BUYING A HOUSE ((My Experience & What You Need to Know))

I've been getting a lot of people asking me how I bought my house at 22 years old! So, here what i can tell you to help you out!


Let me start by saying NOW IS THE TIME! The market is really bad for sellers but in turn, that makes it great for buyers, like me!

I haaaated renting! I hate white walls, I hate not being able to do what i want, change what i want, upgrade what i want and especially i hated sharing walls with neighbors! So i explored my options and started the task of house shopping!

First thing i did was find a realtor! I chose Mikki Cardoza and she helped me so much! She directed me towards a mortgage lender to get my finances figured out on what i could afford. I chose Shalise Miles. Sometime VERY important that you need to have when shopping for a house, is good credit! I have had great credit from the very beginning of me getting credit and keeping on top of my bills and not over-extending myself. Shalise took all my numbers (income, expenses and what monthly payment i'd me comfortable with) and sent me back to Mikki with a figure of what price range to shop for.

Now the fun began. I love shopping! And although i know this is a lot larger than shopping for clothes and electronics, it was still very exciting! I am a very impulsive person, and i've known this about myself and so every house Mikki took me to look at, i brought my open mind, and either Nick, Gloria or one of my parents. I needed the extra set of eyes to help me see pitfalls (or money-pits) that i may not have seen on my own.

Another VERY important thing you need to know is KEEP AN OPEN MIND! Yeah, the carpet may be ugly (or dirty) and the entire kitchen and most of the house may be covered in green linoleum or the walls may be bright green but these are things that can be changed! They are not structural and complicated. They are some of the easiest & cheapest fixes when you're shopping for a house. So don't let the dirty walls and ugly flooring change your mind on the house.

Mikki was VERY patient with me! I am a really picky person and it wouldn't take much to completely turn me off of a house. And when i said "i don't like it, i can't see myself here" She'd say "let's go!" and we'd leave and head to the next house. She flexed around my work schedule and took on my strange requests of things i looked for in a house. She warned me that a house in my price range will most likely be a short sale ((where the house is worth less than what is owed to the bank for the house, this is super common these days since people overpaid for their houses 5ish years ago during the height of the market)). I shrugged it off, not knowing what that would mean to me, and the search continued.

We looked at dozens of houses. I don't even know how many. Big houses, little houses. Torn up houses, recently upgraded houses. I made a couple offers only to be beat out by larger offers. About a month into our search, we checked out this house in the middle of town (kind of in the ghetto) and i liked it but it was SUPER dirty! I mean, stained carpet, garbage on the floor, fly strips from the ceiling, toys everywhere, junk everywhere and the remains from a grow. This house was tore up from the floor up! But i liked it & i could see myself there. I looked past the grossness and dreamed of what i could change and upgrade and fell in love with it... So i made an offer! The house had been on the market awhile and i low-balled them because of the time it'd been on the market and the current condition of the house so the seller promptly declined the offer and i was very bummed, but i continued my search...

The current FHA loan only requires a couple percent down (you'd have to talk to a mortgage lender to get you exactly which loan you qualify for and what your downpayment would be). So these days you dont need to save 10-20% downpayment to get into a house! That's what blew my mind. I dont want to quote you percentage and numbers because the rules and Federal loans change all the time, so call Shalise!!

We found a super cute house in Samoa (like 2 blocks from the bay and across the highway from the ocean!) that just came on the market and i really liked it. It was just remodeled, had brand new cabinetry, a garage, and came with plans for an addition! Very cute! Just as i was considering what to make my offer and dive on that house before someone else did, Mikki dropped a bomb on me. She told me the original house i loved was still available and the sellers actually called her to see if i was still interested because they hadn't had any other offers and it'd been almost 2 months since they received my offer. So now i was in a pickle. Do i get a house that's small but nice and doesn't need any work and it's right by the water?! OR do i get a house that's a LOT bigger, in the middle of town, but it needs love.... Mikki advised that i go home, think about it, weigh my pros and cons and see what happens.

I remember cooking dinner with Nick and telling him about the cute little house in Samoa and also about the other house seller calling me and i was trying to figure out what to do... He asked me questions and we talked it out. As i was stirring the fried rice (don't ask why i remember what we were eating), Nick looked at me and said "It sounds like that original house you loved outweighs that new little house, sounds like that's the one you want." and he was right! It was the house i wanted. I immediately called Mikki and let her know. I met with her in the morning and we did all the paperwork. (if you dont have your signature down before you buy a house, you will after! It's a LOT of paperwork!)

Let me tell you the ORIGINAL offer on this house was made in August 2010. They called me back and i went in and re-wrote my offer in October 2010. Honestly, much after my original offer was a blur. This house was a short sale, which means after the seller approves your offer, it has to get approved by the bank! They have to decide if they'd rather accept my offer (which is WAY under what they owed on the house they bought in 2005!) or decline my offer and hope that another offer comes along. Well, the house was on the market for almost a year by the time i submitted my second offer so i didn't think it'd take long for them to get back to me. The sellers approved my offer pretty quickly so off it went to the bank, so then we wait.

And wait.

And wait.

I finally heard from the bank (like 2 months later) and they countered my offer, so we countered back. While my response back to them was almost immediate, usually the same day, their response took weeks!!

I LEARNED SO MUCH PATIENCE!

After bantering back and fourth, about February(?), the bank & I finally came to an agreement on price and terms. I guess they finally realized getting some money from me was better than no money! We began inspections. Usually after your offer is accepted, you begin escrow which takes between 30 and 60 days. Well, mine took like 3 months!! Inspections went well, with one hitch that the bank required be fixed before we could continue. The problem was fixed and escrow continued.

When my offer was accepted i put in my notice to my landlord which was about a 45 day notice. I was supposed to be out the end of March. As escrow grew longer and March grew shorter, luckily my landlord didn't have another tenant lined up and I got until the end of April to move out. That was the most frustrating month of rent to pay! I knew i was just throwing out any penny i gave to my landlord for rent and i was OVER paying rent!

Well, my escrow closed on April 21, 2011. I had 9 days to move from my apartment to my house! Luckily it was like a half mile away but you still have to pack up and move stuff!

We finally closed after 6 MONTHS! From offer to move in took 6 months!!!

Let me not fool you into thinking that buying a house is simple and quick. It can be if you have tons of cash but if you're looking into FHA loans, and your budget is pretty small, house buying can take awhile. BUT, i do what to make it clear how worth it is!! I love being a homeowner! One of the first things i did when i moved in was paint! I painted my bedroom and part of the living room (the rest still has to be painted).

Every month when your mortgage is due and you pay it, you don't cringe at the fact that you're throwing away rent money, you smile knowing that that payment is going towards YOUR house! And you're one step closer to having it paid off! It's a great feeling.

So I know this was a novel and if you made it this for i'm impressed! But really, thanks for reading and i'd love to answer and questions you have! Start shopping, it'll be worth it :)

STIR-FRY (super easy and super cheap!)

So, we're working on eating healthier and trying new recipes. Well, I'd share last nights recipe with you but it's not worth sharing. We got too adventurous and tried a Thai recipe (chicken wrap) and it included mayo and peanut butter. It was too weird for us, so we scaled back our adventure for tonight and made a delicious pork stir-fry! Here's the recipe!

((p.s. i know the expert chefs know how easy this recipe is, but if you're just starting to cook, stir-fry is a lot easier that you might think!))


STIR-FRY
Yields: about 4 servings, usually leftovers too!
INGREDIENTS: 
*  About 4-6 Pork Chops (we sliced it up but you can cube it) (or 2 chicken breasts)
* 1 Red Bell Pepper (cubed into about 1/2" pieces)
* 2 cups of carrots (chopped up fairly small)
* 2 cups of celery (sliced into 1/4"  pieces)
* 2 cups of cabbage (chopped up pretty small)
* Seasonings (we stuck with Low Sodium Soy Sauce, garlic, pepper flakes, and ground pepper)
* 1 pack of Udon Noodles (or rice)

DIRECTIONS:
Get your wok (or large pot) warm, also get pot of water boiling for your noodles. Drizzle some oil in the wok to get warm as well. Place pork pieces in wok and cook until no longer raw (low-medium heat works best for an even, juicy piece of pork). While cooking, season pork, drizzle some soy sauce, sprinkle some garlic powder (or fresh minced garlic), pepper flakes and some fresh ground pepper.

Get noodles put in the boiling water, they don't take too long but keep an eye on them.

When pork is done cooking, and fully seasoned, toss all your veggies into the mix. I HATE cooked carrots and celery so i like to wait until almost the last minute to add all the veggies so that they just get warm, not cooked and soggy. Check on noodles. When your noodles are done, you're ready to eat!! Drain your noodles and serve up!

The cool thing about stir-fries is that you can use whatever you have around. I usually add other veggies if i have em (or go shopping before cooking it) such as snap peas, broccoli or green beans. You can also swap out the pork for chicken or beef. I also like using leftover chicken from the night before in my stir fry. It cuts down on cooking time and makes for a super easy & delicious meal!

Also, if you dont want to do noodles, white rice is a great combo with stir-fry!

I love cheap and easy meals and this is definitely a favorite! Let me know if you try it :)

Crunchy Chicken Blobs

We eat a LOT of chicken. It's inexpensive, it's healthy and it can get boring if you don't mix it up. 

Tonight for dinner i wasn't sure what to make. I didn't want to slave in the kitchen because i was doing other things so here's what i created (with a combination of googling multiple recipes for the same thing).

Crunchy Chicken Blobs

INGREDIENTS:

* 2 chicken breasts (i buy the multi-pack from Costco that comes 2 large chicken breasts in a pouch, i used one pouch)

* 1 cup Corn Chex

* A handful of pretzels (fat free)

* 1/4 cup grape nuts

* 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

* 1/4 cup oats

* 1/4 cup egg whites (approximate, use what's necessary)

* mustard (a few tablespoons, i didn't measure, however much tang you want)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375.

Slice chicken breasts into 1/2" slices (into chicken finger size pieces)

Whisk egg whites & mustard in a bowl. Add chicken breasts and make sure you have enough mixture to cover the chicken. Place mixture in fridge while you prepare the rest.

Take all dry ingredients and place in a plastic bag. Roll and crush with a rolling pin until a finely ground mixture. You can add other crunchy items. i just used what i had in my cupboards. I usually have some bread crumbs on hand but not today. 

Pull chicken mixture out of the fridge and roll a few egg&mustard soaked chickens in the dry mixture at a time and lay out on greased pan. (i line a jelly roll pan in aluminum foil, place a wire rack on the pan and spray with non-stick spray). 

Place in oven and bake for about 10 to 15 minutes on each side (when crispy brown, flip over and restart the timer).

Serve with homemade oven fries or eat alone for deliciousness :)

Hopefully those directions make sense because this is the first recipe i've typed out.

Let me know if you try it! They're crunch, moist & delicious and another twist on how to cook some chicken. All healthy and all delish!

Bringing Back Blogging!

Hello world!

I know i haven't posted in forever so I'm going to start completely over and try blogging again. I'm going to post things I've cooked for dinner, things I've done to my house & other random things. My life is random and I'd like to share it all!

thanks for reading & i appreciate all feedback :)