patrick.net

Thanks. At first I felt like the dog that finally caught the car it was chasing. "Now what do I do?". Even picking paint colors...It's so nice not having to look at "apartment white" anymore.

The biggest things are 1) it was within our means and 2) We got a fair price. (Not a screaming deal, but a fair price).

I still can't believe it sold for $460,000 in mid 2003 - particularly given that we paid under $300,000 for it. The county has it valued at $325,000 so for what its worth we (on paper) have some built in equity. Not that I care much about that right now - we're here for the long haul. This is the type of house one can raise a family in.

If nothing else, its nice to be "settled". I hope that the other pat.neters that have made the transition to ownership do as well as we have. Prudence and patience served us well.

EastCoastBubbleBoy says

Even picking paint colors...It's so nice not having to look at "apartment white" anymore.

Does "apartment white" include the green, charcoal, orange, apricot, and blue that we've been painting our walls in the last three rentals we've lived in? God our LL's must be the biggest assholes in the world.

Some places are more flexible than others. In the last apt we lived in, we could have painted it bright orange if we really wanted to, but 1) we would have had to pint it back or 2) would have had to pay a crazy “repainting” fee. The path of least resistance was to keep it “apartment white”. I guess I must just lack imagination.

I finally purchased a home for $400,000 7 months ago. There have been two homes sold in my neighborhood $100,000 over asking price just under $500,000. These are 2/2 less than half the size of my home that is 4/3.5 3200sf and a mother in law over the 3 car garage. The only problem is that I have to climb a mountain of stairs to get to the home. I have to say with a big sigh that I am happy that I purchased when I did. In today's market I would not stand a change. What an emotional roller coaster that was. Even though I missed the market by months, I was still able to purchase less than 50% from the peak. So like a hypocrite I am happily astounded with the new equity in my home. Until I am reminded of the fact that my children when grown will need to purchase a home of their own.

EastCoastBubbleBoy says

particularly given that we paid under $300,00 for it.

Is it $300,000, right? Good deal, definitely.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to join that new homeowners forum any time soon. In 2010, some events in my family, including my wife's illness that almost put her on wheelchair, forced me spend chunky potion of my downpayment for the hospital bill.

After that, I learnt that the wife cannot be able to drive any more due to her knee demage and the other complexity issues. So I had to adjust my list of priorities. Close access to the public transfortation is becomming the Number 1 priority over all other others. That means, my dream of having 2000sqftt house on 100acre lot in the suburb or rural area is gone for now and I need to find a house w/in 5min walking distance to the express bus stop, which will get her in the Pentagon every morning. Finding a house like that is a very challenging job. Only few inventories available and most of them do not meet that simple priority. So, my searching for a new home is on hold though, not completely put off.

Now, my local housing market is hotter than 2007 due to the lack of inventory. Several homes suddenly popped on the MLS during last two weeks. Those are the same old shitty shacks listed and delisted before. And they all ask more than what people paid for in 2007. That's outrageous and also out of my range. So I am fucked up, and seems like I have to rent longer than I wanted.

*sigh*

Thinking about all I'm thankful for. Hard to believe we closed over a year ago - specifically as it pertains to real estate.

I'm thankful that we bought within our means. I'm thankful to all of the advice (good, bad and otherwise) that you guys (and gals) put forth as I rambled my way through the process. I'm thankful that we were diligent, patient and unyielding. I'm thankful that the process is over and we don't have go through the roller coaster of emotion that can be the home buying process for a very long time.

I'm thankful that I'm on top of things and not one to give up easily. I'm thankful that the neighbors are decent, even without good fences.

Good luck and happy thanksgiving.

Time for my (almost) annual update for anyone that cares. I still lurk, don't post much (obviously) but do hope that all of you find yourself in a good place this holiday season, wherever that place may be.

Hard to believe we're 3 years into our 30 year loan, which is still on track to be paid off early (knock on wood).

As expected we needed to put a new roof on this year - but we knew that vis a vis the home inspection we had before closing.
We finally put in a small garden - what an adventure that was. Plenty of tomatoes, a few ears of corn, but not much else. Hopefully next years crop will be better.

No complaints otherwise. House has allegedly appreciated a bit since we bought it.... but most of the stuff near us on the market is slow to sell so it's hard to gauge (not that it really matters since we're not planning on moving - we bought for the long haul).

All said we made a good decision - but for anyone who was reading my posts thought the process, it wasn't easy and certainly I (over) analyzed every detail.
I'd love to say I had great timing due to all of the insight I gleaned here through the years... but I'm not to proud to admit I flat out got lucky.

Safe and happy thanksgiving to all!

glad to hear you're doing well!

I've decided to pay mine off early as well. My mortgage has been low enough, and my rate is still at the fixed low rate of 4.5 and my MIP $77 a month rolled off this year.
Even my taxes are fair and manageable. It's the Insurance that is the wild volatile factor in my Mortgage that will never stay constant. And is on an upward trend to never back down. Even those these YOY increases have been totally politically hyped by Global Warming noise. We haven't had a hurricane in over 10 years now. But at the rate the insurance increases are going. I'll be paying $1,000 a month for HO insurance with in 5 or ten years. So I decided this Summer to start doubling up my Mortgage payment essentially paying down an extra $2K a month off my principal. I'll be paid off about 4 to 5 years.
Then I'm going to dump the insurance altogether. Just have basic home owner insurance with now wind or hurricane insurance. My house is as solid as a rock. It will burn down or get destroyed by accident before the wind ever blows away this house. Unless it was a F5 Tornado and we don't get those down here.

I'm Happy with the house and I'm happy with the Mortgage. But I loathe the Florida insurance industry. And if the banks will sit back and allow the insurance companies to exploit their customers. While imposing forced insurance on them if they don't have insurance. Then they don't deserve making money from me by me keeping to the payment amortized schedule.

@anonymous We went with GAF... they had a Natural Shadow line that blended well with the natural contours of the house. We also looked at IKO, which is a bit cheaper since your not paying for the GAF name, but they didn't have any colors that did anything for us. Contractor let us buy the materials direct, which saved us a few bucks.

Ice shield is a must, at least up here in the northeast. Make sure they are also going to reflash around any chimneys. My quotes were literally all over the map - the highest guy was more than 2x the lowest guy... but most came in over $10k on account of the house being a good amount of roof. I'll have to see if I can post a picture of the finished product.

@Tenpoundbass Good for you man! I'd love to pay my house off that quick - but heck, I'm happy if I can get my 30 year loan paid in under 20, that way we have the house clear before the kid goes off to college (if that's what happens). Up here. Insurance isn't that bad, but taxes are crazy. Thankfully, we argued down our assessed value after we closed, and actually got a reduction in taxes right out of the gate. They are creeping back up, but not unmanageable yet.

Where'd the year go? This place isn't a housing forum per se anymore - but I do still swing by on semi-regular basis. I don't post much because most of what I have to say probably ins't going to add or detract from what has been said (or will be said) on a given topic. I'll say this, this place is never short of opinions and it's (mostly) entertaining. So hat's off to Patrick for keeping this site up and running all these years.

For what it's worth things are the staus quo. Same house, same job, same family, No complaints. Just wanted to let you all know that I'm alive and well. Everyone have a safe and enjoyable thanksgiving!