New Homeowner Confessions & Freak Outs (aka Confessions of a New Homeowner Part 1)

I confess... Buying my first home has been a trying experience. Since I started looking for a home in March, I have put in four offers on homes.  One fell through due to a terrible inspection (we're talking EVERYTHING wrong with the place except the paint!), one fell through for not being FHA approved, one fell through because they accepted another offer instead, and finally the last one was successful.

I put in an offer on this last house about 12 hours after the listing was put up.  By the next day it had an additional 5 offers put in on it.  They called us, since we were the first offer, and told me that if I'd take it for full asking price-it was mine.  I accepted.

 I confess... My neighbors have a huge half pipe skateboard ramp in their back yard.  Also, nearly every time I've been over there they've been outside drinking beers.  At least they'll never complain about parties right? lol

I confess...  I closed on my home a week ago.  However, the owners had requested as part of the offer an extra week to move out of the home and I agreed.  I will never do that again-the waiting was terrible and I'm convinced that the previous owners were complete jerks.  They didn't leave the A/C as they promised, but instead they left a nice big mess to clean up.

I confess... I got the keys yesterday and an email saying the previous owners were entirely out of the home so I headed straight over to have a look at it.

The front door was wide open.  The house smelled like sour meat upstairs and cat pee downstairs.  There were all sorts of holes in the walls and other things I'd never seen since the previous tenants had so much junk everywhere... They had piles of crap just hiding all of the issues before.  Here are some photos from the listing:

   

I confess... It was exactly then that I lost sight of the potential I'd seen when I first put in an offer.  All I saw were the holes-were they made by water damage? Termites? I saw the crappy carpet, and the "upgrades" they'd tried to do but failed at... Seriously, they cut their own door and it's anything but straight.  They straight-up ripped holes in the closet wall so they could get to the storage behind easier.  They laid laminate flooring in the kitchen with 2 inch gaps filled with nastyness (no covers, no filler, nothing) in between the floor boards.  There was a hole in the kitchen with plastic bags stuffed in it.  Just... What?

I confess... I thought I'd made a huge mistake.  I texted Yoshi and explained how all their crap had covered up the problems.  He suggested I fill it with my own crap to hide them. lol

I called my mom and burst into tears.  I'd made a huge mistake.  I'd bought an awful house that needed more work than I thought it would, and on top of it something was probably dead in the wall because WHY THE HELL DOES MY HOUSE SMELL LIKE SOUR MEAT?

I confess... My daddy called me from Wyoming and talked me down.  He kept telling me it was all "lipstick on a pig" and that the inspector had said it had good bones, a good roof, good plumbing/wiring, etc.  He reminded me that I bought my home for 140k but it appraised for 145k so I'd already made money.  He told me his coworker lived three blocks from my new house, and when he told him how much I bought it for the guy was astounded.  He said "Nothing in Sugar House goes for under 200k!  Her lot is worth 200k!"

He reminded me that even though he's working six-twelves (six twelve hour days) for the next six weeks, when this job ended he'd have some time to come and help me fix things.  He reminded me that he can tear out carpet, break down walls, install appliances and light fixtures... He reminded me tha whatever he couldn't do, we had family members that could.  "Need tile?  We can call Uncle Dan, Cody, or Chris!" or "Need a new door?  Call your grandpa, he'll come over and help."

I confess... My sweet mother grabbed my awesome sister and hopped in the car right then to drive the hour+ during rush hour, when they both had to work super early (like be to work at 5AM) the next day, to come down and make me feel better.  

They arrived with a carpet cleaner and two bags of cleaning supplies, paint, and smell-good stuffs (Febreze, Lysol, etc.)  They picked me up at my apartment and we drove over to the house.  They walked through the house with me and told me all the things they loved, and they reminded me of the potential the place had.  They'd say "Oh that's an easy fix, we'll just pick up some putty and it'll take us 10 minutes to cover that hole." or "This carpet really isn't bad, I say worry about the carpet later and let's start on some of the other little things we can repair."

They stayed until 10PM making me feel better, bought me dinner, and then drove the hour plus home so they could get up for work early.  They are amazing-I'm so lucky to have them!

I confess... Buying a house has been the most stressful experience of my life.  I'm still afraid.  I'm afraid it wont feel like home.  I'm afraid I wont have the skills to do all that I need to do.  But, I'm a homeowner.  This place is mine and I'll make it mine.

Any tips for a first-time homeowner?

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