How long did it take you to find the home you purchased? I'm starting to think this is going to be a very long process for us as there seems to be a very limited amount of houses on the market that are move in ready (within our budget).
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Mar 12, 2013 11:09:34 GMT -5
Current house: 9 months of looking, 2 months of furlow (we took a break because we just couldn't take it any more). 1 month to close. OH house: 3 months of looking, 3 months to close.
Post by simpsongal on Mar 12, 2013 11:10:06 GMT -5
We looked for years for information purposes (saving for DP), but when we finally got an agent and house hunted, we found the house in 6 weeks (+30 days to close). Make sure you're being realistic about what's available in your market for your price point. Do your homework so when the right house comes, you're ready to make a strong offer.
I'm so glad we bought last year (we closed a year ago next week). Our market has really heated up. A house down the street just sold in a day.
I closed in late December, it took 6 months to find anything. Low inventory, anything decent getting snapped up within a day. It was very frustrating. I thought about waiting until spring/summer when inventory would be higher (theoretically) but I'm glad I didn't. I love my house and who knows what would be available then. Just be ready to act when you find something you like.
We started searching in 2011, and there were a ton of houses. Many of the good ones were picked quickly, others had homeowners who refused to see the true financial picture. For example, we put a fair offer on a house that had been on and off the market for 3 years. They would not budge on price. A year later, they finally gave up and pulled the property. It's sitting empty.
There were not a lot of houses in good condition in the range we wanted to spend, but when we significantly increased our budget, we weren't terribly impressed. So, we picked a fixer-upper in the low range.
Post by sillygoosegirl on Mar 12, 2013 11:22:33 GMT -5
We looked online for most of a year before we started looking in person. Then we looked in person for a year. Then we put in the offer on our house, and since it was a short sale, we waited another 9 months and continued looking at other houses during that time. During that time, we were able to save a good bit more money and increase our price range. Though about a month before we finally got our short sale, we finally found a house in our original price range that we actually liked (if not as much as the more expensive house we ended up buying).
(We also looked online and some in person for years before that, but in different cities where we were living at the time.)
Post by emoflamingo on Mar 12, 2013 11:28:09 GMT -5
We looked for 4 months, including with and without our realtor, online and at open houses, etc. There was a lot of supply in the area we wanted to move to, but the demand was also high so the houses in our price range went fast.
Our house came to be because my MIL called and asked to see it. So we looked at it and put an offier 3 days after I came home from the hospital having Baby W. Once we put an offer in, we asked for 2 months before close since we did just have a baby and that wasn't something I needed to stress about just yet.
Post by stephm0188 on Mar 12, 2013 11:28:56 GMT -5
We looked at a new build and after they told me I couldn't have white cabinets, I nixed that plan. I spotted an open hose ad in the paper that afternoon and went to see it the next day. Scheduled a showing for the day after the open house and made an offer.
To be fair, I had looked online for nearly a year. I also had a list of things I wanted, knew what I was willing to compromise on, and we had a decent budget. If you're not finding what you want in your budget, you may need to reconsider your exectations or adjust your budget accordingly.
The market here is also drastically improving. Low inventory, and most houses sell in under 30 days. Two in my neighborhood recently sold the day they were listed.
11 months. It was a long year! We were admittedly being very picky. We knew this would be a long term house for us and there were some things we weren't willing to go without. During the process, we did find two houses that we really really liked but they had no yard. We seriously considered just making an offer because we had been looking for so long. I'm so glad we held out and waited. As much as I liked those houses, I like ours even more. And we have a yard! Don't give up!
2 months, our house went on the market and we bought it that day but we had a long close because we got a 203K loan and had to find the contractor and iron our the details.
Post by RoxMonster on Mar 13, 2013 19:23:42 GMT -5
We found ours within two weeks. The whole process moved quickly for us. We weren't in a hurry and don't feel we rushed; we just knew exactly what we wanted and luckily we found it.
From the day we got pre-approved for a mortgage to the day we put in an offer was exactly 2 weeks.
we casually looked online for about a year. when we were actually ready to buy, we looked for 2 weeks at the most and bought the 4th house we looked at.