Congratulations!
I’ve had my place 20 years. Here’s a couple of tips:
If you’re not already in a fixed rate loan, refi into one as soon as its feasible for you.
The Home Depot 1-2-3 series books will save you thousands in basic troubleshooting and repairs. YouTube is really good for general handyman advice too. Caveat: learn your limits and don’t take on anything you don’t know ypu can see through. Several hours’ research is generally all you need.
Be judicious about home warranties. They’ll spam you with FUD. Just hang out at a local trades bar and chat with the regulars. You’ll learn a lot.
Electric and water generally* pretty are easy. Don’t mess with the gas lines.
If you DO undertake your own repairs, don’t cut corners and leave it for the Next Guy. That Next Guys will inevitably be you.
Nothing will be plumb, square or true. You learn to deal with it.
If you like to use rich colors in your décor, learn about tinted primers, especially when dealing with red paints.
Equity is Capital. Don’t touch it except for capital improvements to the structures & grounds, and even then be judicious. I’m talking new roof, new sump, kitchens & baths. Do not usenit to pay off consumer debt or college loans. No matter how tempting.
Really, Don’t Touch The Capital.
Live there for you. Its your house. Make it your personal retreat from the world, and set it up how you like it. Don’t worry about resale until it’s actually time to sell.
Again, congratulations and good luck!
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* for basic repairs, receptacle replacement, and the odd new branch. Know your limits.I’ll second the last bit. I’ve got too many friends who bought their houses and they’re so insanely worried about “well what if the paint color on the outside makes people not want to buy the house” or whatever. That’s (hopefully) a problem that’s years and years in the future, and you shouldn’t have to worry about it. Don’t worry about how other people might see it - it’s your house, and you should do things that please you. Always wanted a bright pink bedroom? Go for it.
Yep, for me that’s the number one principle of home ownership - it’s my house, I’m gonna make it the way I want it. If the time comes when I sell it, somebody will like what I did. Even if some real estate agent insists that I paint everything white, I’m never painting a fucking brick fireplace white.
Great comment, though I disagree with
Electric and water generally* pretty are easy. Don’t mess with the gas lines.
I’ve done all three in multiple houses now, and I’d say that water and gas are pretty easy. Electrical is where you can get yourself in real trouble.
If you screw up water or gas you’re going to know it. The tiniest gas leak smells noticeably even in larger spaces. Water leaks usually become evident once you turn the water on. If you inspect your work afterwards you’ll find it.
Electrical is another story. You can turn on the circuit and everything works and you think you’re good, but you’ve somehow switched the hot and neutral, which is dangerous. Or you used 14 gauge wire on a 20 amp circuit, which will be fine until you put a huge AC unit on that circuit and start a fire inside your walls. I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t do your own electrical, because once you know the basics you’re going to be fine, but as far as dangerous conditions go electrical is the one I worry most about.
+1. Honestly, any of the three can be a recipe for disaster, especially when messing with DVW.
Of all of them, gas is the one that can be explosive, although crossing electrical pairs is a big risk too. I bought my house from an electrician, and you probably would not be amazed at the number of 20A breakers on 14awg branches. There were at least 3 I’ve swapped back to 15A first time I cracked open my panel.
To every man his domain, I say. Myself, I grok electric and plumbing. I hate messing with gas.
Enjoy your home OP. May you live out many happy years under its shelter.
Thank you very much, kind stranger
Don’t let any contractors into your house until you’ve lived there for at least a few months, and learn how to recognize high pressure sales pitches from them. They’ll take advantage of you if you don’t. Always get more than one quote. If you’re as much as tell them you’re getting multiple quotes, they’ll start lowering their prices pretty dramatically.
Examples of high pressure sales tactics:
They’ll insist that your spouse be home during the demonstration. That’s red flag number one.
They’ll go to get something from their car, and Ithey’ll ask if it’s okay for them to let themselves back in. Most homeowners don’t think anything of this, but this is actually a psychological trick. The idea is that you wouldn’t allow someone to let themselves into your house unless you trusted them, and if you trust them, you’re much more likely to do business with them.
They’ll spend 3 hours talking about how great whatever it is they’re selling is, and it will start to feel like the only way to get these people out of your house is to sign a dotted line.
They’ll do whatever they can to stop you from talking to other companies. That’s why they’ll start lowering their prices as soon as you mention that you’re getting multiple quotes.
After 30 years of owning my own home my red flag is when they say “this is going to be a big job”.
Holy fuck, what shit advice.
Please finish your thought. Let me get you started:
“Because…”
It’s the first part that I don’t agree with. There’s zero reason to not hire a contractor in the first weeks of owning a new place. Assuming due diligence, you should know prior to closing what areas might need attention.
A lot of times you won’t know what needs attention until you’ve lived in the house long enough. Not everything is immediately obvious.
OP searching for years when they’re on every street
The time my coworker told me she signed the papers to buy a house the previous night. “I went home and had 3 beers for dinner.”
We’re in the same boat. We’re just waiting for an official moving date. We’ve been moving boxes today. Scary times doing grown up things.
I was in your situation until about a week ago. It’s such a relief once the bed moves and you get to start sleeping in your new house, but the first few sleeps were not very restful for me. Try to replicate your good sleep situation as best as you can. For me, that means a fan for air flow and white noise, plus blackout curtains to block out both the sunrise and outside noises. I’m assuming you would bring all of your normal bedding stuff.
I think that the best part was waking up in the house and being able to get coffee brewing and breakfast cooking while playing some Ray Lamontagne on the stereo. Do yourself a favor and think of how you want to start your first morning in your house and set yourself up!
Congratulations!
Congratulations! You’ll be fine. I knew zilch when I bought my first house (total dump) and learned as I went.
grats.you have my well wishes and supreme jelousy.
Congrats bro! I’m happy for you and also a bit jealous 😁
As you should be 😁
Hell yeah, one of the smart ones. I hope you got a fixed rate mortgage.
Not sure what this is implying. I personally know a few others (myself included) who have been working to get a house but stuck in the rent going up/cost of homes going up cycle. I feel (opinion) that most people would rather have a home instead of renting.
Many states have first-time homebuyers programs that will absolutely shunt the issue of transitioning to Rent/homebuying. Most people are too lazy or stupid to take the initiative though. Every person I have talked to about renting vs home owning has always managed to make excuses why they can’t do something, instead of working to make it happen. It’s daunting as fuck, for sure - but it’s possible if you scrimp and do without for a while. That short-term of doing without, ultimately ends up with you paying into something you OWN. You’re building your personal equity with a house, and many people will argue against that because of learned helplessness.
I would point to demoralized instead of lazy or stupid. If you talk to a lender they will immediately tell you about the programs as it’s in their interest for you to buy a home. A coworker and myself are military vets which lets us do the VA program. Even the finding a house to buy that isn’t paid for with cash 5-10% over asking is a nightmare. I lost 8 bids the first year trying. Also the prices for an home are just absolutely insane as starter homes don’t really exist anymore. New construction is focusing on McMansions and any 2 bedroom home is built in a 55+ community. Now I’m just venting.
Congratulations OP on the home. I hope to be in your shoes before I retire.
Yeah, I probably used too harsh of a term there – It’s not stupidity or laziness, but more ignorance. You can’t exactly chase something that you haven’t been taught about.
And you’re right, the process is daunting - many of the people that argue against it are those that have to live in the city, and refuse to live further out in order to get better pricing. I’ve got plenty of housing around me being built in the 200k-300k range (2/1 and 3/2) - in Florida no less. But it’s in the country.
I went the “buy a slum house and live in squalor, putting whatever extra money I have into it to fix things” route. I learned a lot about housing maintenance; installing your own appliances, replacing well pumps and tanks, electrical, etc.
A buddy of mine is shacking up with his brother and they’re buying a house together for now so that in 10 years they can sell it an split the equity for their own individual houses.
It’s all possible, though for sure - you may have to do some things that we’d consider unconventional today. It’s definitely not ideal. The big guys are going to find out sooner or later that not paying people for jobs ends up with nobody having any money to spend.
You know as soon as us millennials hit 55 they’ll make those communities 70+
😢 don’t jinx us like that.
I did!
Fuckin’ Smarrrrrrt. You’ll be one of the ones who doesn’t get fucked if the housing market crashes, because your interest rate won’t balloon through the roof.
Congrats, I read it as horse first time round, either way, best of luck!
Nice
