Just want to let everyone know.  I cant stop thinking about it.  We (girlfriend and me) Bought our first house today!  Our offer was accepted today at 4:30pm.  We sould be closing in about two weeks and moving in immediatly.  We will have to pay an extra month in our apartment, but this way we get to take our time moving the stuff in and doing some remodeling.  I have been to Home Depot and Menards like 5 times in the last two days looking at stuff...I cant help it!!  Thanks as well to the guys that bought some stuff from me recently to help fund the purchase.  I have to get going..Home depot is open 24 hours, I think I will go look at some more stuff that we can do.  :)

Later

Congratulations!

Just bought a house myself, and it is a great feeling.

It's a good thing your hanging out at Home Depot now. That way you'll know where everything is. Because believe me, it'll be your second home.

I've already redone lots of plumbing, rerouted dryer ducts through my eaves, redone carpet, painted, and my bathroom floor is half tiled (why would anybody put green fucking carpet in a bathroom?).

All within 5 weeks. And on the weekends.

And I've got more ahead of me.

But when you're doing it, you're doing it for yourself.

So again congrats, and good luck.

Congrats on becoming a full-fledged property-owning "Citizen". [beer]

You know the Founding Fathers originally intended that ONLY male property-owners should have the right to vote - ahh... the good old days [;)]

Two pieces of advice.  First is make a strict budget and stick to it.  Second is if it ain't broke don't fix it.  Not right away anyhow.  Remember to temper your justifiable enthusiasm with prudence and you will be OK.  Just stay away from those home centers.  However if you are filthy rich just disregard the above.

I couldn't agree more

Is it a pre-ban?z

During the closing remember one thing, everyone is smiling because they are about to receive your money. There will be checks flying every which direction. Those checks are written against your money. When my wife and I were leaving our first closing I told her I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She asked me why, and I told her I feel like I have just been swindled but I am happy it happened!

Enjoy your new home!

-elliott

Well, congrats to all you with your first houses!!!!!
I remember crawling away from our first closing after having seen the payoff numbers, and asking myself "Self, how on earth did you just sign up to pay that much money for that long, and how can the final total of what we paid be so MUCH??"
Many moons later, our equity has built up, and we are about to sell this house, pay it off, and make enough to buy another one free and clear.
I cannot fathom the concept of being debt-free.
No bankers thieving obscene interest rates, no pay-till-you-die payment schedules, just another, better house, free and clear.
May you all get to this point someday, and remember, this is the first step.
In the meantime, learn all you can about house repair and improvement, as your skills will save you bundles in the long run.
And enjoy not having a landlord [:)]

Congrats, now we need to talk about neighbors. You don't want them pissed at you but you don't want them bothering you all time either. Its a fine line between friendly and too friendly, just make sure you don't cross it. Good Luck[;)]

Congrats [beer]

My wife and I will be closing on our first home around June, wish it was sooner! I can't wait.

Good Luck.

Congrats!

My wife and I are closing at the end of April on our first home.  Renting Sucks!  2.5 years and nothing to show for it.  Thats all about to change, though.  

Good Luck

just a note about the interest, depending on what your financial goals are, debt may be a good or bad thing. If you just want to own your home 100% equity then you want to minimize the debt. But on the other hand if you're like my parents and treat the house as an investment vehicle and want to move on to say bigger or more houses, then debt is good as long as it's manageable. Basically make sure you have enough money to pay your mortgage and have some left over for living expenses, misc and emergencies (including 6 months to a year of unemployment). If you plan all this out, then having a lot of debt is a good thing because it gives you more leverage. So say you buy a house in a nice area with decent appreciation in value, and you pay 1 dollar down and borrow 9 dollars to buy a 10 dollar house (example). The house appreciates in value to 15 dollars in a few years, you make a 500% return on equity because you only invested 1 dollar. Whereas the return on assets is only 50%. You still owe the bank 9 dollars but the net gain is all yours. As you can see, if you only paid 50 cents and borrowed 9.50 (or alternately paid 1 dollar and borrowed 19 to buy a 20 dollar house which grows to 30 dollars), then your return on equity would be 1000% while return on assets is still 50%. Then you can sell the house, pocket the profit and do the same thing with a different house/area. Of course there's a limit to this but you get the idea. Just be conservative in your projections (meaning don't plan too tight) and it'll be good. That is of course if you treat it as an investment.

THE HOUSE.

Thank goodness I've finished THE GUNS.

I owe my wife BIG TIME for the wait.
I knew houses would be there and still be expensive.
The guns I wasn't sure about.
Finished with those and my paranoid/selfish motives, we're ready to find out how bad our credit is and just what we have to do to get going on buying a house of our own.
Especially for all those reasons Hannah mentioned.  That was a good post, Hannah.  Thanks.
And congratulations variable1 !

My fiance and I just finished up our last downpayment on our "house".

Now that they have the 5% down, they start construction sometime in April. House should be done in late July/beginning of August.

Plus we have been talking about the possibility of having kids in a year or two.

I'm never going to be able to afford a firearm until I'm 50. [>(]

Av.

Okay, I'll bite.

For the FFs, being a property-owner meant you were part owner of this nation - literally.  You weren't an irresponsible drifter, bum, unemployed beggar, or youthful neophyte; you had a vested interest in this country - you were generally more responsible, serious, and you were responsible for paying property tax (no income tax back then) so you were paying most of the bills of the Gov't (besides tariffs).

Nowadays, too many welfare parasites, unemployable slugs, lazy/irresponsible cretins, illegal aliens, illiterate morons and just plain idiots are casting votes by the millions screwing up our once-great nation by voting for more and more "entitlements" and wealth redistribution schemes.


"Oh, I wish I was...
in the land of cotton...
old times there are not forgotten..."

I knew if I waited long enough - I wouldn't have to type all that.  To The Macallan - I couldn't have said it better.

When we went for the second showing the next door neighbor stopped over and asked if we where going to buy it.  Well it turns out he is the builder of the house and lived there for 3 years and then sold it to his step mom you has lived there since and had to go to a retirement home this last october.  This house and the other six in the cul-de-sac where all built by this man.  Kinda cool.  He was really nice and offered any info on the house and even helped to build on or to build the extra garage that I wanted.  I have a feeling we will be getting to know him very well :)  He is about 55-60 form eastern europe with a very strong accent.

Congratulations variable1!!!

Does it have indoor plumbing? [:D]

I am refinancing to get the ex's name off of the mortgage and closing tomorrow. Plus I'm getting a better interest rate.

Congratulations on your new home, variable1! [beer]

Tyler

When my wife and I bought our first home 3 1/2 years ago, we didn't have enough for the downpayment, so the seller made a private loan and took a 2nd mortage from the beginning...  Unfortunately, the 2nd had a rather healthy 3 year balloon payment!

Well, for 3 years, we busted our asses remodeling and landscaping, in order to increase our investment enough to pay off all of the accumulated debt, and erase the 2nd mortage.

Upon receipt of the new appraisel, we discovered that in those 3 years of blood, sweat and tears, our property value was increased by a whopping 56%!  We not only paid off all of our home debt, but walked away with enough left over to zero out the majority of our credit cards as well. Furthermore, our interest rates dropped 1/2%, so our payments are now substantially lower.

We still have quite a bit of remaining equity in our home, since we did not take the maximum allowable at the time...

CONGRATULATIONS! [beer]

Congradulations,
The first house is kinda overwhelming aint it?
Do you have a home owner warranty?
It is almost standard on most sales (at least here).
Lots of my friends have taken advantage of this,and some who didn't paid out of their pocket for items that were already covered by insurance.
My wife is an insurance broker (and no I'm not trying to sell any service).Her boss got all new appliances from this coverage because his dishwasher didn't clean properly, his oven temp. settings didn't match an accurate temp. stick and several other things like that.
The guy across the street didn't have this coverage and when he went into his attic to store some boxes he notices a bunch of black soot from a cracked chimny. Needless to say he was screwed.
I wish you all the best of luck and if you need any help reading an insurance policy drop me a line.
Andy

I and the wife are closing on our first house on friday,the 29th.(WHAT A FUC*ING HASSEL!)I'm already getting hand cramps.

Go get familiar with the Home Depot layout.   NOT LOWES, though....anti-2nd.