New Novice Homeowner

[katec]

Greetings!

I am Kate, and on the market for a new home. Of course I understand that once I find a place I love enough to purchase there is going to be a considerable amount of work to be done, with renovating, repairing and decorating, it doesn't really matter what condition the property is already in I expect I'll still have plenty that I want to do. I've been practising a little on my rented property with the things I'm allowed to do here, but that is much more limited.

I'll be reading about your projects, writing about my own, and of course asking questions as I progress. So I look forward to having you all help me out (please).

Thanks Everyone!
Kate.

 

[nealtw]

Welcome and goodluck with the home buying.

 

[Wuzzat?]

Hi, Kate

Another good place to start is
http://publicecodes.cyberregs.com/icod/irc/2012/
Knowing the regs is one thing but if you understand the reason behind them you'll be way ahead of the game. Some of these reasons are not so easy to come by.

If I were buying a home I guess I'd look for the big money items; poor drainage, no insulation, iron pipes, 60 amp service and serious foundation and drywall cracks, to name a few.
Do not depend on the home inspector.

The survey that came with our house purchase was wrong by several feet so check the courthouse records.

Also, hang around in the neighborhood for a while at different times of the day and week and see what goes on. The ZipSkinny site will give you the demographics of your soon-to-be neighbors.

You also may want to know the difference between Tenants in Common and Tenants by the Entirety.

For the financial end get a CPA in your corner to handle the paperwork and figure out how many fees are buried in the amortization table for your loan.
An interest rate of 4% is not the same as a rate of 4.000%
The practice test book for the CPA exam is about an inch thick, so these guys know stuff most other people don't. I'm a numbers guy but a lot of this material bored me to death.

Your goals and that of the realtor do not exactly coincide. You want to minimize your price paid and maximize your value and the realtor wants to maximize his/her average income.

 

[CallMeVilla]

Kate, you remind me of my daughter ... I started out teaching her how to paint (inside closets) then graduated her to many tasks (tile, drywall, framing and light electrical).

You CAN do it.

Post pics of your situations, ask any question that comes to mind, use the Facebook protocol to "like" responses that show thought and content.

 

[katec]

Thanks everyone!

 

[bud16415]

welcome to the forum