Journey of a Homeowner

A true story of a First Time Home Buyer.

I got to spend the entire weekend in my new home. It was very cereale. Everything I looked at or touched was mine. I no longer had to worry about someone else saying I cant do something (at least with the inside of the house, HOA controls some aspects of the outside). Overall I was very happy.

Most of my stuff is still in boxes. Most of it will stay that way until I finish painting. I will be setting up time with my realtor to go over ideas for the house. That way I don't make any mistakes that could hurt the resale of the house. I know one thing he is really going to try and talk me out of, that's the removal of the popcorn ceiling. I hate it. I want to scrape it down. I know its a personal thing and I know it wont bring any more value to the house. I just hate looking at it.

Another item I think he is going to shoot down is changing all the wall outlets to the GFCI and using new oil rubbed bronze face plates. Including all wall plates (light switch, ect) with the same kind. I think that would give a very nice finished look to the walls after painting everything. If I do all that then ill replace the door handles and bathroom fixers with matching finishes. I think it would be a good selling point. But I don't know.

I know he really wants me to renovate the kitchen and I agree entirely. That project will have to wait though. My first bid for it came in around 12k. I think ill end up doing it myself. Do it in sections. I also plan to get a home equity line of credit. A HELOC is basically a credit card that is equal to a percentage of the equity in your home. Since I bought a foreclosure, I have about 30k in instant equity. So I will have a good limit to work with. You also get a fixed rate with them. Low 5-6%. Beats a 22% APR any day of the week.

I manage to pay off all my credit cards before I purchased my home. Dave Ramsey showed me the way. Double up on the smallest and when that one is paid off, take what you were paying on it and apply it to another one. Keep compounding until everything is payed off. Im currently working on my car and student loan. I was hoping to get my car paid off before I found a house. But I know I got a good deal and it will be worth it in the long run.

I cant sleep. Today is the day I go see the Lender and the Title company. I must admit, I did not sleep well last night. I will be taking on an enormous amount of debt. Luckily my Realtor will also be there. He was been awesome through this entire process. He has helped me in so many ways. Always there to guide me and make the right decision.

I really don't know what to expect. All I know is that I will be signing A LOT of papers. Each of them protecting the Lender. I think about two are in my favor. Of course I know loop holes are built into them so the lender can still screw me. Of course, that's only if I default and go into foreclosure. Which I don't plan on doing. Knock on wood nothing happens. I see this as being a very sound investment. Im buying about 30k under the appraised value and if the market turns for the better I will see that number go up even more.

I plan to be in the house a minimum of two years. I will only sell for 40k profit after all selling expenses. After that the process will start all over again but with a bigger cushion to rehab the house with. Possibly even flip the home if the price is right.

The other option is to rent the home. That's something I have a lot to learn about. Probably wont even focus on it much for at least a year.

Back to what's at hand. Closing. I still need to go to the bank and get a cashiers check (yes, I don't have a checkbook. what's the point? That's what a debit card is for.). After that I will be making the trip this afternoon.

Heart is racing. What a day.