Lex and Learn

Mike and I are house hunting. He has been through this process before but I have not. It is exhilarating and exhausting. There are so many factors that go into figuring out if you can actually even afford and qualify for a home that it makes my head spin.

Then there are Saturdays spent excitedly walking in and out of houses you have been stalking online. Finding out that the “updated master suite” actually just means that they stuck a toilet in the corner of a bedroom. Yep, we saw that house. Or wondering how such an adorable bungalow could be priced so low, only to arrive and realize it is across the street from Denver’s version of housing projects.

All of these moments just make us laugh, like the house that I refused to walk completely through because I was convinced that a serial killer had lived there before. It was C.R.E.E.P.Y.

There is one house however that we can’t stop thinking about. A house that I re-visit daily on Realtor.com and then find little how-to projects online for sprucing up the basement and laundry room downstairs. A house that we’re going to visit for a third time today with Mike’s sister in tow, just to get yet another opinion.

I have no clue yet if this will be our first home. I’ve realized that even if we decide to make an offer, so many things have to go our way–inspection, closing costs and terms of closing, etc. Despite all of the analysis that goes into buying a home, I am coming to realize that “the universe” has to be on your side too–and if it isn’t right, you probably just won’t get it.

And I am fine with that. I need a little universal gut check as this is such a monumental decision.

So I leave you with my top lessons learned from house hunting to date…

• Don’t get excited about the pictures you see online or the description. That isn’t what the house actually looks like 95% of the time
• If it seems to good to be true, the house is in an awful area or there is a toilet in the bedroom (with no door people!)
• Boys and girls look at houses entirely differently. In our case, I go to the kitchen and closets while Mike goes to the furnace and backyard
• Old homes (like the kind we’re looking at) traditionally don’t have “master suites” or large walk in closets. Stop asking your realtor where they are or go look at new builds in the suburbs
• Some old closets are not even wide enough for today’s hangers. Did they wear smaller clothes?
• People do very strange things to maximize space, like putting the oven in a separate room or classifying a storage closet as a third bedroom
• Check with others before embarking on a creative project. For example, potential buyers may not like that the staircase railing to the basement is made from your old mountain bike
• Dark purple basements covered with Bronco’s gear do not show well

I know our first home is out there. In fact, since we’re staying in our general neighborhood I may already drive by it every day. In the meantime I am going to continue to get a good laugh out of some of the scarier places we visit and try to learn as much as I can about the process as a whole.

What was your first home buying experience like?