Buying My First House

[jrz126]

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My wife and I are closing on it tomorrow. Its 2200 Sq ft with 2.5 baths. I think we got a pretty good deal on it.

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I now have plenty of room to set up my electronics work area again. If I ever have free time for it. I can see this house taking up most of my time.

It needs needs some work. The roof needs to be reshingled. It doesnt leak yet, if it was a month earlier, I'd probably try to get it done this year. I'll probably just get up there with some sort of sealer and put a coating on the bad areas.
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The garage floor settled alittle. The foundation is ok though. (I had to pay a structural engineer $350 to come out and take a look at it before they would approve the mortgage. He came out, looked at it for about 2 minutes and said it was fine.)
It looks like it would be pretty difficult and alittle unsafe to work on cars. So I'm planning on redoing it. I'm also going to install some tubing for radiant floor heat while I'm at it.

 

[JimB]

Looks like a very pleasant place.
I hope you are both very happy there.

JimB

 

[ericgibbs]

hi,
Dont see any smoke alarms, put them high on the 'to do' list.

Enjoy your new home.


Hi Jim,
Are you back in Bonnie Scotland.?

 

[Pommie]

Looks nice.

I guess we won't be hearing much from you in the coming months because, as you have already worked out, new houses and free time are mutually exclusive. First homes are lots of work but great fun and very rewarding.

Have fun and enjoy.

Mike.

 

[Hero999]

Yes, smoke alarms are a must, especially in a house made from wood.

 

[Willbe]

The house inspector may have been in bed with the realtor, and in any case they are only concerned about stuff that they can be sued for later, which means only stuff over a few kilobucks or that poses a risk to life. This excludes a lot!

Get some books on home inspection and go over "your investment." The one below is the best I've seen so far. Borrow it through inter-library loan, you've already paid for this service with your tax dollars.
Amazon.com: Inspecting a House (For Pros by Pros): Rex Cauldwell: Books

Less than 1% landscape slope can mean drainage problems; that one got me and I'm still messing with it, on my own dime.
Watch for bathroom fans that exhaust to the attic.
If there are AFCIs in your breaker panel you may have hard-to-troubleshoot problems.
Look for mud tunnels or even just a slight mud stain on your basement walls.
If you're close to the pole transformer your incandescent lamps may burn out sooner and your stuff in general may not last as long as those people living at 114vac.
Vent your downspouts at least 3' from your house.
Slope the ground from your house on outwards.
Gutters should be pitched 1" in 10' or so.
No gutter cover works all the time; if there are deciduous trees within 100' feet of your house buy a ladder.

Best of luck!

 

[Andy1845c]

Looks nice, Jeff

What year was it built?

Me and my wife just sold our first home. 1920's built and a bit smaller then yours. The projects will never end!

 

[picbits]

What sort of money are you paying for a house like that over the pond ?

Over here, the cheapest small house in our area is around $160-$200k. Our house cost around $400k.

 

[shokjok]

Any house is a major project. Perhaps you can add a home alarm or monitoring system, or make your workbench a static-free environment. Best if you can locate the workbench near the garage, so you won't have far to walk to test auto circuits onsite.

Did you get this with no money down, considering the property condition?

 

[jrz126]

It was built in 1970.

I offered 102,900 for it and put 5% down, which was the minimum needed for a conventional loan. I wish I could have put more down, but the closing costs took up a big chunk of my savings.
I wanted to wait and save some more money before buying a house, but we are having a baby in april, so we needed a bigger place. So I'm really going to be short on the free time once april comes around.

 

[Mikebits]

It was built in 1970.

I offered 102,900 for it and put 5% down, which was the minimum needed for a conventional loan. I wish I could have put more down, but the closing costs took up a big chunk of my savings.
I wanted to wait and save some more money before buying a house, but we are having a baby in april, so we needed a bigger place. So I'm really going to be short on the free time once april comes around.

Wow, the only thing you could get here in San Diego for that price would be a Mobile Home. I should think about moving, but I love the weather here.

San Diego’s Purchase Prices

Overall median home price (new and resale, attached and detached) . .$472,000
Average price of a new detached home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$835,794
Single-family resale home median price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $540,000
Resale condo median price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $380,000
Median price for newly-built houses, condos and condo conversions . . $395,000
National median home price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$220,000
(The San Diego Union-Tribune, 2/15/07; DataQuick Information Systems; MarketPointe Realty; National Association of Realtors)

 

[Andy1845c]

It was built in 1970.

I offered 102,900 for it and put 5% down, which was the minimum needed for a conventional loan. I wish I could have put more down, but the closing costs took up a big chunk of my savings.
I wanted to wait and save some more money before buying a house, but we are having a baby in april, so we needed a bigger place. So I'm really going to be short on the free time once april comes around.

Wow, That seems like a deal to me. Up here in the southern Minnesota area you can't touch anything decent or as new as 1970 for that kind of money.

The house I just sold was 1200 sq. feet and 50 years older. I paid 117,00 for that four years ago when I bought it. It also was in need of many repairs. Around here thats your basic starter home.

 

[audioguru]

Your new home is a bargain. Homes like that in my part of Canada are about $300,000.

Watch out for animals (skunks) living underneath.

Good luck and I hope your baby is healthy and smart (mine are).

 

[Mikebits]

Nice sentiment.

 

[bryan1]

G'day Jeff,
Great deal mate for a first house and a good size burb block too..
I hope everything goes well on da baby front and yea mate start thinking sleepless nights and those dreaded nappies. But on a personal note this xmas day will be 5 years here off the grid on the first farm that cost me 280K and is now worth near triple that. My missus is nagging about building a shed so we can put a teenage son in his own space so we can get our daughter out of our bed and into her own room.

Cheers Bryan

 

[fdart17]

Wow thats a nice home.
Enjoy it!
I wish I could afford a house
oh well

 

[jrz126]

Got everything moved last Saturday. Only one thing got broken, unfortunitly it was one of the more important items.
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We put it in the back of my friend's SUV so it wouldnt roll around in the moving truck. unfortunitly they didnt put the screen face down. It tipped when they went around a turn. The circuit board survived, but the plastic was destroyed.


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I have all my electronics stuff in the basement. It doesnt look like all that much when its boxed up and condensed like that. I'm in process of getting my lab/workshop set up. My friend gave me the old counter top from his parents kitchen which will make a sweet workbench. I also have a bunch of peg board that I'm going put up too.

 

[picbits]

Excellent - a good excuse to go out and buy that 32" LCD TV you always wanted

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Excellent - a good excuse to go out and buy that 32" LCD TV you always wanted

And they use much less power than a similar sized tube TV. It'll pay for itself over time. Samsung, LG & Sony make some beauties.

 

[Andy1845c]

Geez, the plastic got broken into that many pieces in the back of an SUV? And didn't manage to break the neck on the CRT? wow.