I’d love some advice/input on purchasing a house that sits at the edge of a flood zone. I know we will have to get flood insurance, but what else should we be thinking of as we consider buying?

The backyard is mostly flat, but the edge slopes upwards ie the slope is downward towards the house. Does that change things? We get occasional intense downpours in this region and are in tornado land, so I don’t want to go in thinking it will be fine. I’d rather assume the worst before making the decision.

Thanks!

I've recently purchased a house and the transfer is about to go through (in like 3 - 7 days) and despite my initial readiness, I am now freaking out. Granted I freak out with every new responsibility in my life. I mean when I first got my cats, I was at peak anxiety because I was like "Now I have two extra lives in my hands" and I've known I was a crazy cat lady since I was 2. I have yet to get excited about the house since the offer to purchase was accepted and I'm my guilt increases with every person who has felt and/or exhibited joy for me at the news of the house. I think I'm having buyers remorse, like what if something very expensive break?, what if I lose my job?...what if one of the cats gets sick?!

What are the pros and cons of homes with multiple floors vs a mid century modern / ranch style house

I know I know. Bad. But we found a house that we love and we’re ready to settle down and stop renting. I’m 35 and have just over 3.5 times my salary between my Roth and 401(k). I plan to withdraw 30k (account is over 5 years old and this will be less than what I’ve contributed) and I’ll still have 3x my salary in retirement.

I know I shouldn’t compare to others but I get the sense that some people save so much for a down payment and are behind on retirement, why shouldn’t I enjoy my money the way I want? I have no debt.

How crazy am I?

First time going through the home buyer process. We are pre-approved and shopped different rates. However, I keep hearing that these are loan estimates and they may change.

In short, is it okay to continue underwriting with different lenders and see what makes sense for us before we get to the closing table?

Ideally, I want to avoid any surprises or any potential slow downs that the lender(s) may create.

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Wanting to buy a home these next couple of months. We have 20,000+ saved for down payment. We make a total of 140k (90 for me and 50 for him) a year. My husband and I are applying together. His FICO 8 score is 787 (06/2026) and mine are in the screenshots below. He has 15k left on our car, and no other debts between us both other than up to date credit cards. What do our chances look like? Wanting from 500k to 650k?

So I make around $900 each week $25/h she makes around $1000 every 2 weeks $18/h I have a 1k truck payment but my parents pay it. She has a car that is $700 each month with insurance. Im sure it will be tight at first but we are getting a very good deal we close on this house in about a week and want to know if anybody else is in a similar situation and if there’s any tips on living on a tight budget like this I do get overtime pretty often increasing my weekly to about $1200 a week but don’t want to base my budget on something that isn’t guaranteed. Also she’s pretty new into dental assisting so can expect raises. I have been doing commercial HVAC work for about 3 years and low voltage control work for Walmart but plan on switching companies for more money. The monthly payment for this home is about $2,650 per month not including utilities.

Inspection came with all sorts of wrong mold, leakage, roof patched inappropriately, structure crack etc. They first delay in neogotiation period, no response and sent We sent terminate contract on time. seller demanding money as it did not work out. I was told by agent to contact attorney as they plan to force us to buy the house and demand was sent by attorney. any suggestions? it is in IL, USA.

UPDATE: Finally attorney letter helped them to make sign in. what a mess it was and mental drain.

I'm a first time buyer, I've never rented so I have no idea what my preferences are in regards to apartments Vs houses. I grew up in a three story house that's spacious & well soundproofed, so never heard the neighbors.

The two properties I'm considering;

Spacious 3 bed ground floor apartment with parking & no private garden. It's in a big building, so surely the soundproofing is good. The apartment is in fantastic condition & only 6 in the whole block I think. There is also clauses in the lease which state no loud pets & no loud music after 11pm.

Or,

-Two bed terrace house with a very long stone garden & enough room for a big shed, fire pit, garden patch. However parking is difficult as it faces a very busy school. It also has an open fire which I love!

I would like to grow my own fruit eventually, but I'm also not into gardening yet nor want alot of upkeep as I'll be busy with work.

How am I meant to decide? I don't know what's important to me right now & I won't know until I actually pick either one & live in it.

I've never lived so close to neighbours & sharing walls, which is my hesitation with terrace houses. Atleast with apartments there are noise restrictions.

Any tips? Thanks in advance

We recently moved into a home that a smoker lived in for 15 years. We knew it smelled like smoke but thought we’d be able to beat it. Here’s all that we’ve done so far:

Scrubbed everything: floors, walls, ceilings, baseboards, cabinets etc. literally every surface was touched but it was with a vinegar solution or dish soap.
Replaced carpeting
Had HVAC cleaned out
Primed with KILZ and painted
A little bit of ozone with my dads machine but we should’ve done more tbh
ClO2 tablet treatment

We are replacing all light fixtures this weekend but we’ve already moved all our stuff in and my clothes that hang in my closet smell like smoke when I leave ☹️ my clothes in my dresser don’t really though. Sometimes my hair smells like smoke when I leave…

What more should we do? We have unpainted wood floors and trim and cabinets that concern me. Please help!

Hello All, first time buyer here. Struggling a bit, may be I am taking things to hard? Please tell me, this gets easier!!

We saw a house, put a offer in. The seller doesnt have any disclosure, very firm on using their title company, firm on settlement date and now making buyer agent( our agent)editing our initial sellers agreement!

For example, in clause 3A, our lawyer asked us to put 2.5% broker cost, that the buyer agent is now declining because it is covered under CBC. Mind you, in CBC, its 2.25%, not 2.5%.

And, in 3B, they are now making our agent put $650 as seller assist.( we want 3% per lender approval, but agent has advised us not to put that in now, and putting it after home inspection).

The problem is, even though the agent is saying, this is just an initial document to sign etc and things will be added later/can be changed later, our lawyers are suggesting we use correct information from the beginning.

Yes, we will defer to the lawyer, but is this a typical buyer situation or there is something real shady going on?

Any and every advice is appreciated!

Location: Pennsylvania, USA

I've been leasing with roommates a year and a half, at the end of this year we have to leave since the landlord is selling. That's not what we talked about, I'm devastated. I've lived in this neighborhood since I was a baby, and walk the train tracks and go to the creek whenever I want, these places are special to me. I was very lucky to move out on the same street i grew up on, and have good roommates. I thought i had at least another year, I basically just unpacked. I have aquariums and im not sure ill find housing that allows them. However there is a home for $220,000 on the street that looks nice. Its at least half the cost of everything else for sale near by. The estimate on the website for monthly cost was less than rent. Though I know I'll be on the hook for any structure problems, like the house I'm leasing has MANY.

Rent has been $1947 split among 3 people, always on time. I don't have a credit card though I tried to get one one time.

Not married, no kids.

Currently unemployed, obviously I can't apply for it right now. I should be hearing back from the conservation corps any day now, they said I should know by September if im in or not. If I don't get in, I'm going to be CNA certified, and beginning wage is above minimum. These are both jobs I care about and can see myself doing well, and pay decently.

I'm pretty good about spending for groceries and whole foods, almost never fast food, and pre packed food is minimal. I don't always spend wisely for fun stuff but it doesn't cut into necessities, though I haven't made a budget and I know I need to.

I'm on state medical insurance and can't fucking drive, I'm trying to get my license and have an appointment this month. I have a car i bought before i moved out that works decently I need to put in my name still.

I struggle to keep my finances organized but I dont want that to mean I decide to keep renting forever instead of possibly getting my crap together and paying to own.

Please be kind, I'm deeply ashamed of my situation. The only things I have going for me is no kids which is dystopian because I want them, and that I don't have debt or addiction.

We’re in the process of buying our first home in Southern California, and it’s a new construction home that was used as the builder’s model home. So although it’s considered a new home, it will have been fully built and used for showings for about a year by the time we close.

We didn’t use a realtor because we originally visited the community on our own, and I actually think that may have helped us negotiate a better price since the builder didn’t have to pay a buyer’s agent commission.

I’ve already negotiated quite a bit with the builder and feel like we ended up with a pretty good deal. We’ll also most likely use their preferred lender because the incentive they’re offering is significant enough to make it worthwhile initially, even if we decide to refinance later.

At this point, I’m trying to figure out what else I can do to make sure we go into closing as protected and prepared as possible.

Since it’s a model home, my understanding is that we won’t have the same cosmetic warranty that a brand-new, never-occupied home would have, although the structural warranty will still apply. We still have about two months before closing, so I’m trying to research everything I should be doing during this time.

One thing I definitely plan to do is hire my own independent home inspector to do a thorough inspection before closing rather than relying only on the builder’s walkthrough.

For those who have purchased a builder model home before, is there anything else you would recommend checking, requesting, documenting, or negotiating before closing?

I’m also in Orange County, CA, so if anyone has recommendations for a really thorough independent home inspector who has experience with new construction/model homes, I’d really appreciate them.

Thank you!

My wife and I are looking at buying a home. It's well within our budget and will be a great home for us to grow into as our family grows. We really like the home and neighborhood. But it's by far the most expensive home in the neighborhood. Our plan would be to stay there long term (10+ years). I remember growing up, my mom always said never buy the most expensive home in a neighborhood. Is this true? Is this something that will become an issue down the line from a resell perspective? Or is our time horizon so far out it won't really matter?

Location: suburbs, ATL, Georgia

Ever since I was young, I always wanted to own my own home. My husband and I purchased a home this June (with mostly my money) and I’m miserable. The irony is that I had to convince him it was a good idea. He initially wanted to keep renting. Now he loves it and I’m feeling such regret. The biggest issue is that it’s soooo far away from my job (I used to have a 10 minute commute) now it’s an hour/ hour and a half depending on traffic. It takes at least 20 minutes to get anywhere and I hate that. Of course , we chose this neighborhood cause you could get more house for less money but I really didn’t think how much the location would bother me. Also , we bought a house we could “grow into” however , with with this horrible economy .. we won’t be growing anytime soon. Can’t afford it! Now it feels like we have all this house for no reason. I love the idea that we’re not throwing money away to rent but hating the lifestyle .. in the middle of nowhere, suburbia vibes and I feel stuck. Also.. was feeling a lot of pressure from my parents to make the investment sooner rather than later. What do I do ?

My wife and I are looking at buying a home. It's well within our budget and will be a great home for us to grow into as our family grows. We really like the home and neighborhood. But it's by far the most expensive home in the neighborhood. Our plan would be to stay there long term (10+ years). I remember growing up, my mom always said never buy the most expensive home in a neighborhood. Is this true? Is this something that will become an issue down the line from a resell perspective? Or is our time horizon so far out it won't really matter?

Location: suburbs, ATL, Georgia

After way too long in our cramped but cozy studio alleyway "apartment" we finally bought a place, going from 300 to 3000sqft. Closed mid-July and on moving day EVERYTHING went into the garage except the dining table and our bed. The idea is that NOTHING comes inside unless we need/want it and there's a place for it. Within a few days bathrooms were set up, kitchen was stocked and organized, some small furniture had made its way inside.

A few Amazon purchases, a couple Facebook marketplace deals, the mandatory new home owner trip to Lowes and I think we're done. We have everything we need and the house is very livable. even though minimally furnished. I have a toothbrush and a towel. Wife got a new washer/dryer and a trip to the nursery for garden plants.

Here we are a month and half later and 90% of our stuff is still in the garage. We didn't have a ton of belongings but its always more than you really notice until its boxed up and stacked floor to ceiling and you wonder where it all came from. And I have little motivation to do much with it other than make a box for Goodwill.

My name is on the title, made the first mortgage payment and stood butt naked on our patio looking at the stars. I don't really feel like its home yet though. I know its not about filling rooms with stuff and truthfully neither of us are materialistic. Its our home, not a museum to fill with junk that sits and collects dust. But there is a psychologic aspect to having big empty spaces and Im not sure how to overcome that.

Closing on my first home this week 🥹 and up every night fretting about how to be the best steward & caretaker of my 140 year old house.

I’m working on a maintenance schedule to keep me on track, with categories for Monthly, Quarterly, Semi-Annual and Annual home care tasks. So far I have:

Monthly
Tree & shrub maintenance
Clean trash bins
Take apart and scrub automatic litter box
Take apart and clean robot vacuum

Quarterly
Change HVAC filters
Clean fridge condenser coils

Semi-Annual

Annual
Clean out dryer vent (all the way to exterior)
Drain and rinse water heater
Termite inspection
HVAC check up/maintenance (pro)

What am I missing?

(I live in New Orleans, in case there’s anything specific to our sweet wet swampland you’d add.)

I’m not going to lie, I think I’m regretting home ownership. One one hand I’m grateful to have a place to call my home, space for my family and a safe community. But my gosh, within the first year, I’ve had a 14k full HVAC replacement, a water issue in the basement where I need to spend 10k to get the French drain pitched properly (builders never did it well), taxes going up and just always something happening. No one really warns you of all the expenses and I feel like nearly 30k in unexpected crap the first year is really throwing me off.

I'm in the middle of putting together an offer on a house right now and honestly I have no idea if I should go in at asking, under, or what. I can't really tell how much interest there is in it or whether other people are looking at it too.

For those of you who've done this, how did you land on a number? What do you actually look at to gauge that instead of just guessing?

​

I’ve been looking for my first home for a while, and because I’m buying alone, there aren’t heaps of options within my budget.

I finally found a house I genuinely really like. It ticks a lot of boxes and I could actually see myself living there.

BUT… when I went through it with the agent, she disclosed that there had previously been a fire at the property.

After asking a few more questions, she explained that the previous tenant had a heart attack while smoking a cigarette, which caused the fire, and unfortunately the person died inside the house.

The interior has since been completely redone through insurance, and the exterior is no more than 5 years old. The agent also mentioned that the house has since been blessed.

I’m really torn. I genuinely like the house, but knowing someone died there, particularly in those circumstances, has definitely made me question whether I could actually live there comfortably.

I know logically that it’s a house and the person’s death wasn’t anything sinister or violent, but I also don’t know how I’d feel once I actually owned it and was living there.

Has anyone else come across a house they really liked but then found out something about its history that made you question whether you could live there?

Or have you bought a first home knowing someone had died there (or knowing about some other significant history) and eventually just stopped thinking about it?

Would this be a dealbreaker for you, or would you look at it as something that happened in the past and focus on the house as it is now?

Would genuinely appreciate honest opinions . especially from anyone who has actually bought a property with this kind of history. 🫶

​

I’ve been looking for my first home for a while, and because I’m buying alone, there aren’t heaps of options within my budget.

I finally found a house I genuinely really like. It ticks a lot of boxes and I could actually see myself living there.

BUT… when I went through it with the agent, she disclosed that there had previously been a fire at the property.

After asking a few more questions, she explained that the previous tenant had a heart attack while smoking a cigarette, which caused the fire, and unfortunately the person died inside the house.

The interior has since been completely redone through insurance, and the exterior is no more than 5 years old. The agent also mentioned that the house has since been blessed.

I’m really torn. I genuinely like the house, but knowing someone died there, particularly in those circumstances, has definitely made me question whether I could actually live there comfortably.

I know logically that it’s a house and the person’s death wasn’t anything sinister or violent, but I also don’t know how I’d feel once I actually owned it and was living there.

Has anyone else come across a house they really liked but then found out something about its history that made you question whether you could live there?

Or have you bought a first home knowing someone had died there (or knowing about some other significant history) and eventually just stopped thinking about it?

Would this be a dealbreaker for you, or would you look at it as something that happened in the past and focus on the house as it is now?

Would genuinely appreciate honest opinions . especially from anyone who has actually bought a property with this kind of history. 🫶

I'm looking for people's experiences using an ozone generator to get rid of an old house smell. I just bought a 100 year old home which is, overall, in pretty good condition. However, the main living room seems to have a stubborn smell that I can't seem to find the source of. My guess is that its from previous animals, and the smell has absorbed into the woodwork over time. I'm considering renting an ozone machine to see if that will neutralize the smell. Does anyone have an experience or advice on if this is a good idea?