RockRaines Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 I just finished closing on my first residential purchase. I just bought a condo in the west loop downtown and it has been an interesting experience. From negotiating, to inspection, to the closing table, you have to be prepared for things to go wrong at all time. Although im extremely excited for my first home, there are still hiccups along the way. Anyone have any good stories of your first purchase? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockRaines Posted November 22, 2005 Author Share Posted November 22, 2005 Nobody huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iwritecode Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 (edited) Never, ever buy a house that is is rental property when you buy it. The people in the house basically don't give a crap what it looks like when they (eventually)leave... I also learned all about squatters rights... Edited November 22, 2005 by Iwritecode Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Gleason Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 "Good stories"??? Hell no. "Bad stories"??? Sure. Just the hell of selling and buying is enough to make me never want to move again. Our last purchase was bought with the intention of it being just that, our Last Purchase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercy! Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 (edited) I wanted to give you some examples, but realized that so many of my “first house purchase” stories were not of the “good” variety, and didn’t want to rain on your parade. I’m happy that you are excited about your first home. It’s a great feeling, isn’t it? What I’ll always remember is the rush of good feeling I got when I went to the new (actually, real old) house after closing, got out the key, unlocked the front door for the first time, and we walked inside OUR home. Well, one good story – I stayed a long time there. When I moved, I sold it for more than 10 times the purchase price. Edited November 22, 2005 by Mercy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iwritecode Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 (edited) QUOTE(Mercy! @ Nov 22, 2005 -> 02:50 PM) I wanted to give you some examples, but realized that so many of my “first house purchase” stories were not of the “good” variety, and didn’t want to rain on your parade. I’m happy that you are excited about your first home. It’s a great feeling, isn’t it? What I’ll always remember is the rush of good feeling I got when I went to the new (actually, real old) house after closing, got out the key, unlocked the front door for the first time, and we walked inside OUR home. Well, one good story – I stayed a long time there. When I moved, I sold it for more than 10 times the purchase price. 10 times the purchase price? My parents have been in their house for 20 years and the value has probably doubled. Maybe a little bit more. That's like buying a house for $60,000 and selling it for $650,000... Edited November 22, 2005 by Iwritecode Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gene Honda Civic Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 My parents bought their first house in the area for $35K They sold it 15 years ago for 150K We saw it sell again last year for almost 250K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisoxfn Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 QUOTE(Iwritecode @ Nov 22, 2005 -> 02:21 PM) 10 times the purchase price? My parents have been in their house for 20 years and the value has probably doubled. Maybe a little bit more. That's like buying a house for $60,000 and selling it for $650,000... That type of style has happened out here over the past 5-6 years. Hell, 10 years ago a house that was than worth 200,000 in my area is now worth well over a million. Were talking about a 3000-4000 sq ft house on the hills. I think the best thing about real estate is that if you make the right investment you can profit a whole lot on it (obviously certain states and cities have real estate that appreciates more so than others) while not having to worry much about the tax burden (you don't pay taxes on the 1st 500,000 profit you make assuming you lived in the house for 2 years and are married). Heck the past 3 years in a lot of areas the real estate market has grown at 35-30% a year. Thats obviously not going to happen every year, but it definately happens. Its also why a lot of the richest people in the US are land owners and real estate moguls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iwritecode Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Nov 22, 2005 -> 04:24 PM) My parents bought their first house in the area for $35K They sold it 15 years ago for 150K We saw it sell again last year for almost 250K I guess it's possible but you'd have to stay a really long time. I forget that I live by the city that has what is considred the "most affordable housing in the country". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iwritecode Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Nov 22, 2005 -> 04:26 PM) That type of style has happened out here over the past 5-6 years. Hell, 10 years ago a house that was than worth 200,000 in my area is now worth well over a million. Were talking about a 3000-4000 sq ft house on the hills. I think the best thing about real estate is that if you make the right investment you can profit a whole lot on it (obviously certain states and cities have real estate that appreciates more so than others) while not having to worry much about the tax burden (you don't pay taxes on the 1st 500,000 profit you make assuming you lived in the house for 2 years and are married). Heck the past 3 years in a lot of areas the real estate market has grown at 35-30% a year. Thats obviously not going to happen every year, but it definately happens. Its also why a lot of the richest people in the US are land owners and real estate moguls. The value of my house has gone up a whopping 35% in the last 5 years... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisoxfn Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 QUOTE(Iwritecode @ Nov 22, 2005 -> 02:31 PM) The value of my house has gone up a whopping 35% in the last 5 years... Still not bad at all. Like I said, certain areas you will almost see zero appreciation. A lot depends on the types of companies in the area and how the economy is doing in the local area. I mean a lot of states real estate markets have been down for 10-15 years. However, sometimes one states market creates an impact on a few states. For example, the California real estate market has went insane. People in the LA/Orange County areas that don't own homes have pushed out towards the Riverside county which has driven up the price of homes there. Many people in the Socal area have also decided to cash out and move out of the state. A lot of those people have moved East to Arizona, whose real estate market was incredibly low as opposed to the price of homes in Southern California. Yet these homes were still located in a major city (the Phoenix area) and are very nice. The cash being brought in from California homesellers has sent the prices up in Arizona. I know of a few areas where really nice homes were going for 500,000 about 2 years ago and now they just finished off and have put the models up for sale right around the 1.8 million range (they will not sell at that price, but they will go for 1.5 minimum). With all the increase in prices in Arizona, many Arizona homeowners (long time homeowners) have decided to cash out since there homes have really increased the past couple years. These people have moved to Texas and now the same effect that just happened in Texas could happen in there area. I'm not all that familiar with real estate in Texas, but I know it had been down for a long time, but I'm guessing that the money going into Texas from Arizona, California (and other places mixed with the oil industry doing well) is going to have an impact on the Texas real estate market (how much, I don't know), but they'll probably see prices go up a bit since people are coming in and putting there money into homes that they see as very affordable (based on where they are coming from). Thats just one example that I know have and have first hand looked at. What happens in Texas, I'm not sure, but I guess we'll see if it will end up being similar to Arizona where the price of homes in Texas increase due to this shift of new homeowners. That said Texas is a lot larger than Arizona and there are more places to live in Texas which means the net effect could/will be a whole lot less than the effect in the Phoenix area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercy! Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 10 times the purchase price? My parents have been in their house for 20 years and the value has probably doubled. Maybe a little bit more. That's like buying a house for $60,000 and selling it for $650,000... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iwritecode Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 QUOTE(Mercy! @ Nov 22, 2005 -> 04:46 PM) Yep. I'm obviously in the wrong business. And I need to move... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockRaines Posted November 23, 2005 Author Share Posted November 23, 2005 Bad stories are great as well. Im super excited about my new home. Its a condo really close to the loop, so close that I can walk to work. Obviously it cost a pretty penny, but I think that I will make a strong gain on my investment. Of course there are lots of uncertainties like buying new furniture, NOT being able to have directv, etc etc. But nothing beats the feeling of not paying rent, and walking in your new place for the first time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YASNY Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 I didn't purchase my first (and only) house. I designed and built it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DBAHO Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 I locked my parents out of it when I was 5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 It flooded and it took me almost a year of trial and error to figure out why a big rain would cause it to flood. The basement water experts would only suggest their solution, and non fit. A combination of landscaping and a better sump pump fixed it all. And for well less than the $$$$ that a few companies quoted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockRaines Posted November 23, 2005 Author Share Posted November 23, 2005 QUOTE(YASNY @ Nov 23, 2005 -> 05:02 AM) I didn't purchase my first (and only) house. I designed and built it. Impressive, unfortunatley my location doesnt really allow me to do that, but thats awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanOfCorn Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 The Austin, Texas real estate market is climbing quickly. It's still very affordable if you look for it, but there is a huge discrepancy. In the nice neighborhoods close to downtown, prices are pretty high. In Westlake and the Hills, prices are ridiculous. In the near suburbs, prices are afforable. In the farther suburbs, prices are downright cheap. It all depends on where you want to live, what you want in a house. As for the first house, everything went pretty smoothly except for the fact that the previous owner said he was going to put flashing around the new construction to the house and instead only put it on the side the inspector tested. This led us to withhold payment, and since they were closing on their new house the same day, he called me directly and asked if it was ok to leave it the way it was instead of going through our agents. I told him no and to direct all questions to our representatives. He relented and we released the money. Other than that, all went well. Congrats Rock. Nice area to move to. Say hi to Oprah and get a Hoppin' Jack for me at Wishbone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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