The Kirby salesperson?
Posted on 10/01/2023 1:36:46 AM PDT by RomanSoldier19
Kay Kingsman bought her very first home in the summer of 2021 — but now wishes she hadn’t.
Kingsman, a travel blogger based in Portland, Oregon, says she decided to buy since mortgage rates were low and she had plenty of money saved up from not traveling during the pandemic.
But — like many other pandemic homebuyers — she rushed into buying a home that didn’t fully align with her needs. And now she’s dealing with the consequences.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Indeed - passing over something that is expensive for something cheap only works if you’re rich enough to just throw it away after using it a few times.
Article sounds retarded, so she bought a house when interest rates were 2.5%, maybe not the ,”perfect” house, oh well, but still has a roof over her head in a single family dwelling with interest rates over 6% now.
Sounds like she did OK.
I'll wager you signed a disclosure form discussing mold as an environmental hazard which advised you to get a mold inspection (among other things) as part of your transaction.
Is it just me or is this title poorly written? Either you bought a house during the pandemic or you did not. Too late to ensure by buying or not buying ‘a home during’, since The pandemic is over.
The Kirby salesperson?
My first (and last) house, was built on an acre we bought with plans I drew on software from Walmart in 1998. I paid a construction manager 10% of whatever he handled to oversee things while I was at work and because he knew all the reputable subs.
I did the electrical, the plumbing and HVAC with help from a pro to solder and charge the refrigerant lines. I built the back deck and installed all the flooring.
We completed the house for less than the 80% construction loan so we move in with 20% equity and a sub $700 payment on a 7% loan. I refinanced later at 3.5% and kept making the payment at the old rate. It will be paid off just after I retire next year.
It’s not fancy but it’s exactly what we wanted.
Too late. They’re stuck.
I loved the first house I bought in 1979. It was built in the 30’s and had real oak flooring throughout and 6 inch base boards. It was set up on a hill. When I retired I bought a house in Texas. After viewing 40 houses it was love at first sight. I ran to my son’s house yelling I need my check book. My DIL panicked because she and my son hadn’t “approved” of it yet. I’ve been here 12 years and still love my house. Mortgage rates were 8.5% back in 1979 and that was considered low but the house only cost $35,000. In 2011 housing prices were very low so I paid cash. The only thing I don’t like, at both houses, were my neighbors.
GREEN SPACES & RAILS GET EATEN UP BY GROWTH.
She should have been smart enough to realize that maybe a ‘travel influence’ didn’t need expensive home-digs. If she would be any good at ‘travel influencing’ she wouldn’t be spending much time there. Somehow I think deep down in there is a feeling that she doesn’t think the situation she’s in is her fault.
Another no-no...buying a (bigger, better, new or dream fixer-upper) house to “repair” a broken marriage. Usually blows the already failing marriage out of the water in 6 months.
But do you have a free parking place to park that camper?
Correct. And rationed. Of course, those signaling greater virtue than others will be rewarded with a boost in their allotment.
My wife and I bought our first house the year before we got married...my wife had very specific and sensible requirements...no cellar (slab), location, and cost.
God Bless her, because she had a very different outlook on a home than many young wives do, and many young men, for that matter.
She saw no reason to over-buy, so we didn’t get a great big house on a big piece of land. We purchased a standard three bedroom, one bathroom, living room/dining room, kitchen, and single car garage ranch on a quarter acre of the kind built so prolifically in 1962.
Turquoise kitchen appliances, and original bright orange shag carpet when we moved in, kitchen cabinets painted the color of Hershey’s dark chocolate. Pink bathroom, with nasty pink shower tiles that wouldn’t stay clean and began falling out over time.
We have been in it ever since. We took out a 30 year mortgage with a variable interest rate starting at 7%, and it steadily went up to 13% where we had to refinance it and get it back down to 9%. That was crazy watching our mortgage rise that that, it was a stupid thing we did.
We paid $100 extra each month towards principal, and got the house paid off in 15 years.
Lots of turnover in the neighborhood but largely still extremely quiet, cheaply built house that needed things done over time, as they all do.
But we didn’t overbuy, saved as much money as we could, and we started out furnishing it with second hand furniture and stuff we picked up off the road.
I know people who buy these great big houses, get themselves in hock, and can’t even furnish the house. What good is that?
And we are still here after all these years...:)
We sold our house in 3 days at the peak in 2021...couldn’t believe it went for that much. Can’t believe the value will stay...HOWEVER...with the whole dang world seeming to want to move to US...
I worked construction jobs in the summers when I was in college. I learned all the skills and never had to hire a plumber, electrician, carpenter, or painter. I’m now in my 80’s and still in decent enough shape to do all my repair jobs.
Here’s what’s helped me:
-Being able to do mortgage and settlement math, including the impact of making extra payments to principal. This is useful in borderline cases of affordability (if you can’t put 20% down) for knowing if you can refinance later and when.
-Knowing that the above can’t be done if you get a mortgage with a prepayment penalty.
-Being able to do the bulk of my own repairs.
-Knowing all my expenses to the dollar, not just the house.
-Thanks to the above, knowing how to find/estimate the expenses of where I’m going (repairs/new taxes(both income and property)/utilities/food, etc.)
-Actually getting and reading the HOA docs (resale package) in time to back out if need be. This is a moot point for me at the moment because I figure I will never do HOA again for various reasons.
-Knowing the traffic patterns of where I’m going including distances to stores.
In west central New Jersey buyers were coming out from New York City, making cash offers over ask and waiving inspections. It was crazy. Decent properties that had been priced at $800-900,000 before the pandemic, were selling like hotcakes for $1,000,000 ++++++.
Prices have calmed a bit but anything nice with at least an acre is still bringing $1,000,000+ with multiple offers.
Nice topic.
I first bought with my ex-1993. Pid off in 14 years. Value doubled Now it’s another 14 years and its quadrupled. She’s smarter than me.
Since then I’ve used the money to flip 2 condos and made a paltry $10 on each. 2 houses too. One almost tripled and another will net $150k. A leopard can’t change it’s spots and my next fixer will be in Florida-over 55 condo. That will allow for 6 months in a more agreeable summer climate.
The moral? Don’t ever get married. 10 year real estate cycles are up and down. Know when to strike. Preparation brings luck.
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