Topic: holy crap buying a house is stressful.

[evanphi]

just wanted to say that. in the closing process on our first house. very stressed.

can't wait to have a garage and workshop, though!

[grepper]

Selling one is tough too. 

[Gordon]

Congratulations on getting your first house!  My wife and I are hoping to buy our second "first house" this coming Spring/Summer.  We had a house in Denver, but the market collapse tanked its value and we ended up short-selling when we moved to Texas, so we're starting over from scratch.  I have a garage at the house we're renting, but it doesn't compare to having your own garage.   

[Stev-o]

It helps to have a good mortgage broker.  We bought this house 5 years ago and yes, a little stressful, but painless in the end and worth it.

We just signed a contract for a small condo that we are buying as a rental property. Real estate is a great investment. 

[Duke McDukiedook]

Tell that to the people that lost their houses in the last crash that real estate is a great investment.
We are still riding another artificial real estate bubble so I don't know if I would be so rosy about it as an investment for the near future.

[MoMo]

Tell that to the people that lost their houses in the last crash that real estate is a great investment.
We are still riding another artificial real estate bubble so I don't know if I would be so rosy about it as an investment for the near future.

Bubble?   not here, prices have plummeted 25 to 50%   more like a crater...Larry

[honda_dog]

Congrats on your first house! Sorry it is so stressful, it will be over, soon. Then you can sit back and relax, and put your garage or workshop to good use.

[flybox1]

Good for you for buying a house. The mountain of paperwork and endless signatures are the scary part.  Once you get your tools where you want them...its all good 
Our 4th house purchase, a year ago, was a short sale. 
Steal of a deal, but we also had to kick in almost $15K for a new kitchen shortly after. 
Doesn't hurt so much now as a smaller comp house across the way just sold for 40% more than what I paid   

[DanJ]

Try having to buy the same house twice 

[evanphi]

we are getting a really great deal... too hard not to pass up, even at this time of year. Closing costs are nasssssssssty.

[goldarrow]

The stressful part is $$$

[JeffSTL]

It helps to have a good mortgage broker.  We bought this house 5 years ago and yes, a little stressful, but painless in the end and worth it.

We just signed a contract for a small condo that we are buying as a rental property. Real estate is a great investment.

Houses are only a good investment if you can pay cash or finance very little and rent it out.
If you take out a 30 year mortgage and include maintenance, taxes, insurance, etc. it's a huge loss. If financing you'll pay three times the purchase price. Then factor in 30 years of inflation.

That being said, you've got to live somewhere. A good investment, no.

[Duanob]

Funny thing is it doen't have to be. It's the lenders that make it that way. We just closed on our third house a week ago. The lenders' bank appraisors were making a huge stink about a $35 CO detector. The seller installed as asked and took pics and sent them but the pics weren't good enough for the appraisors. So they had to scedule another appraisal just for the CO. All of this taking place in the last week before closing! The closing was pushed back a couple of days. I felt sorry for the seller as she had scheduled a moving truck and took the week off to no avail. The irony is there is nothing in this house that produces CO! It's got an electic furnace, water heater, dryer, detached garage that's 30 feet away from the house. Doesn't make sense to me to hold up everything.

Anyway I don't regret buying any one of my properties. Rents went up during the recession so that was a bonus for me. I got this house at a good deal and the rent will more than pay the mortgage. if I could buy another one I would in a heart beat but the 20% down takes a chunk out the bank account.

[Stev-o]

Tell that to the people that lost their houses in the last crash that real estate is a great investment.

Real estate prices are much different here and now is a great time to buy nearly everywhere.
Shame on you if you bought a house you could not afford or with a crazy ARM mortgage.

[Gordon]

Tell that to the people that lost their houses in the last crash that real estate is a great investment.

Real estate prices are much different here and now is a great time to buy nearly everywhere.
Shame on you if you bought a house you could not afford or with a crazy ARM mortgage.

Unfortunately it wasn't just the people who made bad financial decisions that got taken down along with the collapse.  We did everything right when we bought our house in Denver.  Bought well within our means, and had a low fixed-rate mortgage.  It was a small house, but had everything we needed, and it wasn't painful to make the payment every month.  In fact we were paying more than the minimum to knock the principal down faster.  We got it at the beginning of 2006, and when the bottom fell out two years later the value of our house dropped 35% almost overnight, which more than obliterated any equity we had built up. 

It was just the luck of the draw.  We couldn't have known beforehand that it was probably the worst possible time to buy a house in the past century.  Up until then real estate was almost a guaranteed good investment.  We didn't forcibly lose the house, though.  We could have stayed there and kept paying on it no problem, regardless of the fact that it was worth far less than the current mortgage, but life had continued on, as it does.  We had two children since buying the house and wanted to move to Texas to be with family.  That was supposed to be our starter house, where we built up some equity and moved up to a nicer house once we had a family. 

We took the hit, did a short-sale, and walked away from all the money and improvements we had put into that house over the course of 4 1/2 years.  Now it's 10 years after we bought our first house, we have a 4 year old and 6 year old, and we're just now back to a financial situation where we can start looking to buy a starter house again.  I regret buying that house when we did, but I don't beat myself up about it because we couldn't have known. 

The experience hasn't turned me against buying, but it has made me even more cautious than I already was before, and it's significantly lowered my expectations of home ownership.  I no longer look at buying a house as a financial investment.  Financially, I'd be happy just to break even.  My main issue is that I HATE renting.  I don't like living in somebody else's house.  I want to be able to do what I want to do to the place.       

Sorry for rambling!  I know you were talking about the people who went well above their means to buy houses they couldn't really afford, but there were a lot of us that did everything right, just at the wrong time, who got taken down along with them.  At least in that relatively brief window of time, real estate was not a good investment.             

[BeSeeingYou]

It helps to have a good mortgage broker.  We bought this house 5 years ago and yes, a little stressful, but painless in the end and worth it.

We just signed a contract for a small condo that we are buying as a rental property. Real estate is a great investment. 

I would agree with you.  Bought my house for 67K in 1986 on a 30 year mortgage that we paid off in 15.  By the time we payed it off we had about 120K into it to retire the mortgage...house is valued at 275K now.  An okay investment to slightly more than double your money in 27 years....a smart guy could do better in the stock market actually.  But we have also had a place to live and it has been "rent" free for the last 12 years except for property taxes.  Over that 27 year period if we had been renting we would have shelled out at least 250K and had nothing to show for it.  Renting is just a good way to piss your money away if you do it long term. 

So congratulations on the house  Evanphi.  Hold onto it long term and you will be in good shape.  I do remember the buying process...I felt like tearing my hair out.   Lucky my wife is more level headed and took control....I was ready to say f--k it all.

A couple of friends of mine had similar experiences that Gordon describes....buying at the height of the market and then the bottom falls out  though they both have held onto their houses.  I always thought the idea of buying a "starter" house and after several years moving to something bigger and more expensive to be a flawed strategy subjected to the whims of the marketplace for good or bad.  It just seems like an idea promoted by the real estate industry to churn up sales.  It works okay when the prices are going up but we all saw what can happen.  I think it best to buy the house that fits you needs now and in the future and add on or remodel as needed but stick it out long term.

[evanphi]

Yes this is a "starter" home, but not at the same time. Well constructed (post-war!), ideal location, large enough that if we didn't want to we would never have to move... It is everything we want for our daughter especially. We plan to hold onto it for 15-20 years and then build the home we want once our student loans are paid off. Our student loans are so much that if we magically had them made into another mortgage, we could afford two homes. Insane.

great house, price, location, etc... all make the stress worth it!

We are also sick of renting. We've been renting our money away for 6 years now, and this past year especially has shown how much money can be wasted by renting. The nice thing about buying a house is that most, if not all, of the money you put in can be made back when you sell if you keep the home in a decent state and sell at the right time. With renting, all that money is just being lost.

[shark]

Congrats on the new home.

When all the B.S. is over, and you stand in your yard and look at your home, it's a great feeling.

Now, start saving some money for a emergency repair.

The thing that you didn't think will give you a problem, will be the first thing to break.

[evanphi]

Congrats on the new home.

When all the B.S. is over, and you stand in your yard and look at your home, it's a great feeling.

Now, start saving some money for a emergency repair.

The thing that you didn't think will give you a problem, will be the first thing to break.

I'm a budget lover! Every month has a set amount put aside for "incidentals". We are going through with a home inspector tomorrow night before we make the deal final. If there is anything that we deem too far gone, or not worth the repairs, we can walk any time.

[Stev-o]

We received a home warranty with the purchase of our home, the real estate agent bought it for us [and it was not a new home].
One of the air cond units was not working and the seller wouldnt repair so we had it repaired under warranty. Not sure if available in NB?

http://www.orhp.com/

[Jay Ace]

Every times it's a cold or rainy day out and you want to wrench and you realizing that you have a garage and can do whatever you want is worth all the hassle alone 

Downside of course if that you are responsible for everything. Although, not like a slumlord landlord is really taking care of anything anyway.

[Duke McDukiedook]

It helps to have a good mortgage broker.  We bought this house 5 years ago and yes, a little stressful, but painless in the end and worth it.

We just signed a contract for a small condo that we are buying as a rental property. Real estate is a great investment.

Houses are only a good investment if you can pay cash or finance very little and rent it out.
If you take out a 30 year mortgage and include maintenance, taxes, insurance, etc. it's a huge loss. If financing you'll pay three times the purchase price. Then factor in 30 years of inflation.

That being said, you've got to live somewhere. A good investment, no.

This X1000.
If you have a mortgage odds pretty good you have a #$%* investment on your hands.
People tend to forget all the hidden costs and time involved in maintaining a house.

My house never lost value even in the middle of the crash, but that was due to my location, luck and the fact that shady bankers got MEGA cheese from da gubment so they wouldn't go belly up and tank the entire system of 'free market capitalism'.

[Stev-o]

It helps to have a good mortgage broker.  We bought this house 5 years ago and yes, a little stressful, but painless in the end and worth it.

We just signed a contract for a small condo that we are buying as a rental property. Real estate is a great investment.

Houses are only a good investment if you can pay cash or finance very little and rent it out.
If you take out a 30 year mortgage and include maintenance, taxes, insurance, etc. it's a huge loss. If financing you'll pay three times the purchase price. Then factor in 30 years of inflation.

That being said, you've got to live somewhere. A good investment, no.

This X1000.
If you have a mortgage odds pretty good you have a #$%* investment on your hands.
People tend to forget all the hidden costs and time involved in maitaining a house.

You guys are delusional about home ownership [and not meant in an offending way]

So, you're going to rent the rest of your life? 
Do you know you can write off interest??

Most people who are not home owners simply cannot afford it.

[City Boy]

Hey Srust you said it exactly like I feel! great minds think alike eh?  Rock On gang

[FunJimmy]

Congratulations on your home purchase.
Take pride in home ownership. It's a great feeling and secures your future.

I feel bad for those who lost their life's savings in the Prime Mortgage meltdown largely brought on by Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac. These are the agencies that you should be mad at.

Home purchasing under well regulated and managed lending practices is still a good financial model.