Sign and initial

So quick visit with my real estate agent at his office. I was there just to sign papers for the disclosure of the condo. Disclosure basically covers all of the features of the property. Things like the features in the kitchen and square foot and parking etc. Also, things like water damage or other problems that might've occurred in the building it beforehand. Thankfully there's nothing interesting in the disclosure on 655 5th street.

I met my agent at the first property I went to go visit. It was a chance meeting. I went there just because I saw an open house sign on the street whole out walking with my girlfriend. We walked in and the guy representing the home was pretty cool. We talked about the house and other places on the market.

The following weekend we meet with another rep, another cool guy, but he never followed up with any other properties. Adam called and emailed about some other places that fell into the type of place that we were looking for. So after showing us a couple of different places I fell into the pattern that Adam was my real estate agent.

No contracts signed, but I don't feel the need for any. Then we went through the process with 2030 3rd st without any problems, so i don't expect any problems going forward.

The mortgage broker worked with me well. I'm horrible when it comes to preparing papers, and Steve was easy to work with none the less.

It was the appraisal that sucked. The place I was looking at was offered at 519 then met life decided it was only worth 485. That left a gap I had to cover. I didn't have enough.

Here's to  hoping that the next place appraises somewhere closer to the sale price. And if not I can cover what I want to  put down and the appraisal difference.

655 5th Street.

So I'm looking at putting in an offer on this loft. It's got a lot of space and It's near the train station.
My criteria for a house is near the train station, loft, easy parking, and live-work. So something unique about this location  is the extra long parking space. There is enough room for two cars here. The HOA fees are ~$460.00 which isn't bad at all. The only drawback to the property is the lack of gas in the kitchen and no elevator.

Also from a quick inspection the bathrooms need new grout and the washer dryer they have in the unit suck. 2030 3rd st had a really nice set of appliances and an elevator in comparison, oh and a much bigger patio space. 655 5th has a tiny little balcony, but at least it's sunny, so my ghost peppers will have plenty of sun.

Stairs aren't great if you have a heavy electric bike.

Today I go meet with my real estate agent to look at disclosure papers and to talk about the price we will bid on the place. The 655 5th st property is going for 499k, which seems low.  This might turn into a problem if the bank decides it's even lower and I decide to put in a bid over that.

Basically, if I want to bid at 510k or so, and the place is appraised at 480k or something then I have to come up with the difference between the two numbers, in this example about 30k. The bank doesn't want to give out a loan for more than the property is worth to them. The bank is thinking about if I fail to pay and they foreclose, how much can they get back if they need to sell it.

The sales rep is going to hold off looking at bids till Thursday, I'm guessing my bid will not be the highest, and in the coming months with Twitter, Zynga, and others making new millionaires every month my income will not be able to compete with people with fat new wallets. But I still believe it's a good time to buy since my rent is over $2,500.00 a month and I'd rather be putting that money into a mortgage and not in my landlords bank account.

wish me luck.

It's October 31st, Happy Halloween.

So In sept. I started looking for a house.
I was disappointed that I put in escrow on 2030 3rd st. a cool condo loft in the Central Waterfront area. The contract fell through due to under-evaluation at 485 on the appraisal by Met-Life's appraiser. Since I was trying to buy it at 519 I ended up not having enough capital to get the place.

Someone else was going to put in 30% so he didn't care that it was appraised so low.

Anyway, it's been a learning process, and it's all new to me. I really wish there was a nice blog about what's really involved with home buying so I'm filling in that space in my own way.

My checklist.
1) loft space with about 1000 sq ft
2) easy parking
3) gas kitchen
4) elevator
5) usable out-door space either a patio or balcony.
6) in unit washer and dryer
7) not on land-fill
8) recent construction ( concrete walls and vinyl roof )

Things I don't care about
1) apartment like amenities ( stuff like gyms or a door man )
2) a killer view
3) fire place
4) noise, I think I'm going to be the noisy one, so I'd rather my neighbors have something other than me to complain about.

thanks for following! I'll be posting updates as they happen.