Some of you may have noticed some interesting pictures over on the left side of my page. Some pictures of house construction. Well, I am building a home up in Spring, Texas. I know a few people thinking about taking the plunge into homeownership, so I thought putting the steps on how I got to this moment might be beneficial. Actually when I was trying to decide if I would buy or build or continue to rent, I couldn't find any blogs or articles on the subject. So maybe my writings will help some I don't even know.
Like most young adults in the US, the landing pad from the leap out of the nest was an apartment. Actually, I lived in 3 apartment complexes. 4 years at one, 2 and another and 1 at the last. Apartment living is the new "starter home". You pay an amazing amount of money per month, you learn how to budget, you make all your mistakes there. In many ways it is better than a starter home because any mistakes you make, you can walk away from in 6 months or a year. But I did get tired of moving (and so did the people who helped me move). I got tired of being at the mercy of my neighbors on all sides. Got tired of trying to find a parking spot at night. Got tired of the guy with a new Harley who wanted to show off his new pipes at 3AM. Got tired of rent that increased everytime the lease was up, yet the complex had no improvements to justify the increase.
So then I got a roommate who lived in a house. Having a driveway instead of a parking lot was quite refreshing. Having a backyard was nice too. Having a fridge and washer and dryer that was not the cheapest money can buy was convenient. Seeing electric bills that were not $200+ for a 750 sq ft. apartment was nice. That was the thing that really got me. The electric bill at the house was less than what I was paying for a place that was more than twice the space!!! I enjoyed living in a house again. So I started thinking about getting a home for myself.
So I started looking. Started off with trying to find a place in a particular part of town. I looked for used homes first. They were priced more than what I wanted to pay for a used home. Honestly, adding $10k more could get me a new home. So at that point, I started looking at homes in mid-construction that I could get on the cheap. After 3 months of looking, I couldn't find a house that I liked in that condition. So my search moved out of that area. Just too much money for not enough house out there. A little further out I found a floorplan that I totally fell for. The place was spacious and I could afford it! Similiar floorplans in my desired area were $30k more.
The next installment will go through the process of buying a house.
Like most young adults in the US, the landing pad from the leap out of the nest was an apartment. Actually, I lived in 3 apartment complexes. 4 years at one, 2 and another and 1 at the last. Apartment living is the new "starter home". You pay an amazing amount of money per month, you learn how to budget, you make all your mistakes there. In many ways it is better than a starter home because any mistakes you make, you can walk away from in 6 months or a year. But I did get tired of moving (and so did the people who helped me move). I got tired of being at the mercy of my neighbors on all sides. Got tired of trying to find a parking spot at night. Got tired of the guy with a new Harley who wanted to show off his new pipes at 3AM. Got tired of rent that increased everytime the lease was up, yet the complex had no improvements to justify the increase.
So then I got a roommate who lived in a house. Having a driveway instead of a parking lot was quite refreshing. Having a backyard was nice too. Having a fridge and washer and dryer that was not the cheapest money can buy was convenient. Seeing electric bills that were not $200+ for a 750 sq ft. apartment was nice. That was the thing that really got me. The electric bill at the house was less than what I was paying for a place that was more than twice the space!!! I enjoyed living in a house again. So I started thinking about getting a home for myself.
So I started looking. Started off with trying to find a place in a particular part of town. I looked for used homes first. They were priced more than what I wanted to pay for a used home. Honestly, adding $10k more could get me a new home. So at that point, I started looking at homes in mid-construction that I could get on the cheap. After 3 months of looking, I couldn't find a house that I liked in that condition. So my search moved out of that area. Just too much money for not enough house out there. A little further out I found a floorplan that I totally fell for. The place was spacious and I could afford it! Similiar floorplans in my desired area were $30k more.
The next installment will go through the process of buying a house.
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