First Time Buyer Jitters! (Arlington Heights, Schaumburg: sales, real estate, apartment)

[mr23shades]

Hello,

I'm in the process of buying a home, I decided on a house, made an offer, they accepted. Now we're doing the home inspection soon and appraisal.

I'm a bit worried if this is the right house. I can't afford a big home, but this house is by far the best I've seen in my price range. It's built in the late 1980's.

The only issue I have with the place is it seems to have a smaller than usual living room (12x19). It wouldn't be a huge deal, but the fireplace takes up the end of the area so we'd have to put the tv above it or on the closer walls which doesn't leave too much room. Even in our current smaller apartment, the living room is more square (larger than the 12ft dist) and fits our big tv nicely.

The house is small, but it's certainly an upgrade from our current 2 bedroom apartment. I'd love to have the let's wait and see attitude, but the fact of the matter is it's hard to negotiate rental agreements that way and I've put myself in such a good situation to buy now. Waiting a few more months could lock me into a long term rental lease that I just don't want to be in.

The house is beautiful, outside and in. 3 bdrm ranch, Needs no work, it's just small. Every single house I've looked at prior to this (THAT HAS BEEN MANY HOUSES), are very old and/or need a lot of work and/or are in iffy neighborhoods (the one I'm bidding on is in a great neighborhood/schools).

I may run into an issue with the appraisal. We got the house at a decent price, but I just noticed a similar style house sold for a little bit more w/ a full finished basement. I would have loved to get this place with a basement.

Anyway, am I just being over critical? Compared to what I've seen, this is the best. I'm just nervous thinking is this the right place for me, my wife and our 2 year old baby. Could another place like the other one show up with a basement or a little bit larger place, but just as nice?

I dunno.

[brian571]

The most important thing is location, location, location. If it's in a stable community with decent/good schools and you plan on staying a while, I wouldn't worry too much. Where is it located?

[mr23shades]

brian571,

It's located in Lake Zurich. South area, but really good schools (or so it seems).

Other areas I looked at and visited homes were in Palatine, Rolling Meadows, Buffalo Grove, Schaumburg and Arlington Heights.

LZ seems nice, some areas of LZ are amazing (way out of my price range).

[Bunch]

I can understand what you are going through because I just went through the same thing. I bought my first house just a month ago. My motivations on buying where many but my first was to give more space to my family. I was living on the condo and with two daughters that like to run and jump all day long apartment living with no yard was just not good for them. Second I wanted to increase my monthly cash flow, I was paying for rent $1,000 more than I'm paying for my house. Granted I was living in the city now I'm living in the west suburb of Bellwood so one of the compromise I had to deal was location, that doesn't mean that I bought on Bellwood blind I did a lot of research on the area visited many times and found the right house for the right price.

Another item that I had to compromise was space, specially master bedroom space, I like to have a big master bedroom and that's wasn't the case with the house I bought but in order to find a house with the master bedroom space I desired I had to increase my budget and I didn't fell too comfortable with that. The last big item I had to compromise was commute, it use to take me 15min to get to work now it depends on a good day 20-25min on a bad day 40-50min.

At the end, after all the anxiety and jitters, I feel very comfortable with the choice I made, my daughters are enjoying their space, they have a yard to play and it makes me and my wife very happy and that should be your bottom line. You should make a financial decision that make sense and secondly that works best for you and your family.

[chet everett]

Every buying decision involves some trade-offs. Those trade-offs trigger feelings of uncertainty -- "is this the right thing to do?" is a very very reaction.

When the OP said the living room was small I was thinking maybe less than 100 sq ft as is the case with some homes, 12x19 is well withing the "normal" range and ought to be fairly straightforward to furnish beautifully. Lake Zurich is quite a nice area with good access to many employers in NW Cook Co / southern Lake Co. That ought to go a long way to helping to make it desirable going forward...

When it comes to things like TV placement you'll probably move things around, maybe even shop for new entertainment equipment, really nothing to fret over.

The single largest factor for determining value of similar sized houses is location -- if you are in an area served by better schools that ought to make your home more valuable. Good real estate agents will help buyers ensure the offer they submit is fair based on recent sales. If those recent sales show a trend that is rising I would not worry too much about the appraisal.

Good Luck!

[nikitakolata]

Based on what you wrote it sounds like you're having pretty normal buying jitters and are stressing over things that are not a huge deal in the long run. A living room that is 12 by 19 is not tiny. Sure, it may be more narrow than what you are used to right now... all that means is that you will have to rearrange your furniture or possibly get some different furniture. The cost of furniture is small compared to the cost of a house and if this house meets your needs, then who cares if your furniture won't look perfect in it immediately?

Honestly, it always kills me on HGTV shows where a buyer is like "oh, this house is perfect, but my dining table won't fit so it won't work." Umm, what? A house costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and, most likely, that dining table was less than $1000. It makes no sense. Just sell your current table and get a different one when you can.

Anyway, I have decorated narrow living rooms. It may be a little more challenging but they can definitely still be beautiful and functional. I wouldn't let a narrow living room in a house that otherwise met my needs be a deal breaker.

[ToriaT]

That is a normal sized living room by many standards. Many are smaller. When I bought my first house I had the jitters and was picky and trying to get everything I wanted but really I could not. So I did get some nice things but other things I did not like I had to accept like some ugly glass block accents that were popular in the l1950's when the house was built. Unless you are made of money you will not get everything you want in a first house. Location, condition of house, and school district are the most important.

[Runuova]

Originally Posted by Bunch

I can understand what you are going through because I just went through the same thing. I bought my first house just a month ago. My motivations on buying where many but my first was to give more space to my family. I was living on the condo and with two daughters that like to run and jump all day long apartment living with no yard was just not good for them. Second I wanted to increase my monthly cash flow, I was paying for rent $1,000 more than I'm paying for my house. Granted I was living in the city now I'm living in the west suburb of Bellwood so one of the compromise I had to deal was location, that doesn't mean that I bought on Bellwood blind I did a lot of research on the area visited many times and found the right house for the right price.

Another item that I had to compromise was space, specially master bedroom space, I like to have a big master bedroom and that's wasn't the case with the house I bought but in order to find a house with the master bedroom space I desired I had to increase my budget and I didn't fell too comfortable with that. The last big item I had to compromise was commute, it use to take me 15min to get to work now it depends on a good day 20-25min on a bad day 40-50min.

At the end, after all the anxiety and jitters, I feel very comfortable with the choice I made, my daughters are enjoying their space, they have a yard to play and it makes me and my wife very happy and that should be your bottom line. You should make a financial decision that make sense and secondly that works best for you and your family.

I can relate to this so well! Even though you pick a location that may not be popular, you took the time to research the vicinity of the home. A top tiered location isn't affordable to everyone. People need to buy where they can afford!

[GolfLover2]

mr23shades:

I'd recommend talking to an agent or mortgage lender regarding the viability of the comparables in the area. Being a Mortgage Lender myself, I can tell you if the property is NOT worth what you paid, it will not appraise out and that issue will be raised. It's natural to be somewhat apprehensive at this point in your transaction and buying process. With the interest rates being what they are, and the regulations for Underwriting that are currently in place ... it will be hard to overpay for a property. But please ... reach out and have that discussion and ask the questions you need to prior to signing at Closing. Although you might lose an Earnest Money deposit, it still would be better than buying a home you have come to NOT want.
Shout out if you have more questions. Best of luck!