Finally a place to call our own 🙏🏻😇

Budapest, Hungary

sqm: 78 + 33 terrace (sqft: 840 + 355)

3 beds + 2 baths

Finally bought a house, and there is a long way and road ahead..

180k EUR (202k USD) Graz, Austria, paid in cash, 47 m² (506 sqft) plus 14 m² (151 sqft) balcony and underground parking garage

2nd biggest city in my country, house is located a 30 min walk away from city center. Not a new build, it was built 10 years ago, but still looks fairly modern. My first own apartement, gonna be living there alone for now. Came to Austria as an immigrant from Eastern Europe, didn't inherit anything, worked my butt off and made good gains investing in stocks. Purchasing the apartement was quite an experience (though it was easier compared to most home buyers since I didnt need any loan/mortgage), had to pay around 10% of the price additionally on top in taxes and fees (realtor and so on) so the total price was around 200k EUR (225k USD). I got an underground parking garage with the apartement though, which is nice. I lived in a similar sized apartement with underground parking garage before purchasing this apartement and paid around 750 EUR (843 USD) rent (without utilities, just rent) each month.

Big deal. I moved a lot of times as a kid and got messed up from homelessness, lack of consistent family and getting left behind growing up. Struggled in rentals like the rest of us as an adult. But this day means a lot. This one is for all the people who endured a lot and are pondering if buying a new home is even possible and something they deserve. It is. For everyone: yourself included.

My area is TOUGH. Little inventory at scale (no one bedrooms with any personal space, mostly 3nbeds minimum), financial cliff from fixer upper to move in ready, equidistant to Philly and NYC makes offers extremely competitive. I am definitely house poor and going to be scrambling for discretionary spending. Rentals are all in flip mode because of data centers and competition. No choice but now to take that leap.

3 bedroom, 1970s all wood floors. So. Much. Sun. Pool, hot tub, yard space, fenced in. Did this by myself. Paid 20% down from life of saving. Rates and being single suck for repayment but better than a rotation of rental problems. I'm taking this as an opportunity to enjoy the process of learning to build, fix, maintain and be handy.

Thankfully the mortgage is 335k 🙈

1884 build, so sad the door needs to be replaced 😩

We got the keys to our new home (half duplex) about a month ago. A little over 2,600 sq/ft, 5 bed + den and 3.5 bath (including 2 bed + 1 bath finished basement suite), 2 years old.

Had some additions done right after getting our keys such as a rear entrance mud room, mouldings + feature wall, frosted glass doors for the den to make it a proper office and some wood panelling in a couple of the rooms. Mixture of some photos before move in and after additions!

23 F, 25 M! The downpayment was 10%

The process was quick and smooth for my situation. 4 bedroom with 2.5 baths. I did rate shop but getting information from lenders was like pulling teeth. Happy the process is over.

Officially a first-time homeowner in Bavaria! €620k purchase price with a 3.65% mortgage interest rate.

Still feels surreal holding the keys and knowing this place is mine. A huge commitment, but I’m excited for this next chapter.

long time lurker, now home owner! no pizza yet as i’m moving but monster is on the counter, lol

Earlier this year I noticed wasps near my front door entering these 1" circular holes (vents?) on the front door overhang. I sealed them with painters tape (except one) and they have since left. I would like to replace these with ones that have smaller holes. However I don't know what they are called and where I can purchase them? I am guessing they are easy to replace? Any advice would be appreciated.

(The one in the photo crumbled when I touched it so there a gaping hole now!)

Long story short I bought my home a year ago, and my electricity bill went from $10 to $500. Bought the home because it was sold as “Owned Solar equipment” come to find out 9 month after moving it “my” equipment doesn’t work as it should. So I called the solar company and they tell me that it’s still their property they own them and they do not want to come fix it because of a contract that was terminated on my property 2 years before I moved in. The owner of the home had renters and the renters agreed to have solar panels and batteries installed without the owners consent. The owners sued the solar company and the tech who installed and they won. But the settlement agreement shows the contract was only terminated nothing about giving the owner the equipment. So my realtor told me and it’s in all the documents that the equipment is fully paid off and is now “ours”. But that’s not the case with the solar company. Who would I purser? My realtor or the sellers and their realtors because I was lied to when I bought the home.

Recently divorced and was told by my ex it could not be done lol

I’m 22 and just had my offer accepted on my first house for $279,000 — and I’m buying it completely in cash.
Honestly, it still feels kind of insane typing that out.
The last year has involved a ton of major life changes, including losing my mom, dealing with property/estate stuff, selling real estate, moving, and trying to figure out what the next chapter of my life is supposed to look like. One thing I really wanted was to take the money I have and put it into something permanent instead of blowing through it.
My fiancée and I found a house we really like, put in an offer, and it was accepted. No mortgage, no monthly house payment, and assuming everything goes smoothly with inspection/title/closing, we’ll own it outright.
I know buying in cash eliminates a lot of the mortgage side of the first-time-homebuyer experience, but I’m also very aware that I’m 22 and there is probably a LOT about homeownership that I simply don’t know yet.
For those of you who have been through this:
• What do you wish someone had told you before you bought your first house?
• Is there anything cash buyers sometimes overlook because there isn’t a lender forcing certain steps?
• What should I absolutely NOT cheap out on during the inspection?
• What expenses surprised you the most during your first year?
• Once the house is paid for, how much would you personally keep set aside specifically for home repairs/emergencies?
I’m excited as hell, but I also want to be smart about it. I’d rather learn from other people’s mistakes before making every single one myself.
Any advice for a 22-year-old first-time homeowner is appreciated.

New build Townhouse project. About 1/3 complete. About 2/3 of that 1/3 is "SOLD"

There are currently 6 "quick move in homes". The lowest price one was originally priced at $1.648M. It is now down to $1.408M. Similar units sold for $1.48M last month (3 of them). Literally in the same row of buildings, so wr aren't dealing with lot/placement issues.

They JUST listed 3 new "quick move in" homes for January occupancy, back up at $1.68M.

Why do they do this and how does it make sense? These units are all the same floor plan, FWIW. If $1.408M is the floor, isn't that going to be the comp? How do they expect anyone to pay $1.68M? How will that even apppraise since they have closed sales in the $1.4M range?

Why do the builders play this game? How can they simulataneously have homes with sich drastic price differentials listed for sale at the same time?

Are they just hoping for suckers to go for the higher price or something?

Hey! Buying my first home in Colorado.

Looking only at new builds since they're all offering solid interest rates and are very motivated to sell soon despite the market slowdown.

Wondering how essential you found your Realtor in a new build purchase? For example, talking directly with a small builder and while there's clearly a knowledge gap, wondering if I can possibly facilitate negotiation myself with enough research. I personally have an aversion to including a middle man in the process. 40k seems quite excessive cost for a realtor when I could simply get the deal worked out myself and save that money. I think it's a long shot that they'd really bring that much value to the transaction.

Have any of you purchased a new build with no realtor and how did it go? Those that did use a realtor, where were they most helpful and do your think you could have navigated that on your own after the fact?

Would prefer if Realtors would refrain from contributing to this thread. You're biased.

I recently had a room reskimmed about 7 weeks ago (United kingdom). I went into the room today as it’s hardly used and noticed so cracks scattered in different places. One spans the whole ceiling width and down the wall. One crack goes from a plug socket to the wall and another near the door frame (photos attached)

I’ve also noticed some cracks in the room next door in the ceiling, this hasn’t been replastered.

I’ve recently started putting the heating on so didn’t know if it was because of heat changes etc.

Any advice would be helpful

24m just bought my first home closed on the 14th. It’s a townhouse in FL for 155k. I know the rate is pretty gnarly I’m self employed so I at least did 20% down and got a 15 year mortgage on only 124k. So far I’ve spent 4k on furniture!

Closed on our 1915 dream home yesterday and couldn’t be happier!

we're getting our first 1000 sq ft 3rd-floor condo in chicago and i simply cannot make sense of how these numbers are so different. obvi we'd love to go cheap but it makes me nervous. how to choose?

I have been looking for an apartment in London for some time. I’ve recently found an apartment however mortgage rates are high due to ongoing wars and tensions around the world. I was considering buying a new apartment with cash (with some lending from my family and friends). Which one is the best way in the long term in your opinion?

This could be the only way for me to afford anything here. Curious to hear about recent experiences with them. Thank you 😊

Prefacing to say that the house I am trying to buy is 103 years old -- I am under no illusions as to what condition it's in lol

I completed the home inspection on Friday and it uncovered a lot of issues, but nothing that is a dealbreaker for me because I'm handy and enjoy DIY stuff, but I'm worried that they will be sticking points for the FHA appraiser. My realtor said not to worry too much because they only spend like 30 mins in the house, but...I'm still worrying lol

Some things I'm almost positive they'll flag: peeling paint inside and out, some cracks, stains, bubbling, etc in the drywall from previous water damage. (The roof was replaced and there is no current moisture.) Outlet covers missing in some rooms, loose handrails on all 4 sets of exterior steps, and there is a piece of the sidewalk in front that is being pushed up by a tree root which is a trip hazard (pic included).

Then there's some things that I know are big issues, but my realtor says it's appraiser dependent, and everyone is different. The detached garage is a shitshow. Foundation has issues, roof needs repaired, the service door doesn't close properly, etc. Realtor said in her 25 years of doing this, she's only ever had an appraiser flag a garage twice because you're not living in there, so it doesn't matter as much. But again, appraiser dependent.

There's a small amount of knob & tube wiring connected to the upstairs bathroom, but it's kind of hidden, so I'm not even sure the appraiser will find it. It's the only K&T wiring that we found in the whole house during the inspection (not to say there isn't more, but we didn't find any).

Lastly, there is no heat going to the kitchen or upstairs bathroom. The furnace works well and all baseboard heaters work well, but those two areas are not heated. The inspector said they will likely flag that.

If they flag the garage, I will lose the house because the seller definitely isn't going to fix it. The rest of it is kind of up in the air because idk what the seller is willing to fix. My question is, how thorough and picky was your appraiser? What did they flag? Any advice on how to approach this with the seller if these things are flagged? I'm maxed out on seller credits, so I can't ask for that.

Having never been through the process, what’s your biggest piece of advice when looking for a single family home?