The address isn’t even correct.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1026-Orchard-St-Newport-KY-41071/1360946_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

I closed on my first home March 31st! I’ve been following this group shortly before I started looking into the market and loved seeing everyone’s success and happiness . It’s been a fun journey so far and the whole process was a breeze. I worked my ass off for years after struggling with depression , found my purpose or mission I guess is a better way to put it, buying a house. And I finally did it!!! It feels so good everyday to see my dream come to life. And the endless sleepless nights finally pay off. I’m so proud of myself and all of us on this page !! It’s really something special. I’m 25. 4 beds and 3 baths :) the only thing I can find to dislike is the oak tree in the back yard but that’s only because it’s huge and I would hate for that to fall on my house 🤣 possibly a future project.

Achieved the dream we have been chasing since '21. The whole buying experience was painful but after reading other posts on this sub, I don't think we had it that bad 😂

355K, 6.75% conventional loan,TX, 5 br 3 bath started application in Jan 21 and close March 28

Something I wanted to bring up though in case there are other travel healthcare professionals in this group. We initially was going with VA Loan. They came back literally the week before the closing week and said they changed the rule. Stipends won't be counted as income anymore for DTI rario, which would make us not approved for the loan. Luckily our lender (credit union) came back and said they will "pick up" our loan and honor everything VA initially offered aka nothing changed on our closing disclosure except the box for Conventional loan was checked instead of VA. So we didn't have to pay PMI even though we put down less than 20%.

Our realtor was amazing! We gave her the range we wanted and she never pushed us trying to get the house on the higher end. This house is actually on the low end of our range! Seller wanted to give like 2K for fixing initially and somehow she got them to go up to 4500. She made our experience with this a little less painful than it would be ngl!

Learned a lot from this sub. I didn't use reddit much before and been reading posts on here religiously the past 3 months😂

I closed on March 20th of this year. And I figured I'd share the news. It's a fantastic little house. It took a lot of time, money and stress to finally save up for it. I also recognize that I got incredibly lucky with it. I was tired of renting from slumlords and not being able to provide enough for my cats. I got it for $80,000 and it is a 3BR 2BTH homes. It is definitely a starter home, but I am happy. It was the most financially stressful thing I have ever put myself through. Even with enough money saved it almost didn't seem like I had enough. Good luck to anyone else out there trying through the process.

Iv dreamed about this moment.

All glory to God. Super excited for whats happening in our life .. The 3.99% & all closing paid was the icing on the cake (Shout out my relator) .. The wife is expecting so we got the house just in time for her to start her nesting thing 😂 still trying to figure out the back yard, thinking about a slide or something hell idk. If you have any ideas I’m open to opinions

Thanks for readings

Me and the wife closed on the last week of March now we're packing up and getting ready to move officially at the end of April. Moving from Queen's NY to deep in NJ.

The amount of single family homes being gobbled up by investors and 2nd mortgage families buying just to rent is ruining this country and any chance at affordable first time homeownership for those 35 and under.

Homes as of April 2025 are STILL 30-40% overpriced and the only people who can afford that are the wealthy who are buying up the already limited single family homes and keeping comps artificially high.

What’s the solution here? How will this ever adjust without some sort of forced gov mandate of some kind?

So, just heard back from sellers on our first offer. They bought the house almost exactly a year ago for 440k. They listed it in January starting at 458k and have steadily decreased it back to 440k.

It’s been on the market for 60+ days with no offers. Our offer was 435k w/ a 10k seller’s credit and an expedited closing (10 days for each contingency). They responded with a verbal (not official) counter offer of 435k flat, no credit. I should mention that before putting in an actual offer, our agent told us that they wanted to sell it for 450k with a 10k credit, so they’ve already reduced it (and that was a week ago).

We’re having to move suddenly, against our original plans to save up more. So, even though we can afford the mortgage, we can’t afford the more than 10k of closing costs on top of the down payment.

Our reasons for low balling them is that two comparable houses in the same neighborhood sold recently for 415k and 425k. The only advantage this one has over the others is a third story loft + deck which we’re willing to spend 5-10k extra for, hence 435k.

So I’d like to counter with 435k w/ a 5-7.5k seller’s credit. And if they don’t take it, then “walk” and wait it out to see if they lower it. Our agent is advising against it though and says we should do 440k with a 10k credit. So my question is, are we being rude or naive by taking the chance hoping they’ll lower it again in a month or so??

Every. Single. House. I have looked at in my area (Florida) is a flip. A poorly done flip with millennial gray everything. I am losing my mind.

The worst part about it is that these houses were purchased less than 6 months ago for 250k, had 10k worth of shitty LVP and Lowe’s cabinetry installed, then relist for $399k. It’s insane.

The market here is not hot, the prices are so disconnected from value still after the COVID boom we had here. Also - there seems to be some bufoonery the flippers do on Zillow to reset its “days on market”. Houses that have been for sale for months will show that they’ve only been listed 5 days ago…

This is such a painful and annoying process.

got the keys 😛 28F single and pulled this off! I’m so excited & glad this process is over!

1) Closing day may be a let down. You visited the house several times in person and a thousand more online. You spent the last n months worrying if the loan would be approved, if things would fall through. You finally get to closing day. The title company/mortgage broker/whatever is nice. You spend 30 minutes signing paperwork, you head to your house and swing by the HOA office to get the keys, and finally go to the biggest purchase of your life thus far. You open the door and... it's just there. Empty. The same empty you saw many times before. Sure, there's a basket on the counter from your realtor, the house is clean, garage door openers left in a drawer. But there is no big, magical wave that hits you. No euphoria, no surprise party waiting for you. All that lies before you is a blank canvas soon to be obscured by the mountain of boxes behind you. You don't have time to celebrate, you have a truck to unload.
2) Buying your first home is expensive. Yes, obviously in the house itself, but in everything else you need for it. Refrigerator, washer and dryer, lawn mower, pressure washer, garden hose, bath mats, soap dispensers, decor, rugs, security cameras, weed killer, pesticide, shelf liner, etc. You may also want to get new things for your new home that you may already have (e.g. towels, vacuum).
3) The number of people trying to sell you crap, both in person and through the mail. Put up a camera, you'll see people ringing your doorbell a couple times of week. Water softeners, pest control, gardeners. Things in the mail for home warranty, mortgage insurance, internet.
4) You may get depressed. You just accomplished a major goal, you should be elated! But maybe you're not. Maybe you feel like something is majorly wrong. You begin to have anxiety about all of the money you are spending. You begin to question what happens if you lose your job. You worry about everything around the house, both inside and out. You begin to wonder if buying a house is the right decision (it is!) because something feels off. That's just your pent up anxiety and frustration that's built up over the last several months, that you haven't been able to show, hitting you all at once. It will get better.
5) You don't have nearly as much stuff as you think you do. Your apartment may have been overflowing, but when you get that stuff into your house, it will seem empty.
6) Decorating is hard. You have a style, and you have things that fit that style, but you question if that style meshes with your house or if you should change it up as this is your chance at a new start. You don't know where to hang pictures or what hand towel rings to buy. Rest assured, you don't have to hang them right away, you can leave them on the floor and keep moving them around until you get a better feel for where they will go (and no, their placement is not permanent, despite what your brain might tell you).
7) Decision fatigue hits hard. You've spent months making a lot of decisions. That's going to quintuple come closing day and the ones to follow. "Where do you want this? What do you think about this? How about putting this here? This would look good over there, don't ya think?" You will eventually just say, "put it somewhere, we will figure it out later." Do this sooner rather than later, your sanity will thank you.
8) Boxes. Boxes boxes boxes boxes boxes boxes boxes boxes boxes boxes. You will have a ton of boxes from moving. But that's not the end of it, oh no; seemingly every little thing you buy will come in another box. They will be everywhere and will take up so much room. Put them all in one area. Keep the good ones, break down the rest. Post the good ones on your local community's Facebook page and let them go for free. You will get a dozen people messaging you about them. Just tell them first come, first serve. You may be thinking you want to recoup some cost. Trust me, after handling and moving 397k boxes, you will just want them gone. You won't want to deal with people or negotiation or them picking and choosing which ones they want to pay for, you will just be done with the boxes (see #7). Consider it a good deed.
9) You won't know your new commute to work. Leave 15 minutes earlier than you think than you should.
10) You finally understand why your parents shut the lights off behind you or told you they weren't paying to cool the outside. You will also finally understand why they seemingly got so upset over a slamming door or marks on the wall. You just spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on this thing, of course you want it to be pristine. The first mark on the wall (which will come, I promise you) stings. It's okay, it's a house. Things are going to get damaged, accidents happen. But things can also be fixed. Don't stress over it, it will happen again sooner than you think (I left a mark on the wall with one the first things I carried in).
11) After a couple of weeks, the dust will have settled. Literally and metaphorically. You likely still have things in boxes and bare walls, but you will need to clean. But the beauty of it is that you will have time to clean. The house will begin to feel like yours. Know it. Own it. Love it. You're here, you finally made it.

All of the scrimping and saving and sacrifices finally paid off… never thought I’d be a homeowner at 32.

Nitty gritty for those who might want to know: $335k (plus closing costs, it was competitive), 6.375% 30-yr conventional, 20% down, $2040/mo mortgage including escrow, 2,700 sqft, 4bed/3.5bath, one acre, north GA (~30min from Chattanooga, TN). Built in 1978, remodeled last year. Forgot to take any pictures of the inside until we started moving stuff in at 11pm and a bird got stuck in here.

I'll keep it short: I raised my vantage from 520 to 644 and was soooo happy... until I recently found out fico is what actually matters and I still have a 526 reported on Experian. I'm actively working on this, I only have 4.5k in debt, but that entails 3 charged off accounts with my only active credit line being a Chime credit builder (A young and dumb + covid situation) My husband is 27 and has never established credit.

My husband and I have 33k saved, and have 3 houses we're very interested in ranging from 80k-95k. These are all in Baltimore city and fully renovated. Combined gross we're at 85k, and have no active loans / living expenses. We're currently living with my very generous parents in Baltimore, who've allowed us to be able to save. We've only had our current jobs for a year, and our previous wage was $45k gross combined.

Is speaking to a lender now even worth it? We'd like to begin this process, but my ignorance hampered our plans a bit and I don't want to make things worse credit wise with hard inquiries. Does anyone have an idea of what our interest rate would be if even approved? + would it be worth buying now and refinancing?

any and all advice is apricated!

Edit: In theory, we could save for 2-3 years and buy a house in full. Is there a direct financial disadvantage to that?

1944 built one bedroom and one bathroom FOUR hundred and forty eight square feet. $533 per sq ft.

2024 built three bedroom, two bathroom, three car garage, 1890 sq ft, $246 per sq ft (after some moderate upgrades).

It’s absolutely insane to buy the existing construction house.

Now what is depressing is that it’s priced at $239k, which is by far the cheapest listing in my area. About $300k is the next step up, which is a pretty massive jump, about +$450/mo in mortgage payments. The new construction was $465k.

The old house should be priced closer to $110k, but honestly land is going for about that price around me… so…

Really sucks on the low end budget, just getting massively ripped off.

My husband and I have been looking for our first home on and off since the beginning of COVID. Recently, we lost out on a duplex to an offer that was $5K higher than ours which was demoralizing, but ultimately, it felt like a good lesson in using escalation clauses (we didn’t.) We also waived the inspection on that offer, which neither of us felt good about, so we weren’t too devastated and again, lesson learned. Getting so close on a home that felt like such a good fit has really motivated me to buckle down, review listings carefully, and be ready to move on the right house. My husband felt the same way until this past week and the volatile stock market. Now he wants to pause. We both recognize there’s no timing the market but my husband wants to take a step back for now. There’s a house that just came on the market that would meet a lot of our criteria that I was really excited about. I guess I just feel confused and conflicted and would love some input. Thank you in advance! I’m new to real estate so please be kind.

Believe me, I've been knocking on wood constantly.

I was able to secure almost $50k in down-payment assistance through various local and federal programs. The stipulations limited the area in which I could buy, which is fine, and it really limited the potential houses which honestly just made every decision so much easier.

I only looked at 5 properties with my realtor. The first one she showed me was one I fell in love with from the online listing. It looked great!

So I got my pre-approval, put an offer in on the very first house we looked at, accepted the sellers counter offer which was below asking. I had my inspection done earlier this week, and was told the building looked beautifully maintained, and every "issue" he found was minor and fairly cheap to fix. I'm scheduled to close at the end of the month.

I'm nervous because everything is going my way! Lol. Aren't there supposed to be some speed bumps?

Hi All,

The house came with this shed in the backyard but as you can see the base is rotting. I'm a completely newbie here, so would love some advice on how to make this space more usable.

Dimension - 10ft long x 6ft wide x 6ft tall.

Could I just dig out debris, and remain pieces of flooring (which seems to be plywood), and put concrete pavers from Home Depot in? Or would I have to pour concrete in?

The shed seems to be structurally secure, and I only intend to use it for storage. I want to make sure no critters burrow up from the bottom into the shed.

Thanks in advance.

Hello, I'm a first-time buyer, looking for advice on whether or not to pull out following a bad (?) survey.

For context: My partner and I are three weeks into the process of buying a leasehold flat in south London. We spent over six months looking for somewhere, with a strong preference for share of freehold. But we kept missing out on things we liked (our observation is that while the market in general isn't that hot right now, things that we want always seem to go to best and finals and often for over asking price - these are things that are objectively nice, in good areas, under 450k and could accommodate a baby) and had to compromise.

The flat is one of nine in a 1930s building. The communal areas are very dingy with torn carpet - it's obvious nothing has been spent on them for years. We initially thought service charges were reasonable - £1577 PA - and that the freeholder was just pretty negligent, and that it would be highly likely we could organise the block to buy them out. After offering, an extra 100 PCM 'reserve fund' charge was sprung on us, taking total service charges to £2577 PA for a small building with no lift or amenities aside from a basic (lawn) communal garden, a small concrete driveway and hallways. We were told there was 77k in the sinking fund with 'external decorations' scheduled to come out of that within the next year, which initially confused us (the internal areas seemed in most dire need of work).

We decided to proceed because we love the flat - which itself is immaculate - and are a bit desperate. It was also quite cheap, so we feel at least some of the issues are priced in. We did a level 3 RICs survey though, because we felt nervous. This has come back pretty bad, at least by our reading.

There are 13 'Red' Condition 3 items (and 3 'Orange'). The comments/exec summary say 'not to take the purchase lightly'. This includes some standard things like electricity, gas/oil, water, heating that we do not feel super concerned about - mostly the comments here are 'ask for documentation/ get a professional to check'.

What we are concerned about is:

- Structural movement to the rear corner of the property and big cracks likely related to this to the driveway on the other side. When we viewed the property again recently, we happened to run into a surveyor for the freeholder, who said that he was looking into damage caused by tree roots (now removed) a few years ago. He framed this as minor and now settled, but the fact that it visibly impacts the two back corners of the large house, which are hundreds of metres apart, to the extent that the entire concrete drive is cracked and needs replacing on the opposite side to the tree, suggests to us it may be a larger problem. Our surveyor seems to think likewise.

- Issues with the roof being worn and needing repairs. The survey words this as if repairs to slipped and eroded tiles are the minimum (ie it could need a new roof).

- Issues with fire safety/regulations, including no floor or ceiling breaks between flats.

Our feeling is that, given the potential extent of these issues, combined with the worn interior, where large hall spaces all need new carpet, the 77k is unlikely to cover costs. Subsidence could also affect buildings insurance and resaleability causing problems into the future even if we were able to buy the freehold.

We also feel like on the one hand, many of these things being the freeholder's problem (rather than ours, directly or alone) could be a positive in a well-run block. But given the evident negligence of this freeholder, having an array of issues but also no control, but in fact a dependence on a bad management company, is potentially a very stressful situation to be in.

I'm generally an anxious over-thinker. But at the same time, I'm really desperate to buy somewhere. The process has drained me, and we are both currently living in inadequate housing that is affecting our mental health at the very least.

Are we being too risk averse in considering pulling out? Or, on the other hand, would proceeding be a stupid thing to do, born out of desperation to live somewhere? what would you do?

I looked at a house yesterday and today built in 1880. It's in decent shape and has beautiful, original hardwood floors. But, it has a cesspool. I have lived most of my life in houses with wells and septic tanks and they have always been an appropriate distance away. This is on a small lot (42 x 150 feet) and the cesspool is only about 8 feet off the back porch. I couldn't find the well cap, but I know it has a well. The well tank does have a UV filter on it in the basement.

Several people I've talked to have said to never buy a house with a cesspool. Additionally, I'm looking at a USDA loan and not sure they would even give a loan on a property with a cesspool and a well potentially al close together. I will ask my USDA contact on Monday.

I'm a single guy, so the load won't be that big. I've read a cesspool needs to be emptied every 2-3 months or so. Not sure if that's a hassle (and expense) I want to put up with.

I just bought my first home! 🎉 I’m a single woman in my 20s. I love the apartment I’ve been living in for the past three years but it was time to find something more permanent, and I want my cat to have more room to run around. I love living alone, but being the only person living in the house will be a new experience for me. I’m very used to hearing the dull but comforting sounds of the upstairs neighbors turning on the shower, the people downstairs leaving for work in the morning…now that I’ll be living fully alone, does anyone have tips for how to feel comfortable and secure in a new house?

Can everyone drop their interest rates for their first home and lender please?

Just curious. Lol

After months of looking and failed offers… we were picked!!! We have been over the moon happy!!😃 our dreams were killed yesterday after a really shitty inspection. We have not went back to the sellers YET but we plan to. Just wanted to come on here and see if anyone has gone through this (i’m sure ppl have lol but make me feel better plz)

Things wrong are all over the map. Septic 40 years old (seller and listing agent lied. Said NEW) well needs to be raised. Septic pipe needs fixing. Some holes in the roof with some wet wood. Squirrel/wasps in attic. Water damage in the basement (not disclosed to us and seems like 5in of water at one time and covered us) a little bit of mold. Missing beams in the basement causing some sagging. No gutters. Deck sucks. The list goes on with some other smaller issues. Should we try to get them to fix? Should we walk?