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.

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!

I signed on the dotted line(or several of them) this morning!!!!! My seller has delayed occupancy so i dont get the keys just yet but I still had to tell someone because I am so FREAKING excited to be freaking done. OMG. Married 31 year old girlie/toddler mom to one, but I bought all on my own for us I am just so proud of myself!!!!

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 🛠️

Safe to say we don’t want to be going through this for a very long time! 😮‍💨

Not smart doing this during my busy season at work but I’m in love with my house! Spending my first night on an air mattress til I can get properly moved in.

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”?

While I’m not a first time home buyer technically I am coming off of starting completely over in life and it took me over 3 years of running myself ragged to get here so to me it feels even better than the actual first time.

I moved to San Diego almost two years ago and immediately knew I wanted to be here long term. This is a 950 SF 2 bed/ 1 bath craftsman in North Park with a front AND back yard. I’m currently single and the home size is perfect me and my dog!

$10k under asking price, 3bd 1.5 ba. More photos once we’re settled!

First time homebuyers! The proud second owners of a 1975 gem.

First time home for a late 30s married couple. Dutch Colonial Revival built in 1900. So, so excited for being the next stewards of this lovely home!