Homeowners!

For those of you who have bought a home or in the process of buying a home, how long did you look before you found 'the one'?

DH and I have been running some numbers and it looks like we may be able to afford to buy by the time our apartment lease is up next May.

Thoughts? I was thinking we'll start looking in like January, but I just don't know how long it takes!!!

Re: Homeowners!

We don't have a home, but we own an apartment. We looked at about 30 apartments before we put an offer in for the first apartment we wanted, but that fell through. Then we saw another 10 more before we ended up in the apartment we're in now. Not sure if it's the same for homes, but it was a long process with many nights and weekends spent looking at apartments lol

Edit: We started looking in March or April of last year, and finally got into our apartment by October (we also had to wait for board approval, etc.)

Re: Homeowners!

DH and i also own an apartment (co-op) ... i think it took me about 2 months to find it.

but every person is different ... i know my ex was looking at houses for a full year before he gave up and just decided to rent something lol

Re: Homeowners!

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Posted by AwaitingAugust

DH and i also own an apartment (co-op) ... i think it took me about 2 months to find it.

but every person is different ... i know my ex was looking at houses for a full year before he gave up and just decided to rent something lol

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This is kind of my fear... that we start looking early and find something right away that we like and then we need to balance a mortgage and the remainder of our lease (and just not having enough saved on our down payment) OR not finding something and then having to figure out renewing our lease for more time so we can keep looking...

Re: Homeowners!

DH and i started looking May 2009 and closed November 2009

There was a specific neighborhood that we wanted to get into and not many houses in our price range so it was more of a waiting game. When new listings popped up, we were very proactive about seeing it.

Re: Homeowners!

We own our co-op but it's a different kind of co-op and the union owns it so I can't help you with my experience.

My SIL and BIL found a house in a month though. It really depends on how specific you are about the area and the cost. Like if you only want 1 town, then it might take a little longer than looking at say 5 different towns (more or a range). Also, price. If you are looking at $400,000 or under there might be less houses to look at than say $600,000 and under in the neighborhoods you are looking at.

If you are ready by May, my guess is to start looking in March. People usually want to be out by the end of the school year so their kids can start at a new school first day. Also, talk to your landlord and see if you can pay month to month or stay another 2 months.

Re: Homeowners!

if you find a house too soon, you should be able to put in your contract that you want your closing date around May (or whenever) .... though the seller may or may not be ok with that.

Re: Homeowners!

We started looking Dec, found a home and put an offer in mid-Feb. We're closing today.

Re: Homeowners!

If I remember correctly, we started looking in November, found our house in March or April, and closed and moved in by August.

Re: Homeowners!

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Posted by Linzee636

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Posted by AwaitingAugust

DH and i also own an apartment (co-op) ... i think it took me about 2 months to find it.

but every person is different ... i know my ex was looking at houses for a full year before he gave up and just decided to rent something lol

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This is kind of my fear... that we start looking early and find something right away that we like and then we need to balance a mortgage and the remainder of our lease (and just not having enough saved on our down payment) OR not finding something and then having to figure out renewing our lease for more time so we can keep looking...

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We looked for about eight months or so. We found a few houses along the way that fell through. We ended up having 5 months left on our lease so I told the landlord we were leaving and could he compromise with us. I told him I would give him another 2 months worth and he would keep the security. And luckily he said that would be fine. So basically I got out of paying 2 months rent.

Re: Homeowners!

Thank you all so much for your feedback!!!

It's kind of all over the board, but I'm just going to continue to watch the houses in the town we're looking in and I guess we can go to random open houses and what not in the meantime to get an idea of what we like and don't like....