It’s official!! We’re looking for our first home!!!! Yay!!!
We’ve been renting our townhouse for almost 2 years now, and we’re ready and excited for the next step!! We’ve got a list of must-haves for our first home, but we’re also not afraid to get our hands a little dirty and make it our own:)
We know we’re looking for a pre-existing home (not new build), and we love the idea of having 1/2 acre or more so we’re not right next to our neighbor. We want a yard for the crazy puppy, a basement or garage that can become the DSE/C@H Studio space, a “man space” for Matt and 3-4 bedrooms so we can grow into it!
We spent part of the day yesterday looking at a few, and we’re excited to look at a few others soon. Since we are first time home buyers, I would LOVE your advice!!!
What do you wish you knew when you bought your first home? What should we look for? What should we ask?
Thanks in advance, friends!! I can’t WAIT to keep you updated as the search continues:)
xo!! kat
Hmmmm, my husband and I bought our home a little under 2 years ago. Here are my pieces of advice!
1) Definitely hire your OWN inspector, if possible. Do a bit of research and find one that’s reputable and honest (perhaps through a referral?). They will help you find things that you wouldn’t necessarily notice during a walk-through and will be VERY thorough. The contracted ones are sometimes very lazy and don’t do as thorough of a job.
2) Don’t get too hung up on things that you can easily change. If you enter a house that has despicable wall paint, old furniture, etc. and ratchet tile, but has beautiful crown molding, lovely floors, a large yard and big bed/bathrooms – it has promise!!! It’s the things that you CAN’T change that you want to put weight onto when making your decision.
3) Pray for God to lead you. No really commentary needed on this one.
4) Stay encouraged. Perhaps you’ll find your house on the first few homes you look at! But there is a chance that you may not. There are also foreclosures that while they are great deals, take a while to deal with and are not promised at that. Deals may fall through. But keep your heads up and know when it’s yours – it will be yours. 🙂
Lots more to share for when you actually DO buy a home! So many more tips to share.
Good luck! I can’t wait to see you both in your new home! XO
YES!!! Just remember it takes time! We looked for months before we finally found our house!!
I totally agree about the inspector. The one our realtor hired missed really big things, like a rotted out window pane that we didn’t notice until after the sale was final. SO annoying. If you or Matt can be present for the home inspection, DO IT!! I was there for part of it but I really wished I would have been there for the whole thing!!
I also agree about the paint color and easier things you can change!!
Check the interest rates and make sure you know what’s happening in the market when you go into make a deal!
I wrote a blog last year about the things that I learned! It has more things that I would highly recommend!!! ❤️❤️❤️
1) OMG THAT IS AWESOME!!! SOOOO HAPPY FOR YOU, MATT, AND THE PUP!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
2) Totally agree about the home inspection!! We actually had a wonderful inspector who took 6 hours to do the inspection but found almost everything! It was nice not to have any surprises, even thought that does happen.
3) Check yard drainage. The one thing that drives us crazy in the Spring and Fall is a wet yard. It seems small but especially with the pup in the yard, it can be a hassle and mud is never awesome.
4) Buying a house is NOT an easy process but know that it is wonderful and special! Love the easy and the difficult, the good and the bad!
5) DOCUMENT IT!! I’m sure you will do this but in case you forget – you will want to look back and remember this exciting time!
Again, CONGRATS!! You rock!
So glad you shared this Kat, we are looking to buy our first house right now too! We just put our first offer in this morning (ahhh!) and will see how it goes. Loving all of these tips in your comments. Best of luck as you search, looking forward to following along and this reminded me that I should update my personal blog about this too!