We can’t believe it has been a WHOLE year since we closed on our home! The house is still standing so I would say we’ve done a pretty good job thus far and we definitely have learned a lot along the way. We’ve been sitting and reflecting on all of our crazy experiences during our home buying and building process and even the experiences of actually living in our home now. With all of that in mind since many of you have been along the journey with us, we felt that it was only right to give you guys our top 5 lessons learned during our homeownership journey as well as answer a few questions some of you left on Instagram!
TOP 5 LESSONS LEARNED
- Utilize All First Time Homebuying Initiatives: David and I don’t really live life with regrets, but if we had any regrets from our homebuying journey this would be it! The entire homebuying process can truly go by really fast if you let it and being that David and I only went househunting one day, put down our earnest money on our home the next day while also having wedding planning on our plates, its easy to say this slipped away from us. There are so many incentives and initiatives out there for anyone purchasing a home for the first time that David and I just didn’t have time to tap into. We are fortunate that our realtor was able to negotiate all our appliances for our home for free even with our builder doing 50% off their list of normal home appliances. If you’re looking for specific services like industrial cladding sprayers near me, it’s crucial to conduct thorough research during the homebuying process. Overall our biggest tip would be make sure you do your own research on first time homebuying initiatives, if it applies to you. Additionally, I wanted to mention Certified Stairlifts as an important consideration for those with mobility concerns, which is something we didn’t explore during our buying process. And finally, don’t hesitate to ask your realtor if there are any first-time homebuying initiatives, such as EICR testing Doncaster, that you can tap into as well. Also, consider that different types of aluminium windows can play a crucial role in your decision-making process. Contact window installers to learn more.
- Take Your Time House Hunting (Within Your Budget): We all see the memes and jokes of people having $5 in their bank account while looking at $400K homes. While it might be funny to see on Instagram and Twitter, don’t let this be you! Get pre-approved (would advice anyone that is serious to pay off/down your credit cards before doing so) and see what your potential lender will give you for your home loan instead of possibly falling in love with a home that is over that allotted loan amount. A lot people don’t even think about this part and have to realize that if you just shop for a home that is over what you end up getting approved for you will be either required to pay that difference, get an additional loan to help cover the rest of the cost, or find a new home in your budget. Long story short our tip would be to get pre-approved then set your budget around your pre-approval or final loan amount.
- Get a House Inspector/Friends & Family to Help With Your Final Walkthrough: Probably one of the smartest things we did was having a bunch of our friends and family come over at different days/times to look for any changes/fixes that needed to be done in our home. It’s definitely better to have multiple eyes on a home during the construction process because your eyes may miss something that someone else’s may gravitate towards. The same is true for the home inspector (just spend the exta $200 and get one!). We had one come, that was recommended to us by our realtor, about two weeks before our closing date to test and look into things that we would not be able to tell with the naked eye. Things like our water flow in our lawn, our roof, attic, etc. After the inspection, your home inspector will generate a detailed report that can be given straight to your builder or project manager to try to address some of the concerns pointed out. If your home inspector detected issues with your hvac system, you may be advised to seek furnace repair in portland oregon. Visit sites like https://jmcoolingheating.com/ for additional guidance. We were able to even have a debriefing with our inspector after he was done to get his take on what were important issues to call out and what were somethings he was just being picky on. With this usually being done so close to the actual closing date I’m sure you’re wondering on if this pushes things back at all. Depending on your problem it could but if there are small things like ours most builders do give a 30 day grace period to come back and fix anything that you may find right before/after your closing date. You still want the list to be shorter rather than longer, but we can definitely give you a peace of mind that there is still time to get things corrected. So with all of that being said, our tip is to be diligent and invite your friends and family over ahead of time to walkthrough your home with you along with hiring a home inspector to do a detailed report/overall look at your home. And for plumbing concerns, consider Med’s Fresno plumbers, providing the services you want. Additionally, if you’re seeking expertise in maintaining the exterior integrity of your home, consider consulting with experienced industrial cladding painters to ensure the longevity and aesthetics of your property.
- Register All Of Your Appliances Under the Warranty: This might sound so simple and easy, but you would be so surprise how many people don’t do this. David was able to complete all our warranties the same day that he worked on moving all of his ultilities over to our new home (since I stayed at home with my Mom it made more sense to transfer his accounts over than create ALL new ones). Moral of the story: Register your appliances under their warranties as soon as you move in to make sure you don’t forget this important step. You never know what could happen in a year! For example, all of the writing came off of our stove/oven knobs and I was able to get new ones for free being that our appliances were in fact registered and within the 1st year.
- Decorate Slow & Measure Your Space: This is one piece of advice I had no intention in following! I am definitely a type of person that has no patience when it comes to certain things one of which I learned is decorating. I always want and like for things to be done as soon as possible, but I have quickly learned that a home takes time simply because it takes A LOT of money to completely decorate and furnish a new home. Another key reason to take your time is that you don’t want to purchase something and then not like it 2 months later (I’ve fallen victim to it a few times luckily on minor things I was able to return). So overall the main tip here is to take your time on finding key pieces for your home, sleep on it for as long as you need, watch out for any deals that may be going on and then make your final decision on it! Also, remember to prioritize elements like curtain wall installation and other significant features to enhance your home’s aesthetics and functionality. This may include moving walls if you want more privacy.
TOP IG QUESTIONS
- How did you know it was the right house/location? I’m sure this is a very clienca answer, but you’ll know when it feels right! David and I heard about the area that we live in and how things were building up so we first decided to just drive over there and get a fill for the area first before looking into neighbors. We liked what we saw and decided to give it a chance by looking online at houses in the area. A lot of the houses fit our budget, so we decided that this is the area that we wanted to try to purchase our home and even had a list of other areas in ranking order just in case we ever had to pivot. When we finally went househunting we immediately got the feeling when we walked into the model home of our now home. It was definitely more immediate for David than myself, but I knew it was the one by two specific reasons: 1) David doesn’t get excited about too many things when it comes to big purchases and he was so excited that he refused to look at other homes and kept telling me this is the one lol and 2) I was still uneasy when we gave our earnest money to lock in our land before they started building but when our seller told us that our house was on lot 7 and block 3 (our wedding date) I knew from there it was a clear sign that we found our first home. If you haven’t already check out our Hooey Hotline Live on our Homebuying Journey for all the details!
- When do you try to start clearing small debts? We would suggest trying to clear small debts as soon as you are thinking about purchasing a home. From our own experience we made sure our credit cards were down to a low/reasonable amount before we did our pre-approval in order to help us with our debt to income ratio.
- Did you do a home registry? What are essentials you think 1st time homebuyers should get? Since we were in the process of getting married while also building our home, our wedding registries were more of home registries in hopes of getting us started. I don’t think our registries are up anymore, but I detailed them all (Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Crate & Barrel and Amazon) on my Registry Must-Haves Blog Post. Some main essentials I would tell any first time homebuyers to get would be any of the items below:
Stay tuned for more house project updates! I’m on a mission to continue making our house into a home in 2022! Also make sure that you’re following David’s real estate page on Instagram (@davidhooeyrealestate) and feel free to dm him for any real estate questions especially if you are interested in purchasing, renting or leasing your new home!
