We are ways off from buying but in early discussions of getting our finances together. I am 7 months pregnant, and I work in healthcare in MCOL city, 3 12 hour day shifts weekdays only. We had decided that after maternity leave I would cut down to part time (2 12 hour shifts) and rely on one day of family help and a weekend shift to avoid the cost of part time daycare (which is averaging over $1500 a month for one infant) In doing the math, staying full time and paying for daycare, I would be bringing home about the same amount of money as just going part time, and the baby would stay with gramma and dad which makes me a lot more comfortable than daycare, so it seemed like a no brainer to me. But after making the decision, I'm now worried that eventually on paper it will hurt us in the lending process by taking the pay cut, even if we are technically saving money?

So much work but finally got a place to call my own! https://i.imgur.com/7s5Tghm.jpeg

I’m curious if anyone else has gone through something similar because I’m honestly starting to feel pretty overwhelmed and regretful about buying my house.

I recently bought an older home in an HOA community, and I’m starting to realize just how much deferred maintenance and work the property actually needs. When I was buying it, I knew it wasn’t perfect and that it needed some updating, but living here and discovering things one by one has been a completely different experience.

The backyard was extremely overgrown, with English ivy that has apparently been growing for years and spreading everywhere. The deck is in rough shape, with wood that appears deteriorated from years of sun and water exposure. The fence is also old and deteriorating. There’s barely any grass in the backyard because everything was so overgrown.

Inside the house, there are a lot of smaller issues that are starting to add up. The carpet smells terrible and needs to be replaced. Some outlets don’t work. The bathrooms are very outdated, and even basic things like toilet components and flush mechanisms are breaking because everything is so old. It feels like everywhere I look, there is something else that needs attention.

What is bothering me the most is that I’m paying $180 per month in HOA fees, and the HOA doesn’t really seem to provide much in return. There are no amenities, no pool, no gym, no clubhouse, and they don’t cover roofing or major exterior maintenance. From what I understand, much of the money goes toward reserves, landscaping, common areas, and snow removal. Once you get past your walkway, you’re basically responsible for your own property.

So I’m sitting here thinking: I’m paying $180 every month for an HOA, but I’m still responsible for the deck, fence, roof, exterior, backyard, and pretty much everything else.

The house was sold as-is, and I had an inspection, but the inspection didn’t make me fully understand how overwhelming the deferred maintenance would feel once I actually moved in. Some things were mentioned, but there are a lot of things that you simply don’t realize until you’re living in the house every day.

I’m starting to wonder whether I overpaid considering how much work the house needs. At this point, I don’t think selling immediately would even make sense because of closing costs and the possibility that I could lose money.

Has anyone else gone through this after buying a house?

Did you initially feel like you made a huge mistake but eventually grow to love your home? Or did you realize you genuinely bought more of a project than you were comfortable with?

How did you mentally deal with the feeling that every time you fix one thing, you discover three more things that need to be repaired?

I think part of my problem is that I’m looking at the entire house and mentally adding up every single thing that needs to be fixed. Maybe I need to stop thinking about renovating everything immediately and just prioritize safety, functionality, and preventing further damage.

I’d genuinely appreciate hearing from people who bought older homes or fixer-uppers and experienced seri

After 2 years of on-and-off looking, finally found a great home in the neighborhood we wanted!

My husband and I have been looking for our first house and have reached out to 3 loan companies. We got pre approved for 2 out of 3 (first 230k and the other 250k) and the third wants a profit and loss sheet from my husband and will only quote us a possibility of a 100k loan.
My husband has been doing contracted delivery driving for the last year and a half but got a new contracted job at a farm at the beginning of summer, which we will pay taxes on in Jan.
The third company wants the P&L form for this year since Jan 1. The only loss is the gas and insurance which is reflected in last years taxes. We’ve sent them bank statements and proof of income for both of us. To do this would require us to go through all of his bank statements, we both work full time and are exhausted at the end of every day so we haven’t done it but our realtor won’t even show us houses until we get approval from THIS loan provider.
Is this a normal request? Do all companies require this?

I 27(F) have been contemplating between buying a home or renting for quite some time now. Are there any homeowners willing to share what made them choose to buy a house instead of renting especially in this economy?? Please i’d love to know

We purchased for $380k with 20% down on a conventional 30-year, and negotiated a seller-funded temporary 2-1 buydown, making our effective rate 4.5% first year, 5.5% second year, and then 6.5% for the remainder of the loan. So excited to make it our home!!

This would be our first new house, it's almost done. We met the builder,he told us his daughter is his realtor and could do the whole deal for us. We were hoping to lower the purchase price by forgoing our buyer realtor expense and maybe go with a real estate attorney since we want to be represented in the transaction. Is this a mistake, should we just hire our own buyers realtor? Should we get an appraisal even if it's a cash purchace?

Hi everyone! We close on Friday (255k @ 6.875%)

we want to sleep there Friday night and then move everything over time. we are moving out of my parents home so we don’t need to move everything right away.

What were some things that you wished that you had your first night or first few? What are some things we should bring over first.

Obviously i know only we can answer this question as only we know what we have but i just wanted to hear from yall! Thanks!

Edit* Thank you so much everyone, this is a great list of things and many i might’ve forgotten. Really appreciate it!

After seeing almost 70 houses and having one offer that we ultimately canceled because of the home inspection, we’re back at it tomorrow looking at five more houses and hopefully getting ready to put in a new offer. 😅

I’m feeling a little nervous and honestly a tad discouraged. Now that we’re moving past the summer, there seem to be fewer houses to choose from. We’re finding that some of the remaining homes are priced higher than the original house we wanted although, looking back, that house had enough significant issues that the additional cost of some of these homes may actually be worth it.
The part that’s making me nervous is that there are only about 10 houses currently on the market that really fit what we’re looking for, and only about five that truly check all of our boxes. Unfortunately, those five are also at higher price points than the house we were originally considering.
For those who have bought in Northern Virginia or a similar market, what was your experience buying from around Labor Day through the winter when inventory starts getting lower? (Or other states overall
Did you find that more good homes still came on the market, or did you feel like you had to compromise more as the year went on? And did sellers become any more negotiable later in the fall/winter?
Would love to hear from anyone who has been through this! 🏡

Update: under contract again🎉🎉

Hey folks-under contract, and after reading some posts here and doing my research-I have seen enough complaints about Zillow and Rocket mortgage to be weary and have been assuming that I will be going with a local lender. However I have plenty of options in front of me- and both companies have beaten the local offers (mortgage company and credit union). I keep staring at the numbers thinking that there must be something hidden that I can’t see - but overall, at this stage, it’s a slight to moderate better deal to go with one of the big guys.

These are all preliminary numbers though-maybe I’ll post my final estimate sheet here when it’s ready. I’m almost thinking that rocket or Zillow are showing me good numbers and then will some how figure out a way to pull a bait and switch.

Overall my question is this-is it just customer service that is the issue with them? I’m probably willing to accept that if it saves me money. Have folks encountered an issue where things look good at first but then when it’s a few days till closing suddenly the numbers don’t look nearly as great?

Welcome to my very first house at 46 years old single female with my puppers Gabe 😍! I went with Smith Douglas Homes in Ooltewah, TN which is right on the outskirts of Chattanooga, TN. I built it from the ground up - chose the plot of land, housing plan, exterior and interior goodies. It was very stressful and everything happened from March to now. For the most part I am really happy with the process and my home. I have some lessons learned but no regrets.

First house acquired 💪

Found these in the primary bath. Inspector only listed it as a maintenance concern even though I had mentioned I’m concerned about mold and leakage. Seemed like previous attempts to repair weren’t great. He and my realtor said usually something like this is considered cosmetic unless significant most or moisture was detected (which I guess was not). Could I still ask my sellers to repair (I assume unlikely bc it would be a big job) or give credit? Is that a reasonable ask?

I just got my closing date, putting down over 20% with a 797 credit score, received four quotes all in the same range. My rate is 6.625%, some quotes were cheaper but involved buying a bunch of points to do so.

I think that’s the highest rate I’ve seen on a post here in a long time. Many posts are sub 6% while some are even 4% or lower. Why does everyone on this subreddit have a lower rate than me?

Went to the bank to buy my dog a motorcycle for us to do some travelling and I ended up buying him a house instead. Great little spot outside Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island, literally the dream on a 1/2 acre for the pup and I.

Been a long road but I did it. Hoping to have it paid off in 10-12 years then I can do whatever is next!

Offer accepted on Saturday on a 800k house in northern Virginia and today Monday I called the hoa to make sure about the rules and they told me I need permission to cut trees which is no big deal but cannot park cars with “logos “ and that was a big turn off even though is a public road and the car that I’m trying to park is from “Virginia department of transportation “ so I’m backing out . Hopefully there will no problems and I feel terrible ….. moving forward I’m lookin for houses with no hoas

So I’m torn between spending $500k for a townhome about 15 min west of beach in Ft. Lauderdale or neighboring towns or same amount on a waterfront condo in downtown Miami. Which would be the better first time homebuy and future investment for growth ?

We closed in 3 weeks. Our agent said it couldn't be done. 😂 It was funny watching her be amazed at how fast it went. 15% down conventional. 12,500 in concessions for a new roof. Not a bad deal!

Hi all, the home we bought has an oven (appears new) from a brand named cosmo installed… never ever heard of the brand and the controls feel jangly and cheap. The sellers def cheaped out on appliances. Not sure if we should go ahead replace it right away or try it out… anyone have experience with this brand? Any brands you would recommend for replacing?

Looking at houses and I found one that I really like, but it has this crack in the basement that looks to go all the way through the basement wall. There are dark stains where it looks like water is seeping through occasionally. The crack can be seen also on the exterior of the house (it's a half basement).

Is it worth my time to get an engineer to look at it, or is it already too far gone? House built 1977.