Adulting Level: Home Owner

Good Morning Everyone!!! 

(because apparently theres people actually reading this now... I'm still shocked.  Leave some comments people!)

**If you just want the home buying tips and general care tips, you can just scroll down I won't be insulted :) **

So, #adulting is a thing currently, and how much "adulting" people are doing is measured by how many adult things you do in your life.  Hubs and I pretty much say that we're getting pretty good at this "#adulting" thing seeing as we 

     A. continue to be happily married (not an exaggeration, we're pretty freaking happy with our lives right now...)
     B. after many long months (almost a year) have FINALLY bought a house.  *cue golf clap*

We are currently in that stage of "ew these carpets are gross" and "when can we move in?" and are slowly taking over things that can be moved for the new carpets.  We purchased a home that we can grow into, and is slightly older, so we've come across some general home maintenance issues but we are slowly fixing them one step at a time.

When we bought the house we had a long list of things that needed to get done before we moved in

• replace oil tank to above ground
• new carpets
• paint the random crummy paint job spots
• clean the kitchen
• switch the cable/internet to new house
• fix the shed
• purchase lawn care items
• Fix the dryer

Currently the list now looks like this

• replace oil tank to above ground
• install new carpets
• paint the random crummy paint job spots
• clean the kitchen
• switch the cable/internet to new house
• fix the shed
• purchase lawn care items
• fix the dryer

We currently are just waiting on the carpet people to install the new carpets (next weekend, WHAT WHAT!) and my dad has offered to see if he can fix my shed door as currently it does not hang right and I'd like to not keep my lawn care items in my living room...

This whole home buying experience has been one heck of a journey and a MAJOR learning experience, AND I HAVEN'T EVEN MOVED IN YET.

STOP! ITS TIPS TIME!!

These are tips for before closing.

1. Talk to your friends and Family.  If you have friends or family who have recently purchased a house, TALK TO THEM.  I have a couple who hubs and me are friends with who I told them I would suggest a realtor and mortgage company, and they didn't take my advice.  Their pitfall? their mortgage rate is NO WHERE near ours, because they weren't aware of all the benefits of being a first time home buyer and having an amazing realtor and mortgage broker like we did.  They went to a random bank they saw an ad for and frankly have expressed they aren't really happy with their mortgage... I'm not surprised.  SO lesson to take from this, shop around before picking one person.  Ask friends, ask family, search the internet, DO YOUR RESEARCH.  This is a major expense you will have for the next 15-30 years.
2. Be honest with the mortgage broker.  Another individual I knew got all the way to the closing table, was about to sign the exceedingly large amount of documentation you are required to sign, and THEN everyone found out the individual had a student loan they failed to tell ANYONE about, thus causing them to lose their financing amount and in the end losing their beautiful dream home.
3. Read the sellers disclosure THOROUGHLY and ask questions.  Hubs and I bought a house that the seller listed they were unsure of the condition of the underground oil tank.  Well this became a huge problem because if the soil around the tank was contaminated, then you have to keep checking the soil to see how deep the contamination went, and if it hits the rock bed, you're looking at 40k or more in fines from the EPA.
4. Check your county's taxes and policies for homeowners.  I was so excited that I didn't have to buy trash cans, then my best friend explained to me that the trash cans are assigned to each home and how the trash collection works in the area as she grew up not far from the house we purchased.  (Friends are a fountain of knowledge!)  I also learned that the township I purchased my home in did not require a check of the oil tank before selling.  GUESS WHAT we did it anyway and learned that there were issues with the tank and it would be beneficial for us to replace it and had to negotiate with the sellers to figure out how to do it because it was still their house, not ours, so not our problem.
5. Do a pre-closing table walk through I was very lucky and had the best realtor I could ask for who was honestly looking out for us every step of the way (thats what I get for choosing someone I've know my whole life!).  We were able to walk through the house one last time before closing, with our realtor and the sellers to check for any changes to the house and be sure that no one trashed the place before closing that we would then have to deal with.

ONTO AFTER CLOSING TIPS!!

These are tips for after closing:

1. Trust no one! I can not stress enough the importance of changing your locks after you close on a house.  I got lucky and my father had an old door handle and key from when my brother lost his keys and he felt the need to change all the locks at our house.  I did however go out and buy a lock set because I was not comfortable with the bolt lock being the same still and my dad did not have one of those...
2. Replace the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors this, and replacing the locks was the best advice we got from our inspector.  He told us you never know how old the detectors are, even if they look new.  Yes, you are spending money to replace them, but you'll spend a heck of a lot more if your house burns down from faulty detectors.
3. Check the electric  and ask questions.  My husband and I have this one light switch in our kitchen that we had NO CLUE what it went to.  Finally figured it out yesterday, its the switch for an outside light over the driveway (not sure what possessed them to put it next to the oven but whatever...)
4. Make a spare set of keys and give them to trusted individuals.  I told Hubs I didn't want EVERYONE having a key to my house so we picked a small select few to have spares to our house incase we ever lock ourselves out.  I'm not a fan of keeping keys under the mat or in the garden so its beneficial someone else have keys that are close by.
5. Check your hot water we had no clue our oil was off when we moved in, and the installers had to turn it on for me... made me look very dumb.  Run the water in the house and check everything.
6. Paint.  You do not want to get brand new beautiful soft carpets, then go paint your bedroom.  If you are not in the rush to move in, paint the places that need touch ups and THEN get new carpet, then you don't have to lay down tarps and everything and it won't matter that you got paint on the rug.  You're tossing it out anyway.
7. Clean up the floors.   No use cleaning the floors before you paint if its a carpet you plan on replacing, but if you have tiles that seem slightly dirty and you plan on changing the color schemes, clean that floor, you never know what dirt may be hiding!

List always make me feel better, how about you guys?  Simple and to the point, right?

Also, for crafting Ideas (because I know this was all about home renovations and care today) check out The Right Brain Bunch.  Theres many new recipes and crafting with your kids videos posted.

Finally, if you are moving, and looking for a slow cooker recipe that you can use while you are painting, waiting for your carpets to be installed, etc, check out Slow Cooker Nachos (the next post).  People have told me I basically made chili, but its nacho stuff :)

Happy Crafting!

taxikab