Category Archives: Houses

Purchasing a house is quite a learning experience.

I have learned that not everyone is looking out for your best interests all of the time.  I have learned that you need to establish your credentials as an individual educated in the building trades and as a design professional as early as possible.  And I have learned that no matter how much planning, looking, research or preparation you do in advance, somebody will screw something up at some point in the process.

Fortunately, these lessons were learned without much physical harm to us or our purchasing process (yet). But it is very apparent that if you identify yourselves as first-time home buyers and look even remotely young, you will be battling for control over the process every step of the way. In these situations it has been our research, past time spent looking, and strategically placed connections with individuals in all manner of building trades and banking positions that have saved us some headaches.

Experimenting with paint colors in the likley case of the bank appraisal requiring exterior painting.

It is my sincere hope that the majority of home buyers are genuinely not as ignorant as the real estate agents seem to treat us.  On a positive note, it has been quite amusing to catch them in their little “white lies” or stumble them up on a technical question to an issue they are trying desperately to glean over while displaying an air of understanding.

I am sure not all real estate agents are this manipulative, we will just be more careful with our selection process next time.

So, now that that is out, an update: the purchase offer was accepted, the contract was signed, the engineers inspection was completed with no surprises, the radon test said we are safe, and the mortgage application has been delayed because the guy filling out the paperwork made a mistake. The final contingency is the bank appraisal and the lawyers negotiating the final details of the contract before closing.

We took a break this past weekend from wrangling greased-up mortgage brokers and pompous real estate agents to partake in a day trip to NYC.  My father-in-law, home briefly from his job overseas, wanted to take the whole family to see the New York Yankees play at the new Yankee Stadium.

Our seats were high enough to be in the shade, a welcome respite from the oppressive heat, but if you squinted your eyes it looked like the players were miniature toys.