to share our bathroom with our future kids or guests. I want to be able to get by without cleaning my bathroom every time company comes over. Our bathroom doesn't even have to have 2 sinks. It just needs to exist. :)
These were the 2 things we told our real estate agent. After hunting with us I think he realized quickly that there are plenty of other things we want. However, our top 2 priorities are dealbreakers whereas no island in the kitchen, or a weird paint color can be easily fixed. I'm sorry, but building on a garage usually drastically changes the physical appearance of any house (for the worse).
After our first excursion looking at homes, I came home with a severe headache, took IB profun, and had a nap. One of the homes we really liked and considered putting in an offer, but we couldn't get over the neighborhood it was in.
We are so excited for this next step. It has been stressful though. What should our budget be? When do we want to move? How much of a commute can I live with? I feel like a real grownup. I am 23, but I have never felt more like a grownup than I do now.
Off to go grown-up-- aka: pay bills, make dinner, call the loan guy, etc. Oh and maybe I'll watch an episode of house hunters.
congrats! .... to the new home buyers.
ReplyDeleteGlad to read that you are finally buying a home. We just bought ours about a year and a half ago and are absolutely loving it. One of the best parts is no more landlord breathing down our neck. Plus, we can finally do whatever we want to it without having to get permission.
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