Buying a House 201

So the first house we looked at we want to buy. I know, we're such shoppers. We did go to a couple of open houses and looked at 6 more with a realtor just to be sure. AND WE ARE. We feel like we're getting a great deal and we know that our Father has blessed us b/c there's no way we could have fallen into this alone.

We're not going through a realtor so the owner showed us the house. It's much nicer than other homes in that price range, PLUS I got him to go about $16,500 down on the price. I told him there was no way I would pay what he wanted and I'd only pay a certain amount. I'm glad I did that b/c D would have offered a little more. And, as much as I hate to admit it, the owner really only talked to D and didn't pay any attention to me until I started talking money. So anyway, reluctantly, he agreed to our price.

We decided to get the house appraised and we just got that back. It came back $10,000 more than what we offered! BUT, we bartered with her and she said that she would appraise the house for an extra $5000. THEN, we talked to our loan guy about borrowing a couple extra thousand dollars to do our bathroom. It's not a lot, but we get a good advantage doing it. See, since we're borrowing the money from the bank, the appraiser will do what's called a ProForma appraisal. Meaning she'll appraise the house at what it will be worth once the bathroom's done. She said that she'll make the appraisal and even extra $5000 on top of that!

So this means our house as appraised $20,000 MORE than what we're paying for it. We'll already have equity. This also means that with the Government's $8000 you get for purchasing this year, we'll have 80% into our home. Which means D and I don't have to put forth any of our own cash. All we have to do is give the extra govt money as downpayment. AND we don't have to pay PMI. AND we get a better interest rate- so lower monthly payments. AND we get an extra bathroom AND a remodeled one.

It seems like we're getting a lot for free! Oh, AND the goverment pays $1500 to you if you make your home more energy efficient. So D and I will put in a new hot water heater and hopefully will have an extra grand or so.

The home owner is having his lawyer draw up our contract which D and I will look over and have looked over. So all that will be left is to sign, do our bank paperwork (we're already approved), put down cash and have home inspected. Uh, not in that order.

PS. Our little guy has taken to lifting up my shirt and poking me yelling BABY! Of course at inopportune times. Like at the grocery store...