i’ve officially been a homeowner for 1 year + 12 days! it’s crazy to me how fast the year flew. you might be wondering if i’m still glad that i made the decision to buy, and i can honestly say that i’m still as excited about my place/being a homeowner as i was a year ago, if not more. it gives me great joy to come home to my sweet little condo every day. and while buying a home – especially as a single woman in her early 20s – may not be the right choice for everyone, i really believe that it was the best thing for me.
what do i like about being a homeowner? for one thing, it’s so refreshing to have the freedom to do pretty much whatever i want with my place in terms of decorating, and then to know that everything i’m doing can be permanent [at least for a while] and is not something i’ll have to take down in a year or two when i move. i can’t tell you how ECSTATIC i am to not have to worry about moving for a longggg time. i also love that my place really feels like a home and less like an apartment. i have every intention of giving you guys a home tour sometime soon, but there’s one more big piece of furniture that i’m planning on purchasing in the next couple of months that i want to wait on, because adding it to my home will end up changing almost every room, like the domino effect – i’ve already planned it out. but then it will be tour time so you can finally see my humble abode!
and of course, for practical purposes, owning a home is nice because all the money that you would normally be spending on rent is going towards an investment – one that, with any luck, will make you money in the end.
however, i am aware that there are downsides to owning a home too – the cost, the fact that you can’t just finish your lease or terminate it and move out if you want to, plus all the things that can go wrong that you are responsible for as a homeowner. when you’re accountable for damage/upkeep, you definitely care more about maintaining a place and “treating it well.” i’m lucky because i haven’t had any major issues with my place – yet. because realistically, things are going to break/stop working at some point, and that can be stressful and expensive when you own a home. but praise the LORD for my sweet and very handy dad who lives nearby and is always willing to help me however he can. sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet and pay someone to come out and repair whatever it is, but i will tell you that daddy fix-it works miracles, and 9 times out of 10, i don’t even need to get someone to come out. and i’m ever so grateful for him for that.
[i will say that there are just some things that you can’t call daddy to fix, though. sadly. like changing the battery on the smoke detector when it starts chirping in the middle of the night. because it will ALWAYS be in the middle of the night. i still remember the first time it happened, a few months after i moved in, at about 3 in the morning and i tried to block out the noise with pillows and sleep through it but i couldn’t. so then i had to pull a chair over and figure out if i was even tall enough on a chair to reach it – i was [just barely] – and then i had to figure out how to open the damn thing, and then i had to figure out what kind of battery it took, and it wasn’t one that i had on hand [crappppppppp]. so i took a picture of it so i would know what to buy at the store the next day, knowing that if i took the battery out for an extended period of time, the detector might go ballistic. and then i clicked it shut and tried to go to sleep, while it continued to chirp shrilly and obnoxiously at me, all night long. and the next time it happened, i was prepared with the correct batteries so i could get it done, but i was still cursing about it and thinking longingly about my childhood days when we would just go downstairs and wake dad up in the middle of the night and he would take care of it for us. what a guy. but it’s what men are for, right? changing smoke detector batteries and opening up jars and killing bugs and getting hard-to-reach items off the shelf… i’m kidding, sort of. but. these are definitely some wonderful man features that i miss.]
speaking of being a homeowner, my best friend from high school, julee, came to visit me this weekend, and she surprised me when she got here by telling me that she had bought a house the day before! it was the best news ever! she bought it on her own, just like me. we go way back, and i’m so very proud of her and all her accomplishments. nothing can hold this girl back! she’s going to go so far in life. we celebrated while she was here of course, and i can’t wait to go visit her in her new home. her place is actually a real house, not a condo, with a yard and three bedrooms! one is the master bedroom, one will be the guest room, and she’s making the third into a craft room. what fun!
{i’m so happy for this girl!}
and now, for those of you who are thinking about purchasing a home, here are a few little tips for you. i’m no expert, but my parents are smart about this stuff and they helped me through the process [and my mom provided some of the tips that you see here]:
: : save your money, and make sure you are financially stable before you jump in. in addition, know what you can afford. just because you can get a loan doesn’t mean that you can afford it. for example, you may be able to get a loan that requires 35% of your monthly income to go to your mortgage payment. don’t go for this. no more than 28% of your monthly income [or 25% if you’re being smart] should go toward your mortgage. after all, you don’t want to be house poor.
: : find a realtor that you like, because not only will they help you find a place that suits you, but they will also [hopefully] be with you every step of the way as you go through the closing process. if anyone in the dallas area is looking for one, contact me! i know an excellent one!
: : shop around to try to get the lowest interest rate possible. it really does make a difference.
: : be prepared for lots of paperwork. and i mean LOTS.
: : don’t forget to factor in your homeowners insurance, property taxes, and homeowners association dues [for condos and homes in some neighborhoods] when you’re calculating your monthly payment.
: : find a place – and a neighborhood – that you believe you will still like in several years. if you tend to be fickle when it comes to where you live, maybe buying a place isn’t for you. purchasing a home is a commitment, and trust me – you will want to wait a while before going through the process again.
: : if you fall in love with a place and can afford it, put your offer down immediately. [at least in today’s job market.] if you don’t, someone else will! *
: : put down as much money initially as you can, because it will equate to lower monthly mortgage payments. sounds obvious, but it definitely requires some saving.
: : at the time of closing, you’ll have to pay your down payment, closing costs, and any points that you’ve agreed to, so be prepared for those.
: : i’m going to say it one more time: have money in savings, and have a plan. the savings part is so important, not just when you’re purchasing a home, but as long as you’re a homeowner. because what if your A/C goes down in the middle of summer? or your house floods? or you need a new tire for your car at the same time that your washing machine breaks and your electric bill is higher than usual? it’s all about being smart. the plan part is also important, especially when you’re living alone. do you have neighbors or family or friends who live nearby that you could check in with regularly and that you could call if there was emergency? do you want to get a security system put in? are you in the habit of locking your doors? and it’s not all safety-related – there will be other things you’ll want to think through: if you have a yard, are you going to do the lawn yourself or hire someone to do it? could your place support a pet if you plan on getting one? would you think about having a roommate or renting out your place to make some extra money, and would your floor plan accommodate that?
*my little story on putting down an offer: i had looked at several different condos over the past week [or couple weeks?] but nothing was quite right. then christina, my realtor, showed me a condo in my current complex [actually, the one right next door to mine]. i liked the condo, but i LOVED the complex and the location. i told her that i could imagine living there, but i wanted to wait a bit and think about it. the next day, she let me know that another condo had just opened up right next door, and i looked at the listing, and it had a few differences/updates that made a huge [positive] difference, plus it was a tad less expensive! it was a friday and i went home that weekend, and i told my mom that i was planning on looking at that condo next week. and she said, “are you sure you want to wait until next week?” and so i decided that no, i’d better not wait. i made an appointment with christina to look at it on sunday and asked mom, mimi, and dad if they wanted to come look with me, which of course they did. and then, as soon as i saw it, i fell completely in love and knew that it had to be mine. but as i was leaving from that first visit, another girl was coming in to look at it, and i had a feeling she liked it too. i was so worried that i would lose it to someone else. so i put an offer down that very day, and it’s a good thing i did, because there was someone [i’m not sure if it was the girl or someone else] who put an offer down after me, and they went through the whole process so they would be ready just in case i didn’t go through with it. but in the end, my lovely pink lady of the garden, my little gem in the “french quarter of dallas,” was meant for me. and i had snagged her just in time!
xoxo