The hunt begins.... (and a cool new cafe, too)

[blinker]

Kelly and I paid a visit to the large real estate office in Medford Square today. We got her business card and a list of places to look at. She got our e-mail address and said she'd send us listings when she saw stuff that would interest us.

Then we took the list and walked over to Medford's newest coffee shop, the Salem Street Coffee House. Not that Medford Square is terribly convenient, but definitely go check this place out if you're in need of a smaller, quieter alternative to Diesel. They've been open about 2 weeks. It's a small cafe, they make a nice cup of coffee and excellent baked goods. It's very pleasant and the woman working there (presumably one of the owners) was friendly. We sat down on a big comfy black couch and spread out our street maps on the table. By the time we finished our coffee, we had figured out where the places on the realtor's list were.

Then we went and did a lot of drive-bys. We saw a big house that was literally almost on the I-93 ramp. We saw a little tiny house that was way too far into the north part of Medford. We saw a bunch of condos with potential in Medford and Winter Hill. We also ruled out a bunch of condos in Somerville and Medford that Kelly said were too close to the projects. We saw a gorgeous purple for-sale-by-owner house that's much larger than we need right now. So we've got a bunch of places on which to follow up with the real estate agent. She just called, so Kelly's doing that now. It's nice to have a girlfriend who's good at talking to people. I'm afraid that she's going to get stuck making most of the phone calls because she finishes work at 2:30 and I don't have any privacy at my office.

I have a feeling I'm going to be posting a lot about our search for a new domicile over the next couple of months. I realize that this is not everyone's cup of tea. If reading about it is going to bore you to tears or stress you out or otherwise detract from your enjoyment of my journal, feel free to let me know and I'll utilize cut tags or a filter in the future.

Alternatively, if you've got any advice for first-time homebuyers, recommendations for books on the subject or local real estate agents and mortgage brokers, we need all the help we can get in those departments.

Comments

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

Please, do post. I imagine I'll go through the process someday myself, and it will be valuable to be able to draw on recollections of a friend's experience.

[srl.livejournal.com]

My cohabitants bought a house in Arlington about a year and a half ago. I live there. I might have useful things to say, but I can't say offhand what they are, except for this one:

There exists insurance you can buy to cover major house unexpected-repairs during your first year of ownership. Things like, say, replacing the water heater and gas burner, or patching the roof. Do that. (Yes, we replaced both of those appliances. No, we didn't have insurance. Ow.)

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

This reminds me, Tubby recently bought the house we live in in Medford. He did a pretty extensive search, and I'm sure he'd be willing to talk to you and Kelley about his experiences.

[fj.livejournal.com]

if you've got any advice for first-time homebuyers,

Decide on whether you will stay in this area for longer than 3 years. If the answer to that is 'yes', DO NOT SETTLE for anything in the house you are going to buy. Whatever you 'think you can live with' will bug the fuck out of you, and you'll wish you waited for a domicile that did not have that feature.

[redandfiery.livejournal.com]

If there are period features in the house which are part of the reason you want to buy it, make sure that the contract specifies that they must be left. I've heard of people ripping out chandeliers, mantelpieces - fireplaces, even! - and taking them off to their new house. And if it's not in the contract, you can't do anything about it (UK law, admittedly, may be different in the US...).

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

I hadn't even thought of that. Thank you for the tip.

[bratman.livejournal.com]

1. Find a good home inspector. (Find one not associated with your realtor or mortgage lender.)
2. The bank will always lend you more than you can honestly afford.
3. Check out the http://www.realtor.com website. This is where I ended up finding the house that Tony and I purchased.
4. Be sure to get title insurance for yourself (the mortgage lender will automatically get it for themselves when the mortgage is drawn up, but this does *not* cover you.)
5. Find a good home inspector.
6. Did I say find a good home inspector yet?

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

What about home inspectors? Should we find a good one?

[jss]

No, but instead you should really find a good home inspector.

[bratman.livejournal.com]

Oh I wouldn't bother.

[lcohen]

2. The bank will always lend you more than you can honestly afford.

boy howdy. they were ready to lend to me when the payment would have been about 60% of my salary. is that sane?

a good mortgage broker is worth her price in rubies but i don't know how to find one.

[dionysia.livejournal.com]

if billerica's not too far, we still have our house for sale!

we're 2 minutes from the commuter rail, btw!

house listing (http://www.newenglandmoves.com/Listings/SingleFamily_NewEnglandMoves.htm?id=1006809957)

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

We're currently going back and forth on whether or not Malden is too far out, so I think Billerica is probably a no-go.

We saw a lot of folks out looking around when we went to open houses yesterday, and the agent said that January can be a pretty busy month. I hope you guys find a buyer real soon.