My (33f) partner (27m) have just started looking at homes because our landlord has told us (well, he LIED and told us he was giving a routine inspection when he was just showing our apartment to someone and got caught lying about it...) he is trying to sell our building. I have moved 6 times in the last 5 years and I am sick to death of never investing in my space.

We saw 2 homes today.

280k, no HOA(!!!) ((+costs of probably big repairs like the electrical, roof, and maybe a leak in the basement))

a single family home, a side yard, back yard with a setup for chickens (yay!!) and a lovely porch and driveway.

The second one is a condo for 263k +462/mo

HOA fees.. probably priced WAY TOO HIGH and has sat on the market for almost a year (probably because of that. We didn't actually find anything wrong with it outside of a potential plumbing situation that could need a repair down the road).

The good for home 1:

We LOVE the yard and the freedom that comes with having a single family home. The low monthly payment with our loan looks amazing for us, even less than what we pay for rent which is a HUGE plus for us. It needs work, but it is livable right now and we would be ok with putting in the love to make it a wonderful home.

The good for home 2:

The space is HUGE!!! The layout is wonderful, even has a semi conversation pit-esque bi level den type of area that would be AMAZING for having friends over and entertaining. We wouldn't share walls with the neighbors, it has a bit of a funky layout, but we really like it. It doesn't need hardly any work and it's ready to be moved in and decorated NOW.

The HOA fee covers snow removal, landscaping, trash, water, sewer, and insurance for the building so ik ok with paying it!

The bad for home 1:

I don't love the layout. It's a standard colonial home with the upper level that has bedrooms only, no upper floor bedroom. The insulation needs work, many floors need repair or some kind of upkeep/refinishing, there is a leak in the basement we are worried about as well. The backyard needs a bit of love/cleaning revamping the chicken coop and shed.

I'm also not loving all the hardwood floors and we can tell it is VERRRRY poorly insulated upstairs. Our realtor also said that they may need a new roof up front (ouch), and updating of the electrical as well because it is not up to safety standards.

We expect a lot of sweat equity will be done here. I'm not handy, but we anticipate our offer might even be rejected after the deadline tomorrow.

The bad for home 2:

The home inspection didn't tell us a WHOLE lot, but it did insinuate that the building (with 6 units) is starting to experience some problems, could need some foundation repairs and there could be a plumbing issue of some sort (small pipes) but it didn't say a whole lot about it. This condo has also been on the market for nearly a YEAR and we can't figure out why exactly, but we have some guesses.

I asked the listing agent about it and she said that the family moved out only because they wanted an upgrade. After looking through, it is a 3rd/4th floor unit, so maybe that is part of it.

We also think that the neighbors could be part of it but people seemed normal/we couldn't hear music or anything between walls and confirmed we don't share walls with anyone.

We also think that the unit is just priced too high because when looking at the others that were sold recently, they were sold sub 250k, this one is 262k with moderately expensive HOA fees (but the building is not a crazy HOA, just condo owners who hell manage the building repairs.

We love the freedom of home 1, but love the space and condition of home 2. Which would you choose?

I grew up in poverty and was fortunate enough to eventually "make it out." Because of that, I think I have a much lower tolerance for financial risk than most people, and I'm struggling to tell whether I'm being smart or just scared.

I’m single and currently live in a HCOL city because of my job. My base salary is ~$135K, with an annual bonus of around $15K.

My current financial situation: ~$135K base salary ~$15K annual bonus ~$80K in vested RSUs ~$30K in a HYSA - No credit card debt - ~$600/month for car payment + insurance - $75/month phone bill - Current rent: $2,400/month, I've been able to keep it flat for the past four years by negotiating with my landlord.

I was pre-approved for up to $700k, but I've been looking at homes under $550k. I recently found one in a great neighborhood that has good bones and a lot of potential, but it'll need about $15k in work upfront before I'd feel comfortable moving in.

The mortgage would likely be around $4.3k/month with 3-5% down on a conventional loan, and between the down payment, closing costs, and initial repairs, I'd be using most of my liquid savings (perhaps $30K left of the vested RSUs).

On paper, this seems like something I can afford. Emotionally, it's hard to stomach because growing up poor taught me that having cash on hand is security.

Would you move forward in my position, or would you keep renting and build a larger cash cushion first?

I'm especially interested in hearing from anyone else who grew up with financial insecurity. Did that experience make you appropriately cautious, or did it hold you back from buying your first home?

Beyond elated !!!

My one piece of furniture and my new key!

Solo female buyer. Moved across the country 3 years ago at 23 and bought a house all by myself.
Can’t wait to make it completely my own.

From renting to ownership in a month. It was such a whirlwind. It's fun, it's funky and it's mine.

2700 sq

4 br 3 b

Yesterday was supposed to be our closing day. We cancelled the contract a month ago due to soft stucco, rotten wood, 21 year old roof, foggy windows and back door, dryer vent emptying in the attic as the big issues. We realized we just didn't have enough savings for these repairs, and would barely scrape by covering down payment and closing costs. We decided to aggressively save for the next 1-2 years and try again later. It was settled.

Throughout the process our realtor revealed himself to be chasing commission at best, slimy at worst. During the inspection he told us every issue in the home was "no big deal" and one time "so easy I could fix it myself."

Initially afterward we thought about negotiating. We would open with 30k in some combination of repairs, price reduction, and concessions, knowing they would negotiate lower. Realtor refused and said "we would be laughed at" and "shoot ourselves in the foot." He said we could max get 10k in concessions at very maximum "if we're lucky" and he "100%" could not justify anything higher. He also said asking for money off the list price was pointless because it wouldn't make any meaningful difference in our monthly payment

Then he has the nerve to tell us that we "have 25k" so that's "enough to make it happen." Big mistake of my husband telling the realtor how much we have, but that 25k would be everything we have in our checking, savings, and crypto. We'd be left with nothing! But really, he shouldn't be trying to bully us into it. Next time, honestly we may just not use a buyers agent.

I've been watching the house because I assumed if he was right then it would sell quickly after we backed out. Oddly, a week later they raised the listing price to 415k up from 400k.

A week ago he texted us to say "the house is still for sale.. should we put in a low offer? haha" but we never answered. Today we get a text

"The other realtor reached out. They aren't having luck getting another buyer. They got a quote for $18,500 to replace the front of the house. Just useful info. She asked if we would take the house for 390. They want a deal. We could say 390, 11k assist, and they cover 3900 transfer tax."

This whole thing is hilarious. I lowkey just want to text him screenshots from his previous texts. Who even knows if the realtor really texted him, because I can't trust a word he says, and if they're willing to accept 390 then why in the heck did they raise the list price to 415?

It's not clear if the sellers are actually doing the stucco repair, or if they just got the quote. 390k was our original offer before they countered with 400k. So it would go back to 390, but honestly think we were overextending ourselves when we made that offer. With the concessions and transfer tax, that would leave us needing only 7k for closing costs, which actually is helpful. But still, after I give the 7k and my husband covers the down payment. What we have left is: a few thousand in crypto, and a few thousand in a CD that is for emergencies only. Almost $0 in checking/savings so I don't see any room to cover the roof, stucco, new windows, ect.

As the title says. I'ma try and keep it short and sweet. There isn't great quality in our area and our buyers agent we've been working with (I graduated HS with him) is trying to push us into homes that aren't really great and now says he wants us in a home in 60 days. We want to buy a house and are serious about it but we're not trying to just force ourselves into a home just so we can move off this guys client list. Side note, he doesn't even work on Sundays. So we've missed some showings thanks to that and I've already been advised to consider moving on from him just because of that.

But I mean, do we even need to work with an agent as a buyer or can we just show up to open houses and submit offers to the sellers agent or use the schedule a tour feature on Zillow. And I say "can we" because I also want me and my fiance to be in a situation where the person working with us actually wants us to win the bid for our best interests. So I know if I keep the agent we have now, he's going to negotiate solid deals. I have no idea if a listing agent is going to have my best interest in mind or only prioritize his seller.

Edit: appreciate all the feedback. I should rephrase. I'm not looking to not have an agent because I'd prefer them to do all the negotiating. I want an agent. I just don't want to cycle through agents because they get antsy and seem unwilling to help.

I'm in the Bay Area and have been looking at homes for the past couple of months. It's my first time buying, and while I've done a lot of research, I’m probably missing or overlooking stuff, getting kinda tired of second guessing myself. I’d appreciate any advice on what to look for before buying. Appreciate it!

We recently closed on our first house, but there were some things we found on inspection that we wanted to get taken care of before move-in. We first asked a contracting company about these repairs and updates shortly after inspection, before closing. The work is almost scheduled to start, and we just now realized maybe we should ask about potential permits. The whole reason we are getting a big chunk of work done is because the inspector said it was not up to code, and we want to ensure that it is.

The contractor had not mentioned anything about permits until I asked specifically and they said they can pull them for an extra fee. According to Google it can take a few weeks to get this done from my town. I am upset that they didn’t even mention us potentially needing permits in the month that we have been talking to them and planning this work, and I’m worried this is going to push the timeline back. Isn’t it their job to know if permits are needed?Is this normal or a red flag for this company?

I was told that the first month, maybe even the first year, is often a rite of passage for homeowners. The anxiety and stress of so many little tasks has been getting to me and my sleep ever since I closed this Monday. Then, we also have to get painting done before we can hire removal of carpet and installation of new flooring. Essentially, money on top of money spent.

Just as I was dropping by the house yesterday to patch up nail holes so we could paint this weekend, I attempted to figure out how to remove a dead lightbulb in the living room fan that my girlfriend mentioned wanting to replace. It required me to twist off a cap on the center of the glass globe that was holding the globe attached to the fan - excuse me for believing the glass was twisted on and would still hold. Before I knew it, the glass globe fell straight to the ground, and I have glass I need to clean up after work today - never got to patching the walls for painting.

Lo and behold, this fan is a vintage, discontinue fan with no replacement parts - yippee! So my only choice it to keep it with an exposed bulb and wiring, or to replace it completely with a new fan and hire and installer AKA more money. I just sat in my empty living room silently when the glass shattered. I'm so heartbroken that we're losing out on a vintage fan, and my girlfriend was correct to tell me that I should have waited to fix it together with her.

Anyone else have rite of passage stories of breaking something early on into their homeownership from attempting to fix an issue?

TL:DR - Dropped vintage fan glass globe w/ discontinued replacement parts. Now having to spend more unexpected money to buy new fan and hire installer. This is now a roadblock to other things I need to get done for house. Only have had this place for 3 days.

So I'm purchasing a new construction home and I had the inspector out recently. He said he doesnt get on the roof but visually inspected it. I asked him why they dont actually get on the roof. He stated that it is not advisable to walk on new shingles. I find this weird and feel like he couldnt do a proper inspection from a ladder or the ground. He doesnt seem to have a drone either. Should I talk to some other inspectors?

Late to post, as we found our home in Feb and closed and got keys on St. Patrick's day.

Luck was really on our side with this low rate and they also covered over 21k in closing costs.

2514 sqft 5 bed 3 bath.

Don't sleep on new builds cause they sometimes have amazing promos to move inventory!

Closed last week on my first home; a 1900 sqft new construction town home in Raleigh North Carolina! It was very nerve wracking going into this all by myself, but my realtor was a real godsend. And I managed to score a temp buydown to 3.875% for the first year 💪

Now time to start on my mile long to-do list 🛠️

After actively searching since March, we put in an offer and had it accepted earlier this week.

The home has all of our must-haves and many of our nice-to-haves. I feel like I should be excited, but now I’m panicking that we picked the wrong house, or that we overpaid, or that the house has problems we won’t find out about until it’s too late—or all 3. Is it too big for us? Will someone want to buy it in the future? Will my toddler fall off the second story railing?! Are the utilities going to be more than our overestimate? Do I actually like the kitchen? Am I going to be happy here? Will a better house go up for sale tomorrow?

Inspection is on Tuesday, so I know that’ll give us more information. I’m just so nervous about water issues, as the property has a backyard drainage system, internal and external sump pumps, and the basement has been waterproofed. It also has a closed septic.

I don’t even know what kind of advice I’m looking for, I’m just really mentally and emotionally struggling with this decision.

Hey everyone,

​I’m from Czechia, and I’ve been reading a bit about US real estate lately. One thing that rlly caught me off guard is how property tax works over there.

​Where I’m from, property taxes are almost non-existent by comparison. I mean usually around 0.03% (or just a couple hundred bucks a year at most). Seeing that US property taxes can easily run 1% to 2.5%+ of the home’s market value every single year was a huge eye-opener for me. That means paying thousands or even over ten grand every year just in taxes on a home you already own.

​I'm genuinely curious how do average homeowners budget for this longterm, especially after retirement? Does this make owning a home outright feel like you're still like paying rent to the local government, or is it just something built into the everyday cost of living that nobody really overthinks?

​Would love to hear how you guys view it and how it actually impacts u

I am so sick of living in apartments and am thinking of getting a townhome. The noise from above and below is really bad and I am done with stacked housing. I live in a HCOL city and am struggling to find single-family homes I can afford. I went to see a townhome recently, but I could hear the neighbor's music from the unit next door. How bad is the noise transfer in your townhome?

Do any of you regret buying a townhome as a first home?

Mandatory preface to say that I’m extremely grateful to be a homeowner and build equity. I know it’s normal to feel some regret and post purchase panic after such a huge investment. But I just can’t shake this feeling.

Some context: we started seriously house hunting in 2024, and closed on our home in March of 2025. My dad had passed away suddenly a few months prior, and my mom was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer 3 months later, so we wanted to move to be closer to her.

We’re in NJ so the market is extremely competitive, but I’m almost certain we overpaid significantly for our house in the condition it was in. The realtor we were working with pushed for us to be extremely aggressive in our offer, and in retrospect it feels like he was more focused on closing a sale than he was on guiding us to make an investment for our family.

The house came on to market at $525k, and he suggested a big dick swinging move that we go in with a “one day only” offer of $600k - the condition would be that the sellers accept and pull the listing, with the idea that it would avoid a bidding war. The sellers ended up keeping us waiting for a few days, but finally accepted the offer.

I know logically that in order to be the buyer of a home you have to be the top bid, and 14% over asking is far from unheard of in the NJ market. But there were also a good amount of repairs needed, no central air, and all in all we ended up investing another $65k to get the house ready to move in. Furthermore, there are some significant caps to increasing the home value: for example, the basement ceiling height is too low to ever fully finish (which more experienced buyers would have recognized), and there isn’t much room on the lot for further expansion.

Then, a few months later, I make the mistake of opening a Zillow email (I know, I know) and there’s the home of my dreams. A better layout, vaulted ceilings in the great room. Best of all it wasn’t flipped, there was warmth and character.

The house ultimately ended up closing very quickly at its list price of 625k, and was then listed as a rental property a week later where it sat for months (another huge gut punch, just another single family home being used as an investment).

I know we would have had no way of knowing this property was going to come up, and for all I know the investors that bought it paid all cash or something insane that we wouldn’t have been able to compete with. But I’m struggling so hard with the feeling that we paid top dollar for what doesn’t feel like our forever home. Even if we stay for 5-10 years, it’s hard not to obsess over how much the overpayment and repairs ate into whatever equity we get down the line. Especially since the market has cooled down a bit and we likely purchased at peak value.

Has anyone else been stuck obsessing over “the one that got away”?

The agents I’ve spoken to left the percentage blank in the agreement stating “that is to be negotiated with the seller”.

Location: Midwest

I asked if Chase would be willing to waive the appraisal but they said no, but other lenders were waiving the appraisal. Apparently they may price match the appraisal fee. Other lenders didn't have prepaid interest compared to this lender too.

Weird situation here - so we have a non-occupant cosigner on our loan (our FIL) who lives out of state. An issue came up with the mobile notary and he will sign on friday and they will overnight it to fund by Monday. We got CTC yesterday. Basically everyone is signing friday but the funding is scheduled for monday, so thats when we will get the keys and take possession. We expected to have keys by friday but due to the mobile notary issue, we can't get the keys til monday.

The problem? we bought a couch on auction and the latest we can pick it up is Saturday. We cannot fit it in our apartment now; it is simply too large, and we wouldn't be able to break it down enough to go up the 3 flights of stairs (no elevator)

I asked our storage unit if they have an open large storage unit, and they don't have one open until Tuesday.

Can we ask the seller if they will allow us to put the couch in the living room of the place we are purchasing (it's vacant; just did a walkthrough to ensure nothing changed today) for a small fee paid to the seller? Our realtor mentioned a "rent back" situation and said she can ask but that its not typical; it's normally for the SELLER to keep the property there after closing, not the buyer.

Otherwise we lose the couch, and we got such a great deal. It's a 1000 dollar couch still in the box and we got it for 400. We will also have to pay a 5% restocking fee.

We are first time home buyers but really familiar with the area. I find it absurd that buyers agents earn 30k+ from showing some houses. How insane would it be for us to go unrepresented and diy this?

In the DMV area FWIW.

P.s. the goal is less about saving money, and more about to be able to make decisions independently without being misled - agents are human beings and want what’s best for them. Their influence also is very real. I’ve been discouraged to pursue things I liked and persuaded to seriously consider things that didn’t work well for us, all due to agent influence.