I’m Buying a House!

Quick recap: I’m moving to Cleveland, and I started the home-buying process…with a whole lot of internet research. But two weeks ago, things got real, and it’s official…I’m buying a house!

How it Went Down

In mid-October, I set aside a week to visit Cleveland and go house-hunting. It was a whirlwind. On the first day, my realtor and I saw 14 houses. We narrowed that down to 4, added one back to the list the next day, and added one new one. So the second day, when my mom and my best friend Lyra joined us, we saw just 6 houses.

By that afternoon, I picked one, and we made an offer that night. It was a competitive offer, but there were a couple of hang-ups, and we had to go back and forth with the sellers a couple of times. Two (very stressful) days later, I had an accepted offer!

The home is wonderful. Built in 1943, it’s a 4-bedroom, 1.5 baths. It has the perfect space for my office and a small backyard for StarDog. It has these wonderful wood floors and a working fireplace that will be easy to convert to gas. It’s in a lovely neighborhood, and it’s close to stores, parks, restaurants, and a library.

The Inspection

My realtor is amazing, and she knew that I really wanted to be there for the inspection before I left town, so she called in a favor to get my inspection scheduled two days later. It took three hours, and I asked all of the questions I could think of. The inspector was great too, and he made sure to point out maintenance things that a first-time homebuyer should be aware of. Immediately after the inspection, I got in the car with StarDog and drove 6 hours home.

The inspection went well. It’s an older home, and I requested that the sellers replace the electrical panel and fix some cracked windows. Instead, they gave me a credit toward closing costs, so I’ll have to do those things once I move in.

All the Money I’ve Spent

Let’s just say it’s been an expensive couple of weeks. There’s the offer itself, which was a little over the target home price I was aiming for. Once it was accepted, I, of course, had to write checks for the earnest money ($2,000) and the home inspection ($320). When I got home, I had to schedule: a moving truck rental ($600), movers in Arlington to pack the truck ($450), and movers in Cleveland to unpack it ($400). I also had to buy home insurance ($750) and pay for the appraisal ($380).

Don’t get me wrong, these are all expenses I anticipated and saved for in my New Home Fund Category of my YNAB budget. That doesn’t mean that seeing the numbers listed out isn’t painful…

The Money I’ll Save

I mentioned that I went over my planned housing budget. Before you think me an irresponsible finance blogger, I have a very good justification for that.

During my stay in Cleveland, Lyra and I talked quite a bit about the house I wanted. I had previously asked if she’d be interested in living with me for a bit (which would save us both money), and she decided to take me up on it. This means that I get help on my mortgage, and she gets great rent without having to live with a stranger.

One of my conditions though (and I’m sure one that she echoed) was that we both still have private space in the house. If there’s anyone I’d want to room with again, it’s her, but we also have both really enjoyed living alone for several years. With that requirement in mind, I decided to spend a little more to get a 4-bedroom home, which gives both of us 2 bedrooms for individual space. And with Lyra paying rent for the first year, I’ll be spending less than if I had bought a house at my initial target price.

Keeping my Anxiety at Bay

I love this house. And everything seems to be coming together really really well. We’ve set a closing date, and I’ve gotten all of my paperwork in and all of the documents signed.

Despite that, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. I’m paranoid that something is going to fall through, I won’t be approved for a mortgage, and I’ll have to scramble for a plan B. Hopefully that won’t happen, and even if it does, I should know well in advance of the closing date in early December.

I have one last big work trip coming up, and I’ll be gone for 2.5 weeks in November. Because of that, my loan officer agreed that it made sense to frontload the process so that we know everything is set before I leave, especially since I won’t always have reliable internet on this trip.

So, while I am definitely stressed about waiting for this approval, I’m hopeful that I’ll only have to keep my anxiety at bay for a little while. And hopefully, I’ll have some good news soon!

What’s Left to Do

Once I’ve closed on the house, I have a long laundry list of things to do. Which, naturally, involves spending more money. If anyone has advice on how to save on any of these items (without sacrificing quality or safety), please let me know!

• I have to update the electrical panel. It is woefully outdated and still uses fuses. Of course, for this one, I’m using an experienced electrician.
• I need to buy and install a washer and dryer. Hoping for some good Black Friday deals here!
• I desperately want to install a dishwasher ASAP. Because the house doesn’t have one yet, and I am way to lazy to deal with that shit.
• I’m repainting at least some of the rooms, and I’m replacing most of the light fixtures (they’re gold-plated and ugly).
• I’ll need to fix the cracked windowpanes–if I remember correctly, there are two of them.
• I need to put fencing in the backyard. I only need to do one side of the yard because my neighbors to the side and the back have their own fences. But this is something StarDog is going to want done stat! I’m not actually sure if it’s feasible to install fencing in December…I’m assuming it depends on the ground temperature.

This is on top of all the other moving things. Cleaning the old place, canceling internet and utilities in one home and starting them in the new one, unpacking, settling in, etc. December is going to be a busy month, but I can’t wait to get started.

A Postscript

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen my tweet last week about SunCat. She was diagnosed with cancer, and now I’m talking to the vet about palliative care and pain management at the end of her life. This is a really hard thing for me to deal with because she’s been my best friend for so long–over 15 years.

I may write more about this on the blog later, and I definitely want to talk about the finances at some point (and how I’m grateful that they aren’t part of the decision-making process for her care), but I just can’t right now. That being said, I wanted to make sure to acknowledge it. Because she’s the best cat. And because I estimate that half of my readers are only here for my pets. Which I 100% respect.