My first home purchase was a very long time ago...1979.
It shouldn't be too surprising to you that I really have very little memory of the experience.
My fondest memory of the purchase was sharing a pizza, sitting on the floor, the first night after we closed.
I was only 21, my husband 24. We were expecting our first child.
As for the process of finding our first home...we had no idea what we were doing. We started our search without the assistance of an agent.
I do remember my parents accompanying us as we house hunted. They were horrified at the "dumps " we were excitedly bringing them to.
They were even more horrified at the prices. We were looking at older "fixer upper" homes in the $20,000 - $25,000 price range. My parents had paid $15,000 for their brand new construction (my childhood house) sixteen years prior.
Each home we looked at was worse than the one before it.
My poor parents. It wasn't until many years later, when we were in their shoes house hunting with our son and his wife, that we knew exactly how my parents felt. It can be so painful balancing being supportive and wanting the best for them.
Luckily for us, and my folks, our first home hunt was short. At my parents insistence, we contacted an agent and learned that we qualified for HUD assistance on new construction.
Our new house cost $40,000 and with the government assistance our payments were only $300 a month.
A brand new home. Exciting, but frustrating for a young couple with no prior home building experience. The lot we chose was switched by the builder for one reason or another several times, eventually we were even moved to a different street. (Over the years this turned out to be a huge blessing. The original street ended up aging poorly and not being as desirable a location.)
During construction there was an accident on the property. The builder was sued. Unfortunately, as owners we were named in the lawsuit too. It was stressful until it was all resolved and we only had to pay $1 as judgment because we were indemnified through our contract with the builder.
We lived in that home on Partridge Lane for 25 years.
Our second home was also new construction, however, of much higher quality construction. After ten years we moved again and then one more time six years after that to the home we are currently living in.
Each of our homes were perfect for us at the time and each hold very special memories for us.
I know tag-along parents can be overwhelming sometimes for real estate agents, on both sides of the deal. I know that they can be very frustrating especially for the young house hunters.
I've lived long enough to be in both positions...
1. The young, inexperienced, wide eyed and easily impressed house hunter
and
2. The older, experienced, eagle eyed, cautious house hunter
It is my experience in both cases that having the older generation along for this very exciting experience in life can be highly beneficial.
Written for: Tell Us About Your First Home Buying Experience
April Challenge Hosted by Kathy Streib and Carol Williams
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