Mitch Harding ([info]mitcharf) wrote,
@ 2008-08-09 15:10:00
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Much quicker than expected
The first house I looked at today was great, and I'm going to make an offer on it. It's comfortably within my price range and the house appears to be in excellent shape. Of course I'll be having it inspected to look for any non-obvious problems.

Even though I really liked the first house, we went ahead and looked at all 5 of the properties I had lined up for today. All they did was really solidify in my mind that I wanted the first one. It's not a perfect house -- ideally I'd maybe have one more room in it. But it has 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, living room, dining room, and kitchen. It comes with all major appliances other than a dishwasher, which I'll need to put in. It's in Hyde Park and within walking distances of all the local establishments.

I'm very excited. My realtor is going to send over the paperwork to me today, and the goal is to close just before the end of the month. If we can pull that off, it'll give me a full month to move in, which should make it considerably less hectic, even if it does mean I'm paying on both places at the same time.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that nobody else has made an offer on the place. The price was just reduced on Thursday, so if there was an offer, I'm guessing it would have had to happen since then.

I'll post some photos and such once I'm sure the house is within my grasp.

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[info]summernot
2008-08-09 11:53 pm UTC (link)
congrats!

My husband and I have been looking at houses for over a year now, waiting to see what the market is doing. We have pretty unique requirements, as we have a machine room in the house and his home office. It makes the search a little more difficult. Plus we're incredibly cheap.

Anyway, I wrote up an entry on what we generally do when we see a compelling property. It's somewhat over the top, but it's more than what most realtors do, so it might come in handy if you're wanting any additional details on the property.

One thing we have decided we'll always do now is to check with the city development office to make sure that all renovation permits were approved, all inspections good, etc. Realtors so not verify this for you, and a house can legally be sold to you that is, say, without a certificate of occupancy. If one were to decide to remodel at some point, it could become messy if past permit applications lapsed before getting approved. We found this out when looking at a foreclosure that was a new construction. The permits were a tangled disaster, and whoever bought the place someday might actually have to tear down the garage to make the house compliant. (Since the permits were issued prior to the mcmansion ordinance and then lapsed after, the structure is no longer compliant with building code.)

We know a superanal inspector and also a structural engineer if you need one.

Tony (husband) also has this freakishly OCD spreadsheet to work through all the numbers and costs that I would be happy to pass along as well. It goes way beyond the analysis your realtor or mortgage broker will do with you.

Good luck!

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[info]sheenaqotj
2008-08-12 11:10 pm UTC (link)
Who is "we"? Do you have a roommate lined up, or did you just mean the realtor?

House hunting is fun, usually. Good luck with having this one come through!

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