Thoughts on Life – 3/13/2012 – Buying a house
We have made a big decision. We are looking to buy a house. My wife (ok, girlfriend when we started) and I have decided it is time to stop renting and time to get in a house. There are a couple of reasons for this.
- First, we really do not like the place where we live right now. This apartment complex is tolerable at best. We are surrounded by loud neighbors, and this has been true of whatever neighbors live there, as the turnover is high. The maintenance level at our complex is also really low, and has been for a long time. This means that everything is old, most of it has been patched together multiple times, and many things break every year. So, we have to put up with them coming in over and over and not fixing things over and over.
- Second, this apartment is just expensive on our budget. Yes, I know a house will be expensive too, but it will feel less like flushing money down the toilet with no chance of improvement ever. Right now, though, the money is hard to justify, especially considering the condition of the place. Plus, everything is exactly the opposite of energy efficient here, and we could hopefully rectify this in a house.
- Third, we can actually afford a house big enough for us right now. Yes, there aren’t a whole lot of 4+ bedroom, 2+ bathroom, 2250 sq. ft. + houses out there for under $150000, but there are some. That was not true not that long ago, but the housing prices have dropped far enough for buying to be a realistic option for us.
So, I have now scheduled our first viewing of a house we are interested in. Oh, and, yeah, we have no idea what we are doing at all . . .
Thoughts, Ideas, Ramblings, and Other Things 
So, this is going to be the first blog on which I post a comment. Interesting.
Where are you looking?
Part of our story is similar to yours, We were after 2000 sq. ft, 3 bedrooms, two living areas. We wanted the house for 150K. We ended up with 2200 in a fabulous neighborhood for just a bit over our price. That was *last* year. I can’t imagine what you will be able find now! This is a fabulous time to buy!
If you’re looking in Tarrant County outside of Fort Worth, I can forward the message that I just sent to Chad about schools. Also, I know a good realtor.
Have fun with it! Spring is really active, so you should have plenty of options.
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We are currently looking around where we live right now. We are in the Ridgmar area, and we are primarily looking right around here and some down in the Hulen area. We are mostly doing this because that is the area we know well. We will probably also look in North Fort Worth, as Amanda is likely to end up at UNT someday for graduate school, so that would be a convenient location as well. Right now, we just don’t know anything about the area, so I have no idea.
We do have a realtor now, so we’re that far along in the process. We are seeing a couple of houses on Sunday, so I’ll know more at that point, as there are several right now that look very much like what we are looking for on paper.
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