Health & Fitness
The Ups and Downs of Buying a Home
Sellers, think you have it bad? Buyers, it isn't all free agent lunches and being escorted around town. Buying/selling a home is a stressful time—here's my journey so far.
My family has just relocated from Milwaukee to the lovely area of Woodbury.
We've been on our "house hunting" trek for several months. Actually, a year. Yeah, it took us that long to sell our home in Wisconsin.
We had more than 20 showings on our home before it sold. So for you sellers in this area, count yourself lucky the market isn't that bad in Minnesota.
Find out what's happening in Woodburywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
You have lots going for you here: transit, community, three grocery stores within 10 minutes of each other (I had to drive seven miles for just one store), lower property taxes and the Twins have a new stadium.
Yes, life is good here. (Although you don't have the awesome Green Bay Packers and no, I will not convert to a Vikings fan.)
Find out what's happening in Woodburywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
So with that... we are on the adventure of "buying a home that is within our budget, well maintained and private." As they say in the Rainforest Cafe at Mall of America—your adventure is about to begin.
We've looked at roughly 30 homes, maybe more. I've stopped counting. Every home has "almost everything" on our list, but not all. So you begin to learn what you must have, and what is nice to have. Separating the two out is not black and white.
I read on a post here earlier about seller's personal property and buyer's inclusion of said property in the offer. Yes, you should expect that because of several reasons:
- "It" just looks awesome in your home
- "It" is probably a beast to move/sell, so why not just keep it in the house?
- Buyers want to feel like they've won something. So if it isn't on the price, it could be on that curio cabinet.
We stayed up until midnight writing an offer a home... and I have a feeling it will have multiple offers. Something you haven't heard about in a few years. The back and forth on price versus asking for concessions is a chess game. Trust me, it is just as stressful for the buyers as it is for the sellers.
And so the waiting game begins. I wanted to put a timeline in the offer, but our agent suggested against it. Its like waiting to find out if Johnny from fourth period will circle "yes" or "no" on your little slip of paper you snuck into class.
The one thing I absolutely refuse to do is get emotionally attached to a home. So if this offer doesn't go through... our adventure will continue. Our home is out there, I can feel it.
