r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer

Every day I scroll through here in awe of these stunning, expensive homes that people are managing to acquire in this economy, so inspired and proud to see y’all win despite so much leveraged against us.

This experience is consistently tainted by the annoying naysayers in the comments who either want to nitpick minute details because they’re bitter or fabricate some sort of catch because they can’t fathom someone else doing better than them. I can’t even imagine being the one showing my accomplishment and having to assuage the salty feelings of others for doing so.

It’s the same pattern that I’ve noticed every time - people in this sub who show their very modest homes are met with extensive support and encouragement and those with more expensive homes are met with jealousy and disdain. I’m poor myself and I can’t imagine being anything other than inspired and happy for those doing better than me. Can we all do better and not make posting in this sub a minefield for a certain category of buyer?

We submitted an offer on a house, at asking price, shortened contingencies, 21 day escrow since it’s empty and our agent felt it was a very strong offer. They responded saying they have another offer basically the exact same as ours and sent a multiple counter offer stating to submit our best and that they were not willing to pay our agents commission, which would be about $18000 😩
My question is have other people experienced this because my agent says she has never had this happen.

I went to my first open house last month on a home that was listed at $115,000, when I got there I asked if there were any offers after I looked around, and she said they were already around $40,000 over, I think the home went for around $70k over asking, very discouraging. I’ve also talked with a bunch of people who’ve bought homes who had this problem as well. Some I know who bought their homes from an auction, which they used someone I know to buy it initially, and in turn they buy it from him with the mortgage.

Context: 27M, married w/7 month old, single income, Western NY, $80k income. No debt, $10k saved atm, which has taken a while to do. My budget is anything under $150k. With my income, that’s the most I can absolutely do. I’d like to keep my mortgage under $1400/month to leave room for utilities.

I’m looking to put down $5K as a down payment, no idea what to expect for closing costs. I’ve heard anywhere from $1k-$20k, which has made me extremely hesitant to buy. I don’t know how much to save up, I’m aiming for around $15k-$20k.

Anything encouraging would really help, as I’m having a hard time with this. My wife and I would like to own a home, many of our friends do, and it’s hard to watch them own while we rent. One of our friends has his parents pay for the down payment, which I don’t have. Makes me really sad and discouraged. Many of them had a home before the pandemic, so their homes appreciated extremely well, and they used that to buy their homes. I’m really trying to stay patient, but it’s very hard seeing your friends buy homes and while you struggle to even get a decent down payment outside your emergency fund.

I’ve considered moving as well. I’m a Mechanical Engineer and could get a job elsewhere, but homes here are cheaper than the median price nationwide.

I’m going to be 31 this year. House is $290k in CA.
I have no retirements setup at all, but around 140k saved. I still owe 11k on my car the rate is low. The lender offered 6.25% for a VA loan. They said I’m looking at a $2300 month mortgage. Which is more than half of what I bring home which is around $4000 after taxes. I pay rent right now at $1200. I personally think it would be a stretch and would have to live frugally

All the shitty homes I've lived in have always had bad soundproofing. I could always hear my family memembers doing stuff through walls and closed doors!

What's soundproofing like in nicer places, like $600k+?

So, I moved like 10 minutes away from where I was renting. And I’m so proud of this accomplishment and so happy about my house, the previous owners took such great care of it so the home is a dream and I love it so much.

But then I have this underlying sadness. I’m not sure how to truly describe it but I’ve cried and I keep have a lump in my throat. Curious if anyone else has felt this way? And what did you do or didn’t do with it?

Was there a moment after moving in that confirmed you made the right choice—or made you wish you'd looked elsewhere?

What did you overlook during your home search?

I found a condo that I loooove and put in a generous offer for. There was also another offer alongside mine.

Cut to today, seller has accepted neither offer and is now asking for even longer closing - late September essentially so almost 3 months.

Is this a red flag? Should I hold firm on my original offer or walk?

Edit- seller’s reason is they need to more time to find another place

We had an offer accepted and we’re feeling differently than we thought we would. Curious how others felt!