Im SOOOOO EXCITED!!!
 

we are going to be buying our FIRST house!!! :) Im SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED and STRESSED!!! lol the usual...:rolleyes: Ive wanted to get a house for soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo LONG!!! any suggestions for a first time home buyer??? :D we are going to have at least 8 months worth of bills in our savings for the unthinkable... but other then that I just dont know what else to expect or anything like that... thanks in advance ;)

Congratulations!!! Sound like you have it all under control!!

Congratulations on your new nest!!!!.....:congrats:

You will get writers cramp at the closing!!...lol.....Your going to have a blast decorating your first home.....Just one word of advise take it slooowww, I rushed and now I see things I would have done differently..........

Congrats! that is really exciting, I love having my own house just because you can call it your own! with your own backyard and driveway and lawn! you know it ALL! and I love decorating! I can't wait for this summer I'm going to start a garden in my backyard and that will be my first! - Last yr I just did the usual planting flowers out front along with mulching and hanging flower baskets! good luck! :)

Congratulations!

I have a word of advice for you...don't buy a foreclosure! They are advertised as such good deals but they take forever to close. We first looked at the house we want last August...yes, August of 2008 :eek: We made our offer but the bank that owned it at that time sold it to another bank and we got lost in the paper shuffle...it was listed again by the second bank and we made another offer, it was accepted, we have contracts and had a closing date set...that bank sold out to another bank, they have our good faith $$ in escrow and now we're in limbo waiting for the deed to be signed by the new bank. Thank goodness we haven't sold our home yet and we don't need to sell it in order to move so we can be flexible with this...but...if we had our home sold first we would have had to buy something else.

The only way I would look at a foreclosure again is if it is owned by a local bank that keeps their loans in house...they can give you fast answers and stay with you until it's closed.

Also...find a 'Buyer's Agent'...not a dual agent realtor. A dual agent will work for both sides, which can be bad, but a buyer's agent will work only for you.

And...get a home inspection done by a certified home inspector. Yes, it can be expensive but pay the $$...you won't regret it!

thank you all!!! I know Im REALLY excited to FINALLY have OUR home!!! and get to decorate however I WANT!!! I CANT WAIT!!!! ok so take it slow... well CHECK!!! lol we are trying to stay at my inlaws house until the get back in July/august... so we are trying to take things slow... realtor is my brother so I know hes going to do me right!!! ;) Im the baby girl and second to last child in our family and my brother has ALWAYS tried to take care of me ;) so I know he is VERY GOOD at what he does ;) oh no I CANT belive it has taken you THAT long on a foreclosure...:eek: YIKES!!! thanks for that! ;) thanks for all of your advice!!! now for decorating advice??? hmmmm:thinking:

Congratulations, Jessica! I can tell that you are VERY excited!!!!!!

My words of wisdom would be to set a price range that you can well afford and pre-qualify for the $$ before you even start house hunting. That way you can avoid looking at houses out of your price range and be tempted to "stretch it".

Also, realtors have told Ron and me that it is a good thing to have the least expensive house in the most expensive neighborhood (as long as it is a NICE house). That way your home will have more appreciative value.

Again, congratulations!

Congrats!!!

My advice: Make sure you count in escrow in addition to your mortgage when deciding what you can afford. First time buyers loans usually do an escrow account which is your property taxes plus home insurance split into 12 payments. So if your mortgage is 500 and your monthly escrow is 200, then you pay 700 a month as your monthly payment. (You probably know this, but just making sure since I didn't realize it when I bought my first home. :))

Yay!!!!! Congratulations!!! That is sooooo exciting I can't wait to see pictures of YOUR FIRST HOUSE!!!!

good Idea;) thanks Cindy!!! :D we actually have thought of what we could really afford... (not much) lol but we should get pre-qualified...

Im :embarasse embarrassed to say that I didnt know about the escrow ;) so THANK YOU!!!

Congratulations!!!!!!!! It is such an exciting and scary time in your life! I am on my second house and each closing is always different. My first one was a piece of cake... it was over sooo quickly that I had to ask if that was it. The attorney said "Yup, here is your keys", it was the quickest $235,000 I ever spent! :) My second one was not so smooth, but thats another story for another time. I hope your closing is quick and painless and you have all summer to enjoy your new house! How FUN!!! I bought my first house is July 2003 and it had a pool! That was awesome!!! :)

Congratulations! You sound like you guys are being very wise about the process! Good luck with everything :)