This is pretty exciting, but also pretty terrifying. This is A LOT OF MONEY we are talking about and there are so many "what ifs" that enter my mind that I sometimes just want to throw up my hands and forget it and rent my 2 bedroom apartment forever.
But we need a house. The time is right....or so everyone keeps saying. Everyone in fact keeps freaking me out about the timing thing.
"Hurry up and buy. Interest rates are going up!"
"You need to get in a house! The market is crazy hot right now! Prices will go up!"
"Stop throwing your money away renting!"
Um, yeah. I get it. But houses are expensive and don't you need, like, money to buy a house? And how do we afford to have a baby if we spend all our money on a house? How will we live? What about when I'm on maternity leave and stop getting paid for a few months?
Anyways, we decided to go ahead and talk to someone who knows mortgages more than us - which is like, all people. But this particular guy we talked to does this for a living so I think he knows what he's talking about. We have our budget and now we have to go find a house we want to live in, a house within our budge of course.
Which brings me to another point - as first time home buyers, we understand we are not going to be buying our dream house. We get that. But its true that the real estate market here in Utah is quite competitive right now. Most houses get multiple offers and often times get above asking price. So for people like us who are trying to find a nice house to live in, in an area that we want to live in, under a reasonable budget, this could pose a challenge. We looked online briefly last night and lets just say it was a little reality check. Not totally depressing, but I think we will need to be really proactive in our search and also open minded to carpeted bathrooms and popcorn ceilings.
