I think I've caught the house hunting bug. For the past month, I can't stop researching houses online. Almost daily, I find myself checking websites like Zillow, looking at Pinterest for ideas, and Google Mapping homes. But in all honesty, I wish I could just live in a house like this and be done with it:
Only 10 million dollars on
Nantucket. Maybe I should become a stripper on the side?
Sometimes I look at other states, like Texas or Illinois or Alabama or somewhere other than Massachusetts and get so jealous at how much cheaper it is to live there as opposed to here! Makes me want to move! Grrrrrr. But I can't leave my Boston!
Okay but let's get back to house hunting. So this is my own opinion and I'm not judging anyone, but I don't want to buy a house until I'm engaged and have some sort of long-term commitment. Am I wrong?
Yes, Kurt and I currently live together in an apartment where we pay rent, but I'd hate to own a home together and then something drastic happens. Like, Kurt decides to run away to Japan to build computers, or Kurt comes home one day and finds me in bed with Lil Wayne and Rick Ross. Not that either of those would ever happen, but you know what I'm saying?
Right now,
we I have been looking. Kurt isn't too interested in looking yet because he hates wanting something so bad that he can't have. Psshhh whatever Kurt! I have my needs though. When we buy a home, it MUST have a dishwasher. No more of this wash dishes by hand shit. It also must have some sort of backyard. Those are my TWO little tiny needs! I think we can manage that! Oh, and perhaps a spare bedroom in case Lil Wayne visits. With his homies.
Even though an engagement isn't here yet, I feel like we can still look? How did you begin house hunting? Any tips?
20 comments:
i agree with you on waiting til there's an engagement to get a house. I've seen too many people have things not work out and then its so messy to split up with the house. A friend of mine still has his ex on his house, and its going on 3 years now.
But i think looking isn't a bad thing... i mean, you're only looking, and in the process figuring out the things you want (dishwasher - mine was central air and washer/dryer) and learning about the market in general.
I'm right there with you on the dish washer biznas. No thank you, I do not want to fill my sink with water and soap to scrub :)
Just keep looking at neighborhoods so that when the time is right, you knw where to begin your search.
My boyfriend and I have been looking for almost a year(we've been together 7 years) and I did not think it would be this hard to find a house. It's aggravating when you find one and it doesn't work out. My advice would be to be patient.
Lol at the comment about Lil Wayne & Rick Ross!!!
I would love to buy a house but like you said it's a scary step because you never know what can happen.
We started looking at houses before we got engaged. In fact, Ken had actually just purchased the ring when he went in for mortgage paperwork for the house we're in now. We were engaged before we had settlement in the house, and I'm glad. So I agree with you about wanting to be engaged before getting a house.
About the dish washer - I agree. Our house didn't have one, and my husband is installing one, but it isn't easy (especially with our kitchen floor plan). Next house will have one already installed.
PA is pretty inexpensive to live in ... and we're only about 8 hours drive from Boston. Just saying. ;)
I will take that 10 million dollar house please!
And I don't think there's anything wrong with waiting. However, I think it all depends on when it feels right for you. Me and my boyfriend bought a house 3 years ago, lived together for a total of 5 years and have been together for over 6, and it has worked out well for us.
Unless one of you could afford it on your own, or is willing to put it all in one name, I think you're smart to wait. Things would be real messy otherwise.
My fiance, then boyfriend, wanted to buy last spring. We'd been together about a year and a half by that point, little under. We had talked about me moving in right away anyway, so what I struggled with was HOW opinionated I should be. After all, it is HIS house that I would just be hanging out in. He never once threw that in my face and wanted my thoughts an opinions. He bought something he knew he could afford on his own (he's been in the work force for 5 years already, vs. me who just graduated law school) and proposed a year after we moved in. So, technically it's still "his" but that worked for us!
Apparently I have not been on your blog in a while (or anyones for that matter) but I love your new layout!
and um, that house is amazeballs. Gimme.
I was the same way. I told Big A that we weren't buying a house until we were at least engaged. Just didn't make sense ya know. If he wanted to be together forever then we should be engaged. House or no house. And you guys don't have a dishwasher either? It's like one of my ONLY wants in a house! Washing by hand SUCKS the big one!
Ahh rent in Boston is so expensive. Both my brother and sister live/lived there! can’t believe no dishwasher! I’m pretty sure I would only use paper cups and paper plates if that were the case! Hate dishes! If it makes you feel any better, I have already found a house by my apartment that is for sale and have taken pictures of it…. because im obsessed with it. and want to live there too. fantasy worlds are fun!
I love that having a dishwasher is high up on your needs in a home. I mean I totally agree, but love that you're not being ridic extravagant. I'm the same way. PS: I know this area that has very affordable homes, very close to the water and um, me. Just saying. hahahah
Yeah I definitely wouldn't mind living in that house.. haha!
We started house hunting then stopped. I guess we are waiting to see how everything pans out financial wise.
I totally get your house buying bug! I get that sometimes and I already own a home! HAHA I also completely understand your need to wait on buying a house until you have a "commitment". Jake and I bought our house, but it was actually only in my name and we ended up getting engaged that day too. BAHAHAHA :) When you buy that $10M house... I'll be stopping by for a vacation. :)
we are in verrry similar situations. i live in manhattan with the bf (and no dishwasher..grrr) and i absolutely would not buy until we are engaged/married. just too messy otherwise! and i hear you about the housing prices...the northeast is straight cray! i was looking at homes in my hometown on long island and the cheapest one was in the $550k range and it was so old and outdated and basically needs to be completely re done. and we wont even begin to talk about prices for apts in manhattan - it's straight robbery! but i honestly can't see myself living anywhere else. sounds like i need to start playing the lottery.
My last apartment didn't have a dishwasher(and was bad almost all around) and having one now is amazing! I could see myself living with a bf but not buying a house. I mean a house is a serious thing which needs to have a serious commitment and if you can't put a ring on it then why are you buying a house?!?! Just my opinion. A few of my friends are dead set against moving in with a bf until they have a ring on it. Not because they are traditional but because that can also be a big commitment. I have seen numerous situations where people move in together than hate each other and everything ends.
I live in Washington State about 20 miles outside of Seattle and I frequently look at other states, like Montana because it seems like you can get so much more for your money.
the thing people have told me in my house hunting travels is to keep in mind what can be changed and what can't. If you really want granite in your kitchen and find one without, that can be changed. if you want a big yard, a small lot isn't something you can change.
OMG OMG OMG FIRST - i say we run away to vegas for one year and be call girls. seriously, those girls that wear corsets and stockings make BANK in one night....you could totally buy your nantucket pad!
secondly - in bed with RR or Lil Wayne...DIED! I heart you so much!
and lasty - when you do go house hunting PUH-LEASE be on the show house hunters!! And I will fly up and be the random creeper in the background! XOXO
I'm from Boston too and randomly found your blog. I love that you post pictures of Boston. Also, I completely agree on the whole houses being crazy expensive around here thing.
JB and I weren't even living together yet when we decided to buy our home. We had been together less than a year, but we knew it was forever. Not that age has anything to do with it, but I was 27 or 28 and he was 33 or 34. I had never lived with a significant other before (I was engaged once before and we never even lived together at any point in our 6.5 year relationship) and I hadn't moved in with JB yet. We signed the purchase contract for our house in July of 2009 and I moved in to his place in August. We moved into our home in December of 2009 and didn't get engaged until October of 2010. I think it just depends on where you are at in your relationship.
If you are both confident you will be together and get married, and you already live together, I don't see anything wrong with it.
I will tell you this, make sure you are financially ready to buy because otherwise you will spend the rest of your life chasing your tail and trying to keep your head above water. If that's a goal of yours, make a plan and start saving. Save for a down payment, save for furniture and decor, save for your 6 month reserves. Save for your $1000 emergency fund. Avoid credit cards at all cost! If you don't have the money for it, don't purchase it. Save up and get it when you do.
Okay, I'm done rambling now...
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