Dré checks in: Home Sweet Home….the countdown begins

On July 29th we will become homeowners for the very first time. Andrea (Drea) and I have been trying to find a place since January, but it kept falling through for whatever reason. The first place was honestly just too expensive. Guess our eyes were bigger than our paychecks. Nice place though, new construction, granite countertops, two levels, fireplace, garage etc.

The second place never really excited us, but I was ready to move out of my bogus apartment, so we figured any place would be good enough for the time being. So when Drea’s mom’s cousin’s friend said she was trying to unload some property, we thought it sounded cool. (Big mistake.) So we took a look at the place, it didn’t have all the amenities we wanted, but it seemed livable (except for the bubble gum pink wall in the dining room. Drea can’t stand pink.) We made an offer, got a counter offer and accepted it. The realtor was pretty old, and the building was pretty old, but for the most part the condo seemed cool….until we had the inspection done. Drea hired this extra obsessively thorough inspector guy (we call him Home Inspector Gadget), and he found all kinds of stuff wrong. Roaches, mice, and illegal electrical hookups. BOGUS! So we got our money back and started hunting again.

This time we went with a realtor we know. One of Drea’s friend’s from grade school works for Remax, and she set up and account for us on MLS so we could find some stuff in our price range, and tell her which ones we wanted to see. The first few places looked a little scary. One condo felt like you were in a time warp back to 1972 with the shag carpet and old school appliances. Another spot looked okay, but I still had a feeling we could do better. So we went back online and found another condo that looked good. When we walked in this place, we pretty much knew this was the one. It’s got a beachy summer home sort of vibe in the middle of a wooded lot….and walking distance to the Metra.

So here’s a little advice to young home buyers: save money, know your credit history, don’t get property hook ups from your mom’s cousin’s friends, hire a good inspector, and sign up for prepaid legal services because they come in handy when you need to find a real estate lawyer, and let your girl do all the decorating…it makes her happy and makes your life easier. (Guys can just set up all the electronics. And maybe help assemble some furniture.)
Dré