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Finding our ideal house has been an exciting and occasionally difficult experience. We started our house-hunting experience with much anticipation, as I mentioned in my previous post, only to run across a number of roadblocks along the way. We looked at countless potential residences, each offering its own special attraction, from browsing online listings to having late-night conversations.
House: $350,000 (0.5 acres)
HOA: No
PMI: Yes
Rate: 6.45%
Table of Contents
House Hunting
As I mentioned in my previous post, house hunting is over. We had the opportunity to visit many potential homes, checking out online listings, late-night discussions but somehow it didn’t feel right. Either something was missing from our house criteria or the bidding war was way too much for us to handle.
It was an exciting but often overwhelming process, sifting through countless options and imagining ourselves in each space. Looking at my wife commenting on how she’ll make some changes to accommodate the family needs just to later find out that a bidder had offer way above the asking price – sometimes thirty percent over the asking price was absorb. It couldn’t be any different with such low inventory and interest rate hikes.
Patience and perseverance became our guiding principles as we navigated the market, always reminding ourselves that the right home would eventually appear.
Finding “The One”
After several weeks, our real estate agent sent us a list of other houses that joined the market. From the list there were two properties that caught our interest. Because of past experience we did not want to keep our hopes too high. We had the impression even when it was lower than our budget, we could expect the price to go up the ruff. It’s hard to bid with all-cash-bidders regardless how excellent your credit could be.
A day before it went public, we had the opportunity to take a tour. On the way there, the neighborhood alone was so peaceful the first thing we said was this could be a wonderful place to see the kids grow. The house was exactly how it was online. Of course, there are some parts that can be updated. Otherwise it had everything we wished for including an above ground pool we knew we had found “The One.” The pool wasn’t a requirement but a plus.
The moment our tour was over, our real estate agent could definitely read how excited we were. We could barely come up with any cons beside the kitchen that needed a touch of improvement everything else was sitting well with us.
The House Negotiation and Closing Process
The morning after it was opened to the public, our agent texted that there were two offers on the house and still under our budget. If interested please let it be known. Of course we were interested. Because we had one more property to check we didn’t want to jump the gun right away. But with the way the housing market is now, you either go for it with due diligence of course or risk it all.
After a quick talk with the wife to reassure once more, we reached back saying yes we were. We offered $350k, the seller counteroffer stating if we can agree for $355K they will remove it from the market. Since it was still under budget, we agreed and later signed the agreement contract.
The ability to follow every step of the process from an app was nonexistent when my parents purchased their property twenty years ago. Simply keep a watch on your mailbox for any requests for documents from the loaner. You can come closer to clear to close the quicker you respond.
Now We Are at Home.
It was a life-changing experience for us to become homeowners; it made us feel accomplished and deeply grateful for the place we now call home. Every stage of the process—from the thrilling times we spent looking for it to the happy day we got the keys—was a monument to our determination, and firm belief in our aspirations.
***Please pardon me; I need to clean a pool so I can cool off before fall comes. 😉
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Gio founded TheGrowthFocusedGuy in January 2020 because he was fed up with debt.
His mission is to document his journey to Financial Independence in order to motivate and inspire others to get out of debt and begin building generational wealth.
