So.... big purchase

  • Thread starter Thread starter Danoff
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Awesome! Congrats! :cheers:

Now you can put up one of these and get all of the OTA HDTV you want...

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At least your home isn't brand new. Think of the cost if it was. Before we moved in, I had to go to Sears and purchase three shopping carts full of only light bulbs.
 
Ozzy Ramone
Do houses in California have basements?
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I've lived here my entire life. I've lived in four different houses, visited dozens of houses of friends, co-workers, family, etc and not once have I seen a house with a 'basement' like the houses in South Dakota or the Midwest.

So, I'd say 'No' but I'm sure some have them.
 
Mine doesn't but I've seen houses that I know have basements just from looking at the exterior.
 
Hurrah! :D A true southern Californian now. :trouble:

Looks like a lovely joint. It’s not exactly a Howard Roark creation (:p), but it’s still very sweet (especially hardwood floors – my mom has been complaining for 18 years about our carpets). And I fully agree that doing stucco on the front would look great. 👍
 
Congratulations! I just moved into an apartment, so I kinda know how you feel about needing this and that.

Your house looks great. 👍
 
Sage
Hurrah! :D A true southern Californian now. :trouble:

Looks like a lovely joint. It’s not exactly a Howard Roark creation (:p), but it’s still very sweet (especially hardwood floors – my mom has been complaining for 18 years about our carpets). And I fully agree that doing stucco on the front would look great. 👍
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Hmm I'm considered southern California yet i'm over 4 hours away from LA. :indiff:
 
<-- completely jealous...
But I guess you have got about a half decade head start on me, so I've got some time to catch up ;)

I can only echo what others have said. That last pic you put up looks great. All that's missing is a cool lookin wall mounted flatscreen, a beer, and a leather recliner or two.
The double doors are a nice touch 👍

Not sure what direction the house faces, but if the front gets a lot of sun I bet you won't be hating those big overhangs for too long. That's a large front window, so they could really help keep the house a little cooler and provide a bit of shade.

Any plans to install soffits &/ soffit vents? or is that not customary in your area? (doesn't look like your neighbour has any either).
I guess without it gives it a bit of a craftsman architectural feel, but it might go a long ways towards preserving your roof, improving ventilation, and just generally keeping things clean up there.
 
Danoff
Coming from a small apartment I feel like I'm swimming in space. We have entire rooms that are completely empty still.
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You could host a GTP meet in one...

:D

I dare say you'll fill them soon enough.

I have the house to myself at the moment, and it's wonderful. Can't wait to get my own place one day.

Well done on the purchase!
 
Danoff
I bought a house, it's my first.

So far the whole thing has been completely overwhelming. I had no idea how much stuff I didn't have. Walking through home depot is at once exciting and depressing. On the one hand, all of that stuff suddenly applies to me, which is pretty nifty. On the other hand, I need all of it - and I no longer have the money to buy it (how ironic).

I absolutely love having a back yard, and a driveway, and a garage... it's fantastic.
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Congratulations Danoff, it's quite nice to have physical walls and floors to call your own (as opposed to sharing them with neighbors).

Home Depot and Lowe's (not sure if you have them there yet) are like toy stores at times, other times it's an annoyance. My advice is that tools always come in handy, but don't go crazy unless you need it (or will need it).

Having a home means more maintenance, though. Instead of weekends with your homies, sometimes it means weekends with your home. I'd pay someone to mow my lawn, but I don't get much exercise and it's one of the rare times I get to listen to music that my wife hates. Plus, I actually get a good bit of satisfaction from doing a job right.

Those irregular yellow patches on the lawn look like grubs are eating your grass roots; I use the Scott's grub control pellets. Just sprinkle them around the whole lawn (not just the affected area) by hand or buy a broadcaster (it's like a wheelbarrow with a gearset that scatters the pellets) if you use many different types of granules.
 
Congrats on the house purchase - isn't it fun having a Lamborghini sized debt hanging round your neck? - say goodbye to your disposable income.

You say you have a fixed interest rate mortgage. Is that repayment or are you just repaying the interest? - Looking at the news over the weekend, it looks as if you got your mortgage just in time!
 
TheCracker
You say you have a fixed interest rate mortgage. Is that repayment or are you just repaying the interest? - Looking at the news over the weekend, it looks as if you got your mortgage just in time!
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It's a 30 year mortgage, meaning if we make the payments every month as scheduled it'll be paid off by the time I retire.

I saw that our bank hiked rates over 1 percent recently. I totally got in just in time. I'm not sure we could have afforded our house at that rate. Not as comfortably anyway. The down side of that is that I get to watch my house value drop.
 
Danoff
It's a 30 year mortgage, meaning if we make the payments every month as scheduled it'll be paid off by the time I retire.
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With house prices so high in the UK at the moment, more and more people are opting for interest only mortgages. The theory being that in 30 years time the initial house value has become negligible. A cost often covered by running a low depositing saving account over a similar term.
 
Danoff
It's a 30 year mortgage, meaning if we make the payments every month as scheduled it'll be paid off by the time I retire.
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If you have some additional money in your budget, I'd suggest that you double the principal portion of your mortgage payment every month. In the beginning, that's only hundred dollars or so, but the faster you pay back principal the less interest you are charged. And mortgages are stacked against you because the bulk of your early payments goes to interest service, meaning the principal balance stays as high as possible as long as possible and costing you more interest. You can reduce the amount of interest charged over the life of the loan by a substantial figure this way, and pay it off early.

Using this method we bought our house originally on a 30-year fixed mortgage. After paying on it for 10 years and doubling every principal portion, we were able to refinance the balance for 10 years (instead of the remaining 20 on the original loan) and lower our monthly payment at the same time.
 
First thing's first. In order to get the place, we had to take out a home equity loan as well at a higher interest rate. That helped us keep our down payment to a much more manageable number (though, it would still have bought a house by itself in many parts of the country). We'll be paying that loan off as fast as possible.
 
Congratulations Dan!

The house looks great, I'm sure you'll be very happy.

So err... when's the housewarming party? :sly::cheers:
Or more to the point, where's my invite to it?
 
Congrats Dan! We've just bought a new house as well. And we've just accepted an offer on our house too, so it's looking healthy.

Property negotiations are craziness. Today I made £8,500 in two hours, just by saying "no". I wish I could do that every day...
 
I'm very scared to start learning the bank jargon you guys are using to pay for a house. But anyway - congrats on the purchase! The house looks beautiful, as does the car (i have the same model). ;)👍
 
Giancarlo
I'm very scared to start learning the bank jargon you guys are using to pay for a house.
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Get to know a realtor and someone in the banking industry (my father-in-law). That's what we did, I didn't know much until a year before moving into my first home. Having a lawyer for backup never hurts, either.

The Internets are also helpfuls in this departments.

In short (if you can call it that), have at least 10-20% of the amount of the house in your bank account as a down payment (the more you have, the better your chances of approval), shop around, listen to other people's experiences, expect delays in approval, closing, moving, and take your time in selecting the right home.
 
Giancarlo
I'm very scared to start learning the bank jargon you guys are using to pay for a house. But anyway - congrats on the purchase! The house looks beautiful, as does the car (i have the same model). ;)👍
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Just spend some time looking at the market before making any moves. Then plan plan plan.
 
Sorry for the late reply but I just now noticed this thread.

Congratulations! 👍

While I don't own the house myself I live in a house owned by my in-laws, but have all the freedom to do with it as I please. So, I know the Home Depot trip. If something requires a trip to Home Depot then it will require at least three trips to Home Depot. If you remember my toilet mushroom thread that was a situation that went from just fixing a leak to plumbing, mold removal, drywalling, refinishing a bathroom w/ new vanity, and painting. Somehow my fix the one wall and leak project became remove three walls and redo the bathroom, and don't forget to fix the leak while you are in there.

The first trip was mold removal stuff and fans to dry out the area. The second trip was buying drywall, and the stuff that goes with it and the plumbing part. The third trip was more drywall stuff, paint, and another plumbing part to make the new vanity fit in the old spot. While we were plumbing we decided to go ahead and replace the kitchen faucet too, so we bought that.


House owning is a big deal and everything that comes with it is pure fun, even when it involves mushrooms growing behind your toilet. I learned a lot from my father that weekend and learned a few choice curses I didn't know existed. But, as you mentioned Home Depot meaning something to you now, I find that store is just as much fun as Best Buy.


As for bugs: Raid, or something similar works great on most things, but if you have wasps, hornets, etc I suggest a specific flying insect killer with at least a 10-20 foot spray and foaming action. The foaming action is key. I've hit slightly off-center without foaming action and found myself running inside to watch the angry wasp flying outside the door finally land and die a minute later. With foaming if you hit them at all they get grounded and/or stuck within the poison.

Be glad you have a garage, about once or twice a week I walk into a spiderweb spread between my car and the house.


Feel free to ask for advice on fixing things up. Plenty of us around here have had some experience, some of it professional. I know I've learned enough do-it-yourself skills to get by with almost anything now.

And for lawncare, I have discovered that electric works just as well as gas (except for lawn mowers), is usually cheaper, and doesn't require ear protection. Plus, your Southern CA neighbors will probably think higher of you for it (because no fossil fuels were used in making the electricity :dunce: ).

Congrats and good luck. If your wife is anything like the typical wife here in Kentucky your honey-do list will be quite long, and then once you get it all finished she will decide she wants something new.

I hope all the chores won't make you too busy to enjoy football and the GTP FFL.
 
Always a good thing buying your 1st property. Yes you will be skint for a while, but at the end of the day the earlier you start paying off the sooner it will be yours.

I bought my first property last year and so far it's been great. Never looked back.
 
I always thought you were 40 or so...

Anyway, congratulations on the big purchase. It seems like a great place to live. 👍
 
Nice job Dan! Especially in so cal. I can't even imagine how it must suck to buy in that market.

Now the fun begins with fixing everything up just to your liking. When I bought my house I figured I should redo the basement before we moved anything in there. Well....more then a year later and I am still not done. :ouch: Boxes still unpacked in the garage...and us living on only half a house isn't the best but it is ooohhh so rewarding to build something for yourself by yourself. Good luck with everything you have planned.
 

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