Mortgage Monday: Interesting Questions

No matter where, when, or at what price you purchase a house you will always have questions about your new home. Some are as simple as where things are located in the house while you still get used to your new surroundings. Other times you are curious as to the best routes and best places to shop around your new location. These are just a natural part of the process no matter who you are, where you live, or how much research you did before you bought your property. For some that remain local or knew the former owners they are quickly answered while for most of us it is just a process that takes time.

However, there are a few other questions that I find floating around in my mind that I have also asked a few people from time to time. They are actually more prevalent than I thought even for those who believe that they have the perfect home. It also proves that there is more to a home than the place or the structure. Here are the questions that most people admit to having had fun with in the past:

• Would you still chose to live in the same place where you currently live? If no, where would you look? Yes. We really enjoy the town, the privacy, and the space. 
• Would you build your house the same way that you bought it? No. There are certain things that we want to change and add. Nothing needs to be changed. All minor things that are easily adjusted. Also, there are some aspects of our home that, at the time of purchase, we didn’t realize we wanted.
• Would you live in the same place and/or buy the same house if you had unlimited funds at the time of purchase? Yes and no. Great value in our home but we might have made some modifications immediately after purchase.
• I guess the same thing applies to those that had their house built… would you build it the same way now that you have lived in it? N/A
• What would you change (what would you have changed at the time) if you had unlimited funds? N/A
• Change or rebuild? N/A

I am sure that many of you were thinking about your own responses as you read through the questions above. And for those with whom I have spoken that consider the place they live to be their home, there is nothing in their responses that have led then to regret their previous decision. The certainty waivers a bit when people consider the place they live to be their house. For me, this has actually been an interesting exercise that has proven our decision to be correct time and again… we found the perfect home for us even with its imperfections.

Still Looking

Lately our weekends have been filled (at least half of each weekend) with our search to find a home. Our weeks have also been packed with numerous searches on various real estate websites trying to find that perfect place. We have also been looking to find properties that have the potential to be exactly what we want (at a lower price point of course). It has been, and continues to be, a long process.

While we have our list of things that we want in a home, we also have a strict budget. One that we determined not just by how much we want to spend but also how much we have been prequalified for by the bank. Fortunately, this part went relatively smoothly as both numbers ended up being about the same with the slightly higher figure coming from the lenders. It is nice to know what we actually have to work with when we look at properties rather than running the possibility of seeing something we like and wondering if we can get approved.

What we have also been running into here and there is the fact that we are getting toward the end of the real estate season so there isn’t as many listings and sometimes when we have expressed an interest in taking a closer look there is already an agreement in place. On the one hand it says a lot about the areas in which we are looking but on the other it is, at the very least, cause for the occasional moments of frustration. We can’t really do anything about it besides look at the others that are available and hope that we find what we are looking for.

However, we have introduced slight adjustments to our criteria which have opened up a number of other options. You never know what you might find that falls just shy of some of the things on our wish list (this is most notably found in the size of the property). On the other hand, one thing that we haven’t adjusted and will not adjust is the commute time for my wife. I guess the same can be said for everyone’s search to find a home… you have flexibility in some areas and you have to hold firm in others.

Overall, this is whole process is both exciting and frightening. We are both looking forward to owning our own place and finding our home but I am terrified of two very simple things. The first being the fact that we would be taking on around $200,000 of debt. Enough said about that one. The other is just part of my nature… if we agree on a deal and purchase a house, is there a better one out there, is there another place about to come on the market that would be a better fit for us. I guess we will have to just wait and see what we find but, for the most part, these are two things that I am eventually just going to have to accept and be happy with what we have. From beginning to end and afterward, it is not going to be easy.

The Reality of HGTV

More and more I find my mind wandering during the day. Sometimes it is because I am working on and jumping between projects constantly which gets to the point when my mind needs to take a break. Other times it is the exact opposite when I am just sitting there listening to a conference call or presentation when my thoughts just go on a little jaunt around the block. Admittedly I think about other work projects during this time knowing that I am not under deadline with them… the enjoyable kind of work. Other times I am thinking about some of the pieces missing in the genealogy and I brainstorm how and where I might fill in those gaps. Lately, I have been relaxing by going online and looking at real estate on Zillow or Trulia (sometimes other websites).  

I have written extensively about the issues with our current apartment so this new habit should not be a surprise. At the office, when we have a little bit of time to take a family lunch we always have fun offering our commentary during the various HGTV real estate shows and this is kind of the same thing that I do when looking at listings. It adds a little fun given the fact that all of the properties are within the area to which we will eventually consider moving. It is a long way off but it is fun to see both the reality of the market and the outrageousness of certain areas.

It really is amazing to see the variety that is on the market both in terms of location and size as well as quality and price. But I guess you could say that I am still in the luxury of criticism state so that I can pick and pick at all the little ‘flaws’ in a property until there is nearly nothing left. The real problem is that the one that I can’t find those little items they usually have one huge issue… price. But I guess those properties fit into the time of day when I am looking at them as they will be little more than a day dream at this point.

Regardless of what we find down the road, I am looking forward to having a home. Whatever it is we can change things that need to be changed, customize to fit our needs, and make it our own. After all, that is really what we want so sometimes picking a property apart is simply a matter of looking past the present. So, until the day we find our home (and probably after) I will continue to day dream about what can be done the only difference being that right now I don’t know what the starting point is going to be.