Home buying is stressful AF. When I returned home from New York (after getting laid off) I finally found a job. My sisters best friend let me know about a down payment program by Well’s Fargo where they were giving away 20k in down payment assistance to first time homebuyers. The only caveat was that we had a small amount of time to find a home. I was working to pay off my student loans, but jumped at the opportunity for free money.
I searched, and searched. Lost a couple offers. I was coming up on the last 2 weeks, and I found the cutest house. A 2 bedroom big front and backyard. Close enough to my grandparents with restained wood and an all white kitchen. Now before I started this process, I sat down and wrote out a budget, what I felt comfortable spending, but somehow I found myself signing an offer that was about double the price I said I was comfortable with. During the entire home inspection process I was sweating because I knew I’d be devoting half of my paycheck. My home inspector found that although the house had all brand new appliances and fixtures nothing was hooked up to the water lines. After my grandpa urged me to get the water lines inspected, I found out there was a hole in the sewage line. I thank my grandpa and God because although I had a lump in my throat from the amount of money I was going to spend, if there wasn’t a hole in those pipes I probably would’ve went through with the decision. The hype around the money, competition, and other peoples opinion had me feeling like I was on a fast moving escalator with no way to slow it down. Like I was going out for a walk, and I was on the leash.
The experience left’d me scarred, no doubt. I also came away with some valuable insight.
- Find someone you trust (and is smart about this) to be a sounding board. During the process there were so many different voices in my head about what I should do. My grandpa was always the clarity I needed because he owns real estate, and at the end had no vested interest in whether I bought a house or not.
- Make a commitment to yourself. With every house I kept creeping up the price because I wasn’t 100% sure of what I wanted.
- Have your own money. When I was using the grant there were so many stipulations that it felt like I had to comply with someone else rules in order to have this opportunity. Because purchasing is such a big decision, I think if I had more of my own money I wouldn’t have felt so desperate. Not saying to bypass homebuyer programs, because I’ll probably still use them in the future.
- Be Patient. I still haven’t mastered this. It’s when I got wrapped up in the time frame that I was ready to buy just about anything. I know have a plan for my money. I’m saving to buy a duplex, so that I can rent the other side to cover my mortgage payment. But that plan is smart but takes a lot more time.
CocolaBridge 