![]() I will never forget the moment when I learned I was about to become a homeowner…and let me tell you, it does not happen the way our favorite HGTV shows portray it. I was not at a restaurant where my realtor just got off the phone with the seller’s response. There was no hand shaking. No cheers. I was in sweats walking to the gym when I found out my offer on my first fixer upper was accepted. Finding a Realtor I was lucky with finding a great realtor because she worked with my dad previously when he was looking for a home to flip. If this is the first time that you are buying a home, I really suggest that you use a realtor. Find one that is familiar with the area that you are interested in and that has experience. My realtor was awesome. Now, I cannot say the same for the seller’s realtor. Mine ended up having to educate and help him throughout the process too. My realtor also meant business. The seller only had hours to decide to accept my offer or to get back to me about the condition of the property. She set me up with reliable companies for my inspections. I really cannot explain how blessed I was with my realtor. But I would not be able to write this blog if it was not for her! Making an Offer If the first home offer you place is accepted, you are one lucky person. The rest of us get to enjoy multiple open houses, bidding wars, and just the overall stress of “where am I going to live when my lease is done?” I was pretty lucky that my offer on the second house I wanted was accepted. I learned the hard way that if you like a house, do not wait to put in an offer. That is how I lost the first home. My home (saying that is still surreal) went on the market in the middle of the night. As soon as I woke up, I contacted my realtor and had a viewing scheduled that day. I did not make an offer on the home right away because this fixer upper was a big project and came at a high cost. But a few days later, the listing price dropped $26K overnight. At 7:30a, I put in an offer $19K under listing price. After some negotiations, the seller accepted my offer, which was $40K less than the original listing price! My Offer was Accepted, Now What? Before making an offer, you should have already contacted a lender to get a pre-qualification letter. I asked for about $20k over what I really wanting to pay so that I had some wiggle room. Now the inspections! As stated above, my realtor gave me names of companies that she trusts…and that was good enough for me. Because I was purchasing an older home, I decided to get a home, pest and sewer inspection. Be prepared to learn about every crack, creak, and cranny of your home. My inspector took me on a 3-hour tour. I was told to bring a pen and paper with me, but he was talking so fast that I could not write down a thing. He actually walked around with a recorder and gave me a copy of it. I was later able to listen to 45 minutes of what was wrong with my house and jot down notes. Overall, the inspector said the home is a great structure, but will require a lot of work and money. Little does he know, labor is free or me! The pest inspection was not as entertaining…but who really wants to go looking around for termites, spiders, etc. Luckily, my home was pest free…and I will keep it that way. The most disgusting part of inspection day was looking at the sewer. The inspectors put a camera down the sewer pipe to see if there are any sags (aka. there is no slope down towards the main sewer line). This was the last inspection of the day. Everything was looking good for the house and then we hit mud. We ended up having the inspector snake the line. My realtor and I went up-stairs and started flushing toilets to help. We found a small sag. Luckily, they were able to get passed it, and made it to the main city sewer line! What came back up with the camera is something I will spare you all. Overall, there were no roots or cracks and because the house was vacant awhile, mud was probably just building up from the recent rainstorms. The inspections were complete without any red flags. I was so happy and decided to proceed with the purchase. In the community where the house is located, a city inspection is also required to determine if there are any code violations. If there are no violations, a certificate of occupancy (C of O) is issued. Well, the report for my house ended up being about 3 pages long and everything on the list was the seller’s responsibility to complete. Here is where the fun began…so the seller was not aware of this. With only a 45 day closing, there was no way that they would be able to complete everything that was on that list. So, I decided to negotiate even more on the purchase price and took responsibility of the C of O. The seller was hesitant and declined my initial offer. However, we were able to talk them down another $25k. So now I was getting the home for $65k below the initial asking price. This was an amazing deal…I could not loose it! Picking a Lender Today, we are all on our phones/computers most of the day. Days of going into the bank to deposit a check is long over. Apparently, mortgages can now be done online too. I am going to explain why you should stay old school with this. My mortgage application process was awful, and I hope people can learn from my experience. So I did my mortgage through a large bank’s online system. It was nice. I could upload all the documents I needed to submit to the system. At first it was super easy and a smooth process, but that did not last long. I got a call from my mortgage broker one day stating that they would be declining my loan application due to my debt-to-income ratio. This is due to the fact that I have student loans (which I pay every month). I have never paid the standard rate on my student loans, because I always qualified for the income based payment plan that is slightly lower. In order to get my ratio to change, either my income needed to increase or I needed to pay off a loan. I thought I was in luck; I was just starting a new job with higher pay! They say changing jobs mid-mortgage application can be bad thing, but my broker thought this could save my application. A week went by, they denied my loan again all because my new job offer letter state “this position is non-tenure.” Because they could not be sure that my job would last three years, they would not accept my loan. This was 8 days before my scheduled closing! There was no way I would find another agency to make my closing date. I tried everything to get them to change the status of my application. I contacted my HR department and had them contact the broker. I tried to get my parents to co-sign on the loan. I talked to my broker at least 10 times a day, even if he did not want to talk to me. I was persistent reaching out to supervisors. I was so frustrated. How could they say any other job would last 3 years? At my new job, I am managing million dollar projects that will last longer than 3 years. After days of pushing and making about 30 calls a day to the bank, they accepted my application; however, I had to get a bunch of other documents for them in a short period of time. I am making this sound a lot simpler than it was, but I really do not have the time or the strength go through that roller coaster ride. I ended up having to write a hardship letter to allow me to sign on time. If I would not have been able to sign on my scheduled day, I am pretty sure I would have lost the home. Moral of the story, ask your realtor about lenders they recommend and go into an actual branch and sit down with a person. Closing on my First Fixer Upper I closed on a Friday. I had hard time concentrating at work. I was so excited…all my hard work paid off! I did a final walk through with my realtor about an hour before the closing appointment. I could not believe I was about to own my first home. When I got to the closing table, I was able to meet the seller, the previous owner’s son. At first it felt a bit awkward. The previous owner had recently passed. Because my lender was slow with giving us the “okay” to go through with the purchase, we sat there with the seller who has to get rid of his childhood home. I think he appreciated knowing this was my first home and that I wanted to make the property look nice. This made the situation a bit easier and we all needed up having a great conversation. I learned a lot of the history of the street and the property. After 2 hours, we finally were able to go through with the purchase, and I was given keys to my first home! The next step…opening my first fixer upper!
4 Comments
Diane Casady
5/4/2016 12:21:03 pm
Love your new home! It's going to be the perfect house for you and definitely one you can grow in to!! Looking forward to seeing the changes and being a part of helping with some of them. God bless your new home!! With love, Aunt Diane
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Bethanh
6/10/2016 08:42:26 pm
Thanks for the support!
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Howard
5/6/2016 07:52:25 pm
Thank you so much for writing this great blog. I now meditate three times a day, I learned how to forgive my father, and no longer have any back pain! You are such an inspiration Bethany, God bless you!
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Bethany
6/10/2016 08:42:07 pm
Thanks Howard. I hope you have been able to continue following!
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AuthorA twenty something about to embark on one of the biggest adventures of my life…buying a fixer upper. Archives
September 2016
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