Where do I even begin on this!? A little over a month ago I announced we bought our first home! I think we closed May 28 and the last month has been so fun doing a few reno projects. We are moving in about a week I can’t believe it.
When Josh and I got married we made it a goal to buy our first home in the Summer or Fall of 2021. Ideally, early Summer due to our apartment lease being up July 31. Back in January, we started reaching out to lenders our realtor recommended to get an idea of down payment and how much house we could afford with our current income and savings (we already had an idea which was what we had been saving towards too).
My girlfriend recently got her real estate license (she’s an amazing apartment locater… helped us find our apartment for a good deal!) so I knew I wanted her to help us with our first home. It was nice because I could text her all day long, voice text her, complain, be dramatic, and ask weird questions and know she didn’t care haha.
The lenders in January gave us a pre-approved home loan to give us an idea of what to expect but recommended we don’t start the process until March after I’ve filed my second year of self-employed taxes. So we waited until March and then reached back out (ended up switching lenders to a group who was able to get us approved for a little more) and started our home buying process.
I think around April 15 was the day we started actively looking at homes with our realtor. We looked at 7 the first day and put an offer on one I was IN LOVE with. Like, seriously still my favorite house out of all the ones we looked at. We didn’t get it and that was just the beginning of our next month lol! We spent everyday for a week looking at 6-7 homes and offering on 1 or 2 a day. They all had 40+ offers or were gone within the hours. I was drained, pissed, and over it. It was taking up my whole work day and I get attached to things easily. We switched up our map to expand further north into suburbs and started again.
I’d say a couple weeks went by of the same situation. Looking at a bunch, offering, starting again haha. I was just about done with the whole process when two in the same neighborhood (area we originally wanted) came on the market in the same day. Josh convinced me to look at them and we offered on both. Josh loved the other house more and I loved our home! The first was declined and the other (one I loved) called us and said there’s 2 other higher offers but that they’re investors and the homeowner used to be an appraiser and hates the race of the housing market this year… That she loved our letter and asked if we could come a bit higher. We did and she accepted!! I was soooo excited and mainly just relieved to be done.
Then we went through the closing process for four weeks which was quite the learning experience for me haha! But it went really smooth.
What we offered: (due to the market as well)
- Appraisal waiver
- Over asking price (but not to where the house would be appraised under or we couldn’t profit when we sell)
- A heartfelt letter about our family and why we’re buying a house
- Offer to pay title
- In other home offers we offered to give them a free leaseback if they needed one
It’s extremely annoying when I think about how our first home buying experience was like this. Of course I got over it and realized this was just our current reality but it was frustrating as a young couple trying to fight for a home up against investors and families from other states with more money who could offer cash, much more over asking, and other incentives we couldn’t. I pictured our first experience being much easier, more fun, and calmer but unfortunately it wasn’t the case for us. If you’re looking currently, y’all got this! And don’t lose hope because all it takes is one seller who wants it to go to a family or young couple.
About our home:
We plan to be in this home for about 3-5 years depending… It’s 1800 sq feet, 3 beds and 2 baths, and the perfect little starter home for us and our animals. It has a back yard we’ve always wanted, and we are closer to family which will be amazing when/if we choose to have a baby in this house. We’re moving about 30 mins from the city of Dallas where we currently are as well. The home needs QUITE a bit of work in certain areas but we’re ready to make it OUR home and make it special. We are sooo excited and can’t wait to bring y’all along our first home renovations and new home decor.
Check out the empty home tour if you missed it. (There’s already been a ton of changes since that video)
Lender Company Used: Homebridge (we worked with Justin Wood closely)
Realtor: Kaitlyn White with Simoson Real Estate
It’s honestly so cool to me that I’ve been blogging/ sharing my life for 6 years. WOW! This blog has posts dating back to my Freshman year college dorm, to getting engaged, and now buying our first home. It’s been so fun to bring y’all along the different life stages and I’m so grateful you’re here. XO!
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