For the past few months, the husband and I have been doing a great deal of reading and research on how to achieve the ultimate American dream: buying our first house. Traveling this path has been both exciting and stressful. In the interim, I had to learn a whole new language: The language of the American real estate. This language includes terms like PMI, seller contribution, closing costs, interest-only, buyer’s agent, open house, appraisal and others.
I have been so stressed out about the whole process that I woke up yesterday and found one single white hair on my head. The last time I had a single white hair was four years ago when I was preparing for my wedding, which was followed by a new job in a new country. It goes without saying that the white hair has made me even more stressed out. In addition to thinking about the best way to pursue the American dream, I’m now thinking about aging and the deterioration of my own body. Sigh! If only life could be less stressful.
Wli, basita! Since I last saw you, I’ve grown a number of white hairs…but it was all worth it 🙂
while you are planning to achieve your American Dream, we are busy trying to achieve our Jordanian Dream, cheap heating oil to last the winter 😉
Since today is my birthday and my hair is disappearing quickly, I should be thinking about rapid aging. Instead, I’m just caught up in the job search process as I finish graduate school.
If you buy, make sure you live in it. We have two properties managed by someone else, and I’m not just going gray over it, but LOSING HAIR!
I’m also trying to buy a house at the moment and I have several white hairs appearing.
Best of luck finding your dream home 🙂
Hopefully this stressful, exciting time be rewarding in the end.
I bought my first house over 6 years ago. We lived in it for 2 1/2 years before moving overseas. When we sold it, we made over 12% on our investment. I hope your luck is as good as ours. 🙂
Exciting stuff, buying a house. It’s certainly a good time to buy with the market down and all. Time to get a deal. Negotiate everything (price, terms, occupancy, time frame, loan costs/fees). People are in the mood for it. Good luck. We bought and sold our second house FSBO. For Sale By Owner.
Regarding the gray hair – why fear it? You could always age with grace. 🙂
you’re somewhat lucky; I lost my hair from stress.
Life could be less stressful!
You could simply not buy a house. Or, if you insist, hire a lawyer to do it for you.
But you’re probably doing the more responsible thing by doing it yourself; that’s where stress lies… in responsibility. I avoid it like the plague.
Yes, this is a stressful step . The thing that made it less stressful for me when I first went through that path is simple. Think of the loan as a 5 year investment. I always had a panic from thinking that a 30 year commitment is so much on me. I never had a long term commitment in my life. Second, you are paying the money anyway for rent. A visit to a Real Estate lawyer gave me much more of what realtors always knew, told me or even didn’t tell me. Some tricks to pull out of a deal without loosing the ernest money are there should you decide to cancell the deal after you made an offer [ will tell you if u ask]. After paying the downpayment, make sure u still keep some money so as to avoid foreclosures should things do not work out well at jobs [ fear exists, but practically, it is just a fear]. Although market now is still unstable, but it is less likely houses will go down in prices by much if you decide to buy now.
Generally speaking, it is a good investment and you will start noticing the equity in your house as years go by [ 3 years and after].
As for the white hair, I have no advice !