Finally bought a house!!!

[doddg]

Stop by the job site as often as you can and make sure it’s going to plan. You don’t spend that much on something and not have it like you want it.

It’s not uncommon for things to get framed in wrong or slightly different locations.

Also, get to know the subcontractors working on your house. If you ever want upgrades or changes later it’ll be cheaper to reach out directly instead of through your builder.

To add to that, I had a friend who had a house built (in a subdivision) & they put the kitchen in the wrong layout.
They had to redo it b/c my friend wouldn't take a different house in another location.
You got to go by the house every day.
Helps if you have a set of plans & someone to help you read them.

My first house after married a year (celebrated 50th anniversary this year), I bought in 1975 ($24K), which a basic 3 bedroom with a full unfinished basement in a small subdivision.
It was built by the same crew I worked with the summer before in my last year of college!
Same house worth $200k+ today.

 

[KG1]

To add to that, I had a friend who had a house built (in a subdivision) & they put the kitchen in the wrong layout.
They had to redo it b/c my friend wouldn't take a different house in another location.
You got to go by the house every day.
Helps if you have a set of plans & someone to help you read them.

My first house after married a year (celebrated 50th anniversary this year), I bought in 1975 ($24K), which a basic 3 bedroom with a full unfinished basement in a small subdivision.
It was built by the same crew I worked with the summer before in my last year of college!
Same house worth $200k+ today.

Congrats to you and the Mrs. on reaching the 50th anniversary milestone.

 

[Dean C.]

I was offered 7.25% today , December close. Do I lock the rate or wait for them to potentially fall further? In literally two days rates dropped .4%.

 

[Born2vette]

Everything I have read suggests rates will stay flat in the near term. Only you can say what you are comfortable with and if I could predict things like this I would have a bunch more $$ in my retirement accounts. That said, with wars and unrest anything can happen and if you are comfortable with your pay ents go for it. If rates drop significantly in the future there is always the option for refinancing. Our first house was bought with a 10.5% 30 yr mortgage, we bought our second at 7.75%, refinanced to a 15 year at 4.25% a few years later, pulled out some cash for a new car and kept payments close to about the same.

 

[Dean C.]

Everything I have read suggests rates will stay flat in the near term. Only you can say what you are comfortable with and if I could predict things like this I would have a bunch more $$ in my retirement accounts. That said, with wars and unrest anything can happen and if you are comfortable with your pay ents go for it. If rates drop significantly in the future there is always the option for refinancing. Our first house was bought with a 10.5% 30 yr mortgage, we bought our second at 7.75%, refinanced to a 15 year at 4.25% a few years later, pulled out some cash for a new car and kept payments close to about the same.

I think might be overthinking this, rates won't drop significantly in the next 45~ days more than likely. Plus knowing we are going to refinance in a few years anyways. Just trying to save as much $$$ as possible.

 

[Dean C.]

Locked in at 7.25% , today is a good day gentlemen

 

[bashMOH]

Locked in at 7.25% , today is a good day gentlemen

Congratulations! As a new first time homeowner myself, get ready for a ride! Projects on projects that never seem to get done

 

[Dean C.]

Congratulations! As a new first time homeowner myself, get ready for a ride! Projects on projects that never seem to get done

My first projects are a dedicated Gun / Game room for myself. Just have to pick the color for my Johnson Safe

 

[KG1]

Locked in at 7.25% , today is a good day gentlemen

That's not bad. I think you did the right thing. I know you were going back and forth for a bit.

 

[Dean C.]

That's not bad. I think you did the right thing. I know you were going back and forth for a bit.

100% agree, I was debating gambling to wait another 30 days to see if we could snag a sub 7% mortgage. But we ran all the numbers and are very comfortable with 7.25 so we took it. That being said first day 4 lenders were offering that rate, second day it went down to one so we locked .

 

[Dean C.]

"New Home Orientation" on December 11th, we got an upgrade on the floor for free because what we originally picked was out of stock. Then even though we were going to do it ourselves they insulated and drywalled our garage (it's non heated), we got $7k in upgrades for free which was definitely nice.

They just got the countertops in and it actually looks like a home inside, I am SO excited.

It's the one on the left, the concrete was poured 24~ hours ago so still setting and whatnot

 

[KG1]

"New Home Orientation" on December 11th, we got an upgrade on the floor for free because what we originally picked was out of stock. Then even though we were going to do it ourselves they insulated and drywalled our garage (it's non heated), we got $7k in upgrades for free which was definitely nice.

They just got the countertops in and it actually looks like a home inside, I am SO excited.

It's the one on the left, the concrete was poured 24~ hours ago so still setting and whatnot

For a minute here I thought it was asphalt. Asphalt sidewalk?

 

[Dean C.]

For a minute here I thought it was asphalt. Asphalt sidewalk?

According to the contractors the concrete will dry the same color as the neighbors, you can see their concrete looks "normal" in the bottom left corner of the picture.

 

[bgcatty]

Congratulations to all you new home buyers! Budget accordingly but don’t forget to live life to the fullest!

 

[Dean C.]

Congratulations to all you new home buyers! Budget accordingly but don’t forget to live life to the fullest!

Dual college educated DINK incomes, just my base salary alone covers 100% of our projected monthly expenses. The wife's salary is the savings / fun money , it's not a bad set up it's making the decision to have kids very difficult not going to lie.

 

[Born2vette]

Dual college educated DINK incomes, just my base salary alone covers 100% of our projected monthly expenses. The wife's salary is the savings / fun money , it's not a bad set up it's making the decision to have kids very difficult not going to lie.

When we got married we were in our 30s. My wife was in a demanding professional position and I had just completed my 2nd degree and in the midst of changing careers so we made the decision that children were not in the cards for us. That said, we both had rewarding careers and are now retired and able to travel and indulge several hobbies each. We are close to many nieces and nephews and our godson and feel blessed. Given the demands of both our careers was probably the right decision for us with no regrets but not for everyone. YMMV

 

[Dean C.]

When we got married we were in our 30s. My wife was in a demanding professional position and I had just completed my 2nd degree and in the midst of changing careers so we made the decision that children were not in the cards for us. That said, we both had rewarding careers and are now retired and able to travel and indulge several hobbies each. We are close to many nieces and nephews and our godson and feel blessed. Given the demands of both our careers was probably the right decision for us with no regrets but not for everyone. YMMV

I get it, I just turned 29, wife is 28, just started my MBA so my salary should only continue to climb. I hate making these decisions occasionally, no one told me adulting could be so stressful lol.

 

[Creedmoor]

Dual college educated DINK incomes, just my base salary alone covers 100% of our projected monthly expenses. The wife's salary is the savings / fun money , it's not a bad set up it's making the decision to have kids very difficult not going to lie.

I was 40 when my first son was born, two yrs later Thing 2 was born.
Coolist toys I ever have had, without them you miss out on lots of things you never paid attention to.
Plus you then have someone to give your prized toys too.

 

[Born2vette]

I was 40 when my first son was born, two yrs later Thing 2 was born.
Coolist toys I ever have had, without them you miss out on lots of things you never paid attention to.
Plus you then have someone to give your prized toys too.

I have several toys earmarked for our nieces, nephews and godson.

 

[JTKelly]

So as a millennial, buying a house has been somewhat of a challenge to say the least. Married late 2019 , laid off in March 2020 due to COVID and then the bubble burst in July of 2020 and prices and rates skyrocketed.

I literally had to get a significant promotion at work to comfortably afford the mortgage and whatnot. But after spending the last three years saving and planning we are finally doing it.

Having it built by Arbor in Westfield, I love the location. Hoping to refinance and drop PMI when rates eventually drop. It's a 4 bed , 2 bath ranch.

I don't have any experience in this realm and would appreciate some help as to what to look out for during the build process. We just did the mortgage paperwork, doing final house choices tommorow and design on Wednesday and they start building with an completion date of December.

If I provided too much information please let me know to delete, like I said I trust most on INGO and would just really appreciate some thoughts / advice.

It is a little late for the most important advice so I'll start with where you are at in the process.

1. With contractors if is a NEVER TRUST ANYTHING THEY SAY. VERIFY EVERYTHING and if you don't like something you SEE WITH your own eyes, COMPLAIN IMMEDIATELY.

2. ALWAYS put metal on the roof. Nothing should be on the outside of a house but glass, metal, and or stone/brick.

3. Insist your mortgage provider give you a printed hard copy of the full amortization table for the duration of you loan, first thing, before or by the time your first payment is due.

4. Document, document, document. Use that fancy phone / camera you are packing around like it is attached to you. Take a picture of the written agreement, then you can pull it out on a moment's notice any time any where if their is the slightest discrepancy with any disagreement. Take a picture as the walls go up for where the wiring and plumbing is inside the walls so you can find them later. Any thing you LIKE or DON'T like take a picture of it BEFORE you start complaining so they can't just plaster over it before you can point it out to the general contractor. It is HIS problem to make it right. NOT "good enough".