So I have spent the past few weeks looking for a place. It has consumed my entire being - well almost. Outside of a fantastic trip to Ocean City, MD over Memorial Day Weekend, it has been my sole focus. I have gone through so many emotional changes during the process. It is just such a huge investmenr and it constantly makes me evaluate who I am and how I want my lifestyle to be.
The first phase I went through was sticker shock. Since I live in the DC Metro area, I halfway expected the prices to be high, but in the perspective of how much it would cost each month - it is just mind blowing. After recovering for the shock of it all, I got a realtor referred to me by a couple of my co-workers and I felt a little better after talking to him.
Second, I went through the fear stage - I am very concerned about this real estate bubble. It is defintely more of a buyers market now, than 6 months ago. A lot of sellers now are willing to help with closing and are offering some sort of re-decorating or other incentives. But what if the value drops dramatically after we purchase, then what? The prices are so high - I have been freaking... My mind is definitely in overdrive.
I got a pre-approval from Bank of America, but it seems contigent on the Acorn Housing program - www.acornhousing.org - which seems to be a great program for first time homebuyers. This weekend I attended the intake with my boyfriend, yes we are purchasing together, and it was a very good seminar. The only issue is...we are just over the income limit and that doesn't even include overtime (which we both get a lot of). Since we are over the income limit, in order to use the program, we have to buy in certain census track areas.
However, the places that I want to live are not in those areas, so I am pretty bummed. I really want to use the program because it offers below market interest rates and eliminates PMI. Eliminating PMI alone is worth it. I am hoping we can come up with a work-around.....so I don't have to exhaust my savings.
Tomorrow I will start the loan shopping process. I hate the idea of being told where I have to live. To be honest, I just haven't seen anything in that area that I like....arrghh.
House hunting really gives a lot of insight into who I am. I looked in several different areas and I learned a lot of myself in the process. For example, I think I prefer a condo over a house (because of the costs) mainly. But a lot of the townhouses I looked at were further out in my price range and the neighborhood were definitely composed of families with children. They were quiet and away from...everything. Perfect for raising a family- maybe not for two workaholics who have no children.
As for the city, that is just so expensive and parking is extra or you can do the get in where you fit in thing. That is not for me - I hate searching for parking - especially at my residence. A 1 bedroom is about the top of my price range in the city, so that too is out....
I have narrowed down my search to Alexandria or Shirlington. Shirlington is being revitalized so I like the idea of that - it is close to the city and there is a great bike trail nearby. If I can only get the financing worked out - we will be all set.
That's it for now,
1 comment:
One option is to only borrow 80% for your primary home loan. PMI kicks in if you borrow 81%.
How I got around it is to get an 80/20 loan. I took the extra money I was going to pay down and paid off other debts.
What that means is that I had 2 loans, the primary one for 80% of the home cost, and another loan for 20% of the home cost. This allowed me to avoid paying PMI.
Of course, if you want to put a downpayment, then you can. Let's say you have 5% of the home value that you can pay. Then take a 80/15 loan with the other 5% as a cash payment.
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