Okay, so we're going to do it. We know we can't afford to coast along on our two (inadequate) standard deductions anymore, and it doesn't make sense to rent. (We don't want to rent anymore anyway.) We're getting kicked out of our rental so the owners can sell, and we now have seven weeks to obtain financing, find a house, close on it and move in. We're out on the street August 1, house or no house. So tell me...

What will I always regret if I compromise on it? That extra full bath we decide we can live without? Fireplace? Garage? Getting a too-small yard? (I'm not a gardener...yet, but we do have two dogs...) Bad decorating we can solve, bad location we can't. Other than that, I'm a bit at loose ends.

We're in a pretty high-cost area, so I know we will be making lots of compromises, but it's hard to see which ones we'll regret and which ones are fixable after we move in. Seven weeks! Yikes!

-- Anonymous, June 08, 2001

Answers

Well, all of those compromises are personal choices. Me, I hate fireplaces, and I'm really wishing my yard were smaller ... it's very hard to have a yard this large looking nice all at once. Location winds up being a compromise, too. We knew the general part of town we wanted, but we opted for a quieter neighborhood that's probably a little further than we'd like from restaurants and coffee shops, etc. I'm not sure anyone can advise you on those compromises, because everyone will have a different deal-breaker.

I will pass on two pieces of advice from our realtor, though, because I think they were pretty good. One: make sure you can live with the kitchen. Kitchens are the most expensive part of the house to remodel. And if you don't like the kitchen, make sure it can be remodeled into something you do like. There was one house we really liked other than some ugly 80's remodeling, but our realtor pointed out that because of the placement of windows and hallways, there was no way to redo the kitchen into anything other than an annoying little maze. She predicted we would hate that kitchen forever and wind up eating out all the time.

Two: if you aren't buying your dream house (and in seven weeks you probably aren't going to find the perfect house that will be right for you forever and ever), consider resale value every step of the way. Try not to buy a house that no one would ever buy unless they had to find a place to live in seven weeks. It's probably better to buy a house with a small yard or only one bathroom, if it would work just fine for a single person or someone with no dogs, than to buy the house that has the features *you* want but is right next to a gas station or a freeway onramp, you know? You can sell the former when you do find your dreamhouse, but you might be stuck with the latter forever.

Finally, find a realtor right now. Ask a friend for a reference. I think the best realtors for first-time buyers are middle-aged women who are licensed as brokers and work for themselves. They tend to be bossy and overbearing, but you kind of need a mother figure if you're trying to do this quickly. She'll set you up with financing -- which you should get on really quickly -- and she'll have inspectors, mortgage brokers, etc., that she knows can get the job done in the very short time frame you have.

Trust me on this one. We struggled with inexperienced realtors and flaky loan officers, until we signed up with our landlady (who was a realtor) and she took over. She was very bossy, very sneaky, and a little bit mean, but she got us the house we really wanted for the price we wanted to pay, and she got our loan approved in about a day. Ask around and find a realtor like her.

-- Anonymous, June 08, 2001

Beth, it's very true that most of these are probably fairly personal. I guess I'm hoping for a bit of perspective - what I'm most afraid of is that I'll get over-focused on the seven weeks part and not be critical enough of the house itself. With this schedule and with our current budget in this market, you're right that resale needs to be a real concern for us.

Fortunately, we're well hooked up with realtor and mortage - we've already done our mortgage app and have one preapproval already (with a letter on its way to help us with the contract). We're hoping to end up with a slightly better deal, but we feel comfortable looking with one commitment letter in hand. Our realtor is on vacation until Monday, but he's already looked at our 'wish list' and is ready (he says) to hit the pavement with us next week. I don't know how bossy or sneaky he is, but as long as he's a good negotiator (which is what I'm told by others who have worked with him), I'll be satisfied. I can be pretty pushy on my own.

I'm probably far more stressed by the schedule than I need to be - everyone I've talked to here says that once you decide you're really going to do it, the time it takes is more for you to make decisions than for the process itself. I hope that's true.

So much packing. So many books. So little time.

-- Anonymous, June 08, 2001

Maybe the best thing to do would be to find another place to rent and not buy in haste?

-- Anonymous, June 08, 2001

We are homeowners now, and looking to buy a new place - and the best advice I got so far was not to look for dream houses - don't look at anything you can't afford, because then all the stuff you can afford just looks like crap. Anything that you find a bit annoying on your walkthrough will be what drives you nuts every day when you live there. A kitchen without counterspace is a bad, bad thing. When you find the house you love, walk through the neighbourhood at night - my friends bought their dream house, only to discover the neighbours are a nightmare of party animals at night, and she doesn't feel safe walking to the corner store at night because of the creepy men that hang out there, smoking. When you are negotiating price, and they won't come down to where you want, see if you can get other stuff instead - like, they throw in the appliances. Put a clause in about the garden, if there is one - someone in our neighbourhood sold their house, and then brought a flatbed truck in and pulled out all of their garden - it looks like a lunar landing over there, now.

If you have to fix something in the house, don't buy contingent on the owner getting it fixed - buy it with you getting it fixed, and a reasonable sum for that cost being deducted from the price - they have no reason to do as great a job of fixing as you, the new owners do. My friends refer to this as, "Elaine's basement stairs rule."

-- Anonymous, June 08, 2001

Not buying is really not the right answer for us right now - we make enough money that renting is really pretty stupid, and if we did sign a lease on another place we'd end up breaking it to buy anyway. Then we'd also have to move twice, which we really don't want to do.

When you look at rentals in this area and realize we'd be paying over $1500 on someone else's mortgage, renting just doesn't work. I'm just feeling a little freaked out after wanting to buy for a few years and now doing it fairly suddenly.

-- Anonymous, June 08, 2001

Beth's advice is right on the money. We've been looking in our area for a while and are taking our time because we can and we'd rather wait for the right house than rush into something we'll hate later. Plus the housing market in Pittsburgh, at least in the neighborhoods we've tageted, is tight. But you don't have that luxury.

I would say this though. In addition to Beth's advice about a realtor, I would go with a buyers' rep who doesn't list homes for sale. An independent agent who doesn't list is going to bargain for you the buyer without fear of what it'll cost him/her later in future deals. You also get much more access with an agent than without. Plus, there are often houses that are on the market but not advertised widely.

What we found to be helpful for us and our agent was to go in with a list of what we were looking for in terms of architecture, features, amenities and price. It helped to have a list of neighborhoods we were interested in as well.

A good home inspector is worth his or her weight in gold. Ask any friends and aquaintances that have bought recently for recommendations. It's good to have a few names in case one is on vacation or booked considering your time frame and time of year.

We've found realtor.com to be very helpful as well. The listings are usually up to date and reasonably accurate. We've called our realtor several times with listings we found there that she wasn't aware of yet.

Good luck.

-- Anonymous, June 08, 2001

I'll second Beth's comment about the kitchen, and expand that bathrooms you like are also critical... I compromised myself out of a roomie Master bathroom (in exchange for a really great kitchen), and now, every single morning for the last 4 1/2 years, when I'm at my crankiest, I hate hate hate our bathroom with it's cheapo tiny shower and no counter space.

When we next do it over again, we'll have *separate* bathrooms, no compromising, and mine will be roomie enough for all my stuff.

The other thing we thought we could live with and now wish we didn't have to is our bedroom being too small - 2 adults and our dressers and 1 smallish closet means our room is wall-to-wall cramped.

The last thing I'd say to look at is what sort of high-maintenance utilities you'll be dealing with - we didn't know what a sump pump even was when we bought this place, and it's become the most babied item in the house (when it goes bottom, the bottom level floods). Know what sort of upkeep the AC, heater and other items (sump, septic tank, gas?) will take, and decide if you're willing to deal with it.

-- Anonymous, June 08, 2001

Good luck. I'm the last person in the universe to give you fast house buying advice, as we have not managed to buy a house yet despite the five years (on and off) that my husband and I have been looking to buy.

But I will just add to the discussion our own concern that this is a high point in the real estate market. The only thing you can do is just to be prepared to stay wherever you buy for a while just in case you have to ride out a down cycle in prices. Downturns are only a problem if you have to sell *during* them. They last about 6-10 years here in So Cal.

I'm really really hoping the next one holds off for a few years, but with my financial luck, it will hit as soon as we finally close escrow.

-- Anonymous, June 08, 2001

The advice you're getting is right on track. My wife and I are about to purchase our first home and my employer has had seminars that I've been attending that focused on buying houses in a tough market. I'm not sure how tough the market is where you are but the average home in Santa Clara county (where I live) last year went for $900,000... and we're talking 1-story 3 beds,2 baths with postage stamp back-yards. So it's something we've given alot of thought to. Few pointers that I picked up in these seminars:

The realtor is always, -always- representing the seller. One thing that a speaker said that has suck in my mind was that as slimy as a car dealer is, they know that 15% of their business are returning customers. The general realtor has less than 1% returning customers. And ultimately, the higher the cost of the house the higher their take, which means two things: 1) bargaining is -your- responsibility and 2) realtors may push the envelope of what you want to see (like showing you $160,000 houses when you clearly stated your maximum at $150,000.)

Take your time (maybe not an option for you). Buying a house is one of the biggest financial decisions most couples make. If you are not finding the right fit for you, don't be afraid to rent again. You only have to close by December 31st to get the tax right-off, and rushing the decision may be cause for regret later.

Make the final sale dependent on a Civil Engineer's inspection. Sometimes the market in Northern Cali is so tough, that seller's won't agree to such an inspection. Get one if you can. A thorough inspection by a licensed engineer will take at least 2 hours, and will run about $300 for a 2000 sq ft house, and will include foundation assessment, plumbing, furnace, cooling inspections, as well as looking at the overall structure (a dirty engineer is a thorough one). An engineer will advise you on questionable issues, such as possible dry wall rot, prompting you to get an "allowance".

Enjoy your new place... and once you have enough equity, get a second mortgage to pay off those student loans.... (mortgage interest is tax-deductable!)

-- Anonymous, June 08, 2001

So much of the advice here is dead on -- I heartily second Beth's kitchen comments and Lynda's bath ones -- these are the two most expensive rooms to remodel (speaking as a licensed general contractor), that if you're not able to live with them and you know you won't have the budget to remodel within five years or so, it may be wiser to find something else. If you're absolutely in love with a home and you wonder if it would be worth remodeling that kitchen / bath later on, you should ask the appraiser (which you'll have to get anyway) what sort of differences an updated kitchen / bath will make in that house in that area. In other words, you can put too much into a house and never get it back out -- but you also could put $5000 into it but increase the equity in the house by $10,000. Depends on many factors and these might be something worth asking about if this is all you find is lacking in the house. And if you're really on the fence on a house where the kitchen is iffy, take some good photos (from all angles, if possible), go to a local building center which can give you estimates on remodeling (even Home Depot has people who will help you with this for free) and get a rough "guestimate" of how much it would cost to improve it to your liking.

An inspector is a must for all the reasons stated above. Make sure your inspector is independent of the seller or the realtor -- you don't want to have to wonder if you're truly getting a thorough and objective job.

Ask about the age of anything mechanical -- A/C units, hot water heaters, built-in appliances, such as dishwashers, and ask if they came with any sort of warrantee. Our A/C unit, for example, has a warranty transferable to a new owner; our dishwasher does not. If there has been any major repair on the house in the past -- such as a new roof or raising a slab which has sunk, then there is usually a warranty offered by the contractor for a certain period of time. Make sure that warranty is (a) transferable and (b) you get it in writing at the closing. Don't let them say they'll get it to you later. Also, we noted that the roof needed to be replaced within two years or so we got a big allowance back for that.

(By the way, we got so much back in allowances that it offset what we had to put down and even paid us $1000 to buy this house. And I love this house -- it's great.)

If you're not in a flood plain, you may not have to worry about that sort of thing, but do ask about drainage in the neighborhood after a hard rain, anything that might cause excessive noise. At one place we looked very seriously, an interstate which couldn't be seen anywhere near one neighborhood because of shrubs and trees could be heard -- loudly -- at night. I don't know why we didn't notice it in the daytime when we were there looking, but we happened to go back at night and were stunned by how loud it was.

Also -- I didn't know this, but have been told that it's standard in most homeowner's insurances to exclude damage which is caused in a house by water / sewage / pipes bursting, that sort of thing. Sure enough, I looked up my insurance policy and tucked away in a page was that exception. But for $35 a year more on the insurance, I could cover up to $5000 worth of damages should anything like that happen. To me, that was worth asking for a rider.

Knock on the neighbors' doors once you're serious. Introduce yourself and see how they are. We have a very friendly, open group of neighbors and I really like 'em all. Seeing how much people were out in their yards, walking, running, visiting, was a very positive part of wanting to live here, and offset it not being quite as close to coffee shops and stores as a couple of other houses. I'd rather have great neighbors and drive an extra five minutes somewhere than be close to shops and have neighbors who were psychotic.

-- Anonymous, June 08, 2001

Wow, thanks for all of the great advice so far - keep it coming! We've already thought of much of this, but (especially given our desired timeframe) I'm trying to compile checklists and worksheets for as much of our process as possible. (I'm big on lists in almost all circumstances.)

Our realtor is, in fact, a certified (or whatever they call it) buyer's agent and works only for us. Granted, he still takes his cut of the sale, but we're at least somewhat protected from that end. I've ditched realtors before (a large part of why we've still been renting) for being pushy about things I knew we couldn't comfortably afford and/or had clearly said we didn't want. If I'm not totally comfortable with his style at any point, I have a list of highly recommended agents I compiled a few months ago from friends and coworkers, and I'll start down the list. He's not going to get a grace period with us, and he knows that. We're also doing lots of legwork (driving through neighborhoods, checking classifieds and the net) ourselves, to narrow down what we want and where.

The market here (DC/Northern Virginia) is awfully tight, but summer is the high listing time, and we're relatively resigned to not having alot of negotiating room on the sale price of whatever we decide we like. That said, the home inspection is on our 'non-negotiable' list, and if we can't get allowances for any problems we find, then it's not the house for us.

Very good points on kitchens and bathrooms - and great idea to check out how much redo's would cost and gain us. We've been looking off an on for years, so I don't feel we're totally going in cold, but we do have a 'drop dead' date that means we need to find another rental (even if it's monthly corporate type) while we keep looking. A few months in monthly housing with our things in storage will cost less in the long term than a major home-buying mistake, but I (really, really) hope it won't come to that.

Keep the ideas coming!

-- Anonymous, June 08, 2001

I don't have any house-buying advice, I just wanted to comment on student-loan interest.

Under the new tax bill, all your student loan interest is also deductable (with no ceiling), so you won't need that 2nd mortgage!

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2001

This may sound dumb, but since you're in a rush, I feel it's important because I've made the same mistake myself when in a rush...

Check for the small details. Things that you may overlook in your hurry and panic. I recall Heather of more.than.this being shocked that her kitchen in her previous house not having *any* drawers. Thing is, who thinks to check that? Every kitchen has drawers for utensils yes? No. Check everything. Check closet space, other forms of storage space, drawers, all the little things. Make sure that the things that are essential to you now are covered.

I actually don't live in a house (yet) but that's something that will be on my mind when I do buy. It's annoying to discover something important is not there when you're renting. It would royally piss me off if that was the case after I lay down thousands and thousands of dollars to buy a place.

Other than that, I'm of the "large kitchen with lots of storage and counter space and preferably a breakfast nook" and "large roomy bathrooms with room for a big claw-foot tub someday" schools of thought.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2001

I don't think that's true, Kristie. If you can point me to something that backs your claim up, I (and many others, I bet) would appreciate it.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2001

And even if it is true, it might not apply to existing student loans, or it might be only partially retroactive. That's what happened to me with the last student law/tax changes.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2001

Well, since I'm one of the (lucky?) few who doesn't have enough student loan interest to bother about too much, I'll ignore that little side thread (at least 'til next April) and ask a different question.

Here's the situation: we've been working with one guy - a buyer's agent - who's perfectly nice and seems competent enough. My problem is that I'm not convinced that he's all that familiar with all of the specific areas we're looking at (the key word here is "all" - the market, both geographical and otherwise, is anything but small).

He started out by (gently) trying to steer us away from where I thought we'd want to be and toward where (it ends up) he's more familiar with (an area that is probably much less ideal for us commute-wise), though he's since agreed that we probably do want to be in the area I originally pointed toward.

Since we don't have time to waste and really still want to be sure we're seeing everything that fits our criteria, what I feel like we need to do is work with someone else in those areas he's not as familiar with. Trouble is, we haven't ruled out some of the areas he is familiar with, so we don't want to necessarily ditch him entirely (though we haven't ruled that out, either). Is is common (is it ever done) to work with more than one agent? If so, how does that work?

Am I just being paranoid about spending an amount of money best expressed as 'parts per million' rather than in thousands? Is finding the house really just a matter of him running searches on the database and using his magic key to get us in the door?

If we do ditch him entirely and go with someone else, what's the protocol involved? What if we end up deciding to go for one of the houses (there are two that we haven't elminated at this point) that he's already shown us?

For those of you DC-area folks playing at home, we're looking at the Dulles corridor - Arlington/Falls Church west through Vienna/Fairfax as far out as Sterling. He's more Springfield/Alexandria/Annandale and points south, but we haven't eliminated the inside-the-Beltway parts of Alex/Annan, so...

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2001

I started a new thread about the student-loan deduction, since it really is off topic.

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2001

I'm just about to start looking for a house myself. The difference, and the thing that I think is a big advantage for me, is that I am not in a hurry. My lease isn't up for awhile (I figure I'll have to break it, but that's all right), and I'm not going to have a screaming fit if I don't find anything I like. I'm hoping the market is better than it was since so many techie people are out of work or worried about layoffs.

Liss, if your agent isn't familiar with the area you want, do get another one. You might just tell this guy up front what your problem is with him. Balance out the consequences -- you feel uncomfortable or awkward telling this guy that you'd rather use someone who can find you what you want, or you end up paying tons and tons of money for a house you don't like.

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2001

The way we found our house in the tight buyers market here in the DC area was to narrow down the neighborhoods we knew we wanted to be located in (school district mainly) and then hired the realtor that was top in that area - then we found out about a house ~before~ it was even on the market and were able to make the offer and have it accepted without it ever getting the "For Sale" sign put up in the yard.

Check with the police department about the neighborhood - I'm surprised at how many people never think of this. Find out what sort of crime if any they've had to deal with in the last six months.

We had the home inspection - they are a good thing - even if you don't get the things fixed it is good to know so you have an idea of what problems you may encounter later. And we did get the home warranty - like $300 - we've only used it once to fix some leaky faucets but it is nice insurance against that ancient air conditioning unit.

What I wish we had done: had a pest inspection. A termite inspection is standard (maybe the law for Va?) but just for my own sake I wish I had Orkin come out and check for other creepy crawlies - they'd have discovered the carpenter ants, the bee hives, the wasp nests, the centipedes..... you get the picture.

If there are things that you think you can add later that won't be a big deal - like you find a house with a yard but it isn't fenced and figure you'll just fence it yourselves. Call and get an estimate - we thought we'd put up a privacy fence at our place and were a wee bit shocked that the estimates were over $10K. "Oh, we can tear out that wall later..." - a good idea to get a contractor in to see if your fix-it-up ideas are feasible before you make big plans.

And my last bit of advice which you probably already know is to drive the commute during rush hour to and from the new place just like you'd be doing if you lived there.

- t

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2001

I second the advice on looking for a realtor based in that specific area, as well as the "test the commute" idea.

I have a somewhat cheesy tidbit I'd like to throw out here...take it as you may. When my wife and I became interested in purchasing a house in a different city in a different state, we called a few of our lawyer friends in that city for two reasons: 1) some of the attorneys have dealt in real estate law, and knew some names that we should immediately cross off our list.... but more importantly... 2) large law firms usually recruit associates from universities often in other states, and sweeten their respective packages with moving expenses, temporary housing, and real estate agents that they (the firm) have had a long-standing relationship with. Many times, you can find such agents to be more concerned than usual about protecting and catering to the relationship with that firm (especially if they're sending a half-dozen or more new associates to them a year for housing help.) Now, -you- are not going to that firm, but finding their chosen agent, and letting that person know how you came about choosing them may provide a wee bit more substance. Maybe.

This is just a tactic that I have employed and have found it very useful, as two agents have continued to call me to let me know about some "great little deals" that have come along within the criteria that I had laid out a few months ago for them. One guy emails me links to other realtor's web site's advertising (as that is nice to look at pics as well as hear specs) and adds what he thinks we could talk them down to. Mind you, these people are 1,500 miles away, and we're not buying until next summer, as I have told them.

Anywho, maybe this gives you some added creativity in your approach. I'm sure that this would work for any large corp that has recruiters that are used to attracting out of town help. Good luck to you. (And again, I wouldn't car shop at one dealer, don't house shop with one realtor.)

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2001

As a sidenote, if any of you are in Sacramento and would like to be my neighbor, there is a really cute house on my block that's just gone up for sale. You must not park in front of my house on days when I have groceries to unload, and you must do something about those poor roses that are growing in the shade. Bonus points if you're cute.

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2001