I'm buying a house.

**ohiopiper** · 5th April 11, 05:45 AM

Well, the inspection went off without a hitch. No major findings and not that many minor ones. The inspector said he was surprised to find a house of that age in such good shape.

Regarding the price of the house, it's a steal right now. Two years ago it was appraised at 165,000, and then the bottom dropped out of the market here in the states.

**Cynthia** · 5th April 11, 06:21 AM

Originally Posted by Danwell

I'd love to see photos......I don't think there is anywhere in Australia you can buy a house for $100,000. Obviously the housing market is vastly different in the US to Australia, but I can't imagine being able to buy a livable house so cheap! Ours was nearly four times that!

It varies across the US... some housing areas are priced extremely high, others seem like a steal. It depends on where you're looking and what the market is like in that area.

**Whidbey78** · 5th April 11, 11:12 AM

Originally Posted by Danwell

I'd love to see photos......I don't think there is anywhere in Australia you can buy a house for $100,000. Obviously the housing market is vastly different in the US to Australia, but I can't imagine being able to buy a livable house so cheap! Ours was nearly four times that!

You'd lose your mind to know what we paid for our house. It was a four figure number...but we have put about $20,000 into materials for remodeling, along with about 5,000 man-hours of work between my wife and I over the past two years. Still a steal at less than the price of my neighbor's new pickup.

And no...our house does not have wheels...never did.

**ohiopiper** · 16th April 11, 05:19 AM

The loan has been approved.

The V.A. appraisal was yesterday (friday, 4/15) and I expect it went well, we've heard nothing yet, it will take a few days to be officially reported. If that went well, the deal goes through.

**Bovineguy** · 16th April 11, 06:50 AM

Congratulations, I think I'd be afraid to live in a home that old, I wouldn't want to touch anything

.....I bought my first house about a year and a half ago, I'm 53 years old, a little slow I guess. I signed the purchase agreement on December 1st and we closed on December 30th. All in all, it was pretty simple. Best of luck to you.

**ohiopiper** · 25th April 11, 11:33 AM

The V.A. appraiser showed up and did his thing. He complained that the window sills needed paint. Since we've already gotten several thousand in concessions from the seller, we've kinda decided to get a signed agreement then paint the sills before closing, rather than having her do it.

**Detroitpete** · 25th April 11, 11:58 AM

Congratulations neighbor! My first home was a VA fixer as well--hmm..so was my second ;)

Here's to sweat equity and good timing! Cheers!

**Santa Kona** · 25th April 11, 01:07 PM

That is very normal the VA inspector has to find something wrong. When we built this house 7 years ago the bulider did not put the new door on so that the movers didn't mess it up the inspector was told that but he wrote it up anyway. Welcome to the world of VA financing.

**robbiethepiper** · 25th April 11, 02:28 PM

Consider - Depending which survey you believe, the average price for a house in London is about £400,000 GBP. This is why many young people have just given up on the idea......

**JiminDC** · 27th April 11, 01:08 PM

Congratulations. My wife and I just bought our first home last August. We had been renting at various places for the first 19 years of our marriage (we celebrated 20 years together last month.) It is such a great feeling to finally own our own home and do simple things like have a fire in our own fireplace and make plans for updating the kitchen... One word of advice, if the seller does not offer a home warranty, get one on your own. They take a lot of stress out of taking responsibility for EVERYTHING.

I hope it all goes well.