UPDATE: this is right after we added patio and pergola to our backyard last year (June 2024). It is very hard to find something we want in a home. It is important for us to get exactly what we want in this house, as our last home 2 years ago did not have what we wanted in it at all and this time we are not settling on anything this time!! We have been working very hard to get all of our debt paid off so that when we get into a house we do not have to worry about too much debt. The best thing we ever learned was Dave Ramsey snowball. We paid off all of our debt, bought a 2015 Honda Odyssey out right and have a pretty amazing savings going right now. A couple of important things to remember when buying a house is to;
1. Make a must haves' list
2. What upgrades are you willing to do
3. Size you can afford, not what you want!
4. Features you can live without
5. Shop around (the most important I think)
You see when we bought our first house in 2011 we were not really knowledged on what to do or what we wanted. We kind of just wanted to get out of a 1 bedroom apartment with a family of 4 and into something that fit us. We looked at maybe 5 used homes (sounds weird saying used) and 2 new homes... we settled on the newer home, with no backyard for the kids, a horrible school district which meant I had to homeschool them and no driveway.
Must Haves':
1. Driveway
2. Backyard
3. Basement (finished or not, we can finish it on our own if needed with Dave Ramsey in our back pockets)
4. Open floor plan
5. Upgraded kitchen
6. 4 Bedrooms 2.5 Baths
7. No more than 2,400 sq ft without basement
We Can Do:
1. Paint
2. Finish basement
3. Build pool in backyard
4. Garden
We plan ahead and I feel like this go round buying a house will be so rewarding and not a drag. Starting this month we plan to look at homes, open houses are amazing, and take photos of what we like so if needing to upgrade later on we have the style we are looking for. So, here we go with a new journey! And I cannot wait to start showing off the house ideas we have found in new posts'. It is important for us to find the perfect home and we plan to go used!!! Crazy huh!?! Because I would never in a million years think buying a used home is okay; just how I grew up! But I actually look forward to walking into these homes and starting a new journey! So far all we have done is looked online, and got some ideas, but now it is time to take it to the next step and start walking the houses. We have a meeting Wednesday 02/15/2017 with our leader to see how that is all going, and what not.
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