Home Buying Tips
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Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: 5 Safety and Security Items We’ve Purchased for Our House
When you’re a renter, there’s a certain level of safety and security that your landlord is required to provide. So, when you become a homeowner, suddenly you’re solely responsible for these important aspects of your life. And, of course, this also likely means spending more money to protect yourself. In our case, since moving in…
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Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: Our First Major Repair as Homeowners
Well, it had to happen sooner or later. This week, my wife and I placed a maintenance call, with the hope that it might be a small fix — but, of course, it turned out to be a worst-case scenario. The culprit causing harm to our wallets this time? Our water heater. The good news…
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Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: Should You Break Your Lease to Buy?
In a perfect world, the transition from renting to buying would be seamless — you’d find a great house to buy, close the deal, and move right into your new place. Alas, it’s rarely this easy. That’s because many renters are on a lease, which may heavily impact their timing when buying a home and…
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Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: Worst Time to Buy a House? There Are Always Exceptions
If you’ve been thinking about buying a house, looking at the news lately has likely disheartened you. As CNN reports, a recent Gallup poll found that 76% of Americans believe it’s a bad time to buy — with only 21% saying it’s a good time. There are several reasons for that sentiment, with the top…
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Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: The Best Parts of Homeownership So Far
Being a homeowner certainly has some pros and cons. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, I explored some of the downsides I’ve discovered since becoming a homeowner. With that, it’s only fair that I also highlight some of the best aspects as well. Top 5 Things I’m Loving as a New Homeowner Being able…
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Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: The Worst Parts of Homeownership So Far
As you can probably imagine, making the jump from being a long-time apartment dweller to a first-time homeowner has been drastic. On the whole, the changes have been positive (which is why we chose to buy in the first place). But, of course, there are some downsides too — including some that I didn’t really…
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Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: Living Outside City Limits
So, apparently I don’t actually live in Springfield. Despite our mailing address including Springfield and part of our backyard likely falling under the city’s jurisdiction, technically, we just live in Greene County, Missouri. This is something we only confirmed yesterday — although I had my suspicions before that. When we first came to tour this…
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Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: The Problem with Appraisal Gaps
Amazingly, when my wife and I recently purchased our very first home, the process couldn’t have gone smoother. Alas, that was not the case for our sister and brother-in-law. A day after they told us that their offer had been accepted on a house, they hit us back to say that the acceptance had since…
