We Bought A House
Okay sooooo I know I haven’t posted anything on here in a while… but it is not without reason! As you can probably guess from the title some big life things have happened which has made my “free” time a bit more chaotic.
House hunting is no joke… especially in this super amazing great economy which is very ideal for first time home buyers [please denote heavy sarcasm, if it was not abundantly clear]. We began our journey back in May 2021, when I reached out to my truly awesome cousin who is a real estate agent in DC. She walked us through the whole process and even vetted agents for us in NY/CT, which was supremely helpful. Ultimately, she passed along the agent we ended up connecting with and worked with since. Absolutely recommend having a cousin (or someone you trust) provide a reference for you; this is a personal and complex scenario especially for a first time buyer so having someone at your back who you can count on is key. (If anyone is looking around the NYC or DC area - feel free to reach out and I can connect you.)
Additionally in a fun turn of events, the week before closing I traveled for work, and subsequently came down with Covid which carried on for the duration of our move. (Generally speaking don’t advise trying to go through one of life’s biggest events while suffering from the plague.) All that being said - it has been a very educational week of new homeownership, a very exciting week for life, and a very sad week for our bank accounts.
I’m not sure if I have any wise words of wisdom having now gone through this process, but a few of things to note:
Have patience. It is so crazy out there right now, but something will come.
Be real with what you can spend - the calculators may make you think you can spend more, but figure out what you are comfortable with.
If you are doing this with a partner, debrief after each house you see - what you liked what, you didn’t etc. Likely you will both realize things along the journey that you didn’t know were important to you at the start.
And lastly, ask lots of questions!!! Ask your real estate agent, your lawyer, your lender, your inspector etc. all the questions - don’t be afraid to not know what you’re doing but do your best to learn and understand.
Anyway back to the regularly scheduled program of books and recipes - I’m going to have a big lovely kitchen to cook in now, so more food will be coming soon!
