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Author Topic: First Time Home Buyer  (Read 26998 times)

Offline mr_90proof

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First Time Home Buyer
« on: 04. March 2022, 06:37:23 AM »
Part 1.

I was in the market for a house.  It seemed like a strange concept to someone who’s most valuable asset before was a worn out truck worth maybe $6,000.  But I had been saving up over the past 4 years and had about $40.000 in the bank and I was ready to spend it.  If it was what I wanted.  And with first time home owner programs I knew I could buy a house.   I did not really have any idea exactly what this meant, I just knew that I had been renting an apartment for years.  And I knew that financially this made no sense if I wanted to stay put for a few years.  And I did.  I was happy where I was and with what I was doing.  And while I loved my parents, they were not a good source for advice on long term financial stability.  If it had not been for a full financial scholarship in undergrad, and student loans for grad school, I would not be in the market for a home in the neighborhoods I was looking.  As the agent showed me homes, I thought surely they won’t loan me this much money.  But they were, I had been pre-approved for more than I would willingly ever agree to sign my name to.  The real estate agent kept showing me these homes that were much more than I wanted to commit to.  After I told the agent I thought that we were spinning our wheels, she said we could go look at a new development that was going up.  They were super nice and super modern.  Once we pulled in the development I was already out.  They were 1,200-1,600’ houses in shoebox size lots.  I politely told her this was not for me.  I told her again, I was looking for a 2-3 bedroom house on an acre or two on the edge or outside of town.  She said she just didn’t know of anything that met my criteria and would take me back to my truck.  As we drove back, we went through a nice neighborhood.  And there was a for sell by owner sign in the yard of one of them.  As we had driven by I fell in love with what I saw  As we backed up I liked it even more.  It had a large U shaped front with a courtyard.  In the courtyard there was a fountain, and in front there was an oriental themed privacy fence, posts and a covered area.  I fell in love with it, but I knew I couldn’t afford it.  The home beside it was a McMansion, a three story home with a pool in back.  Surely they wouldn’t let me buy and live in this house.  And the real estate agent said this was a for sale by owner, so it was probably better to keep looking.  But this house, I really wanted it. 

Offline Lithpkith

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Re: First Time Home Buyer
« Reply #1 on: 05. March 2022, 02:28:10 AM »
Thith thtowy hath a lot of potential- maybe a dentitht ow owthodontitht ownth the houthe? I’m intewethed in what happenth netht! Mowe pleathe!

Offline Braceface2015

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Re: First Time Home Buyer
« Reply #2 on: 05. March 2022, 04:38:22 AM »
I'm really enjoying all of your stories.

I do have a bit of advice for you. Don't have too many stories going at one time. Try and focus on one or two stories and complete them, then start more.
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If you find that you have a good idea for another story, start writing it in a file somewhere and work on it that way. There are a lot of stories on the internet that start out good, then disappear because of lack of interest in it, or because they became too involved in something else. I have a file that I keep my story ideas and older incomplete stories in.

There are many good on-line places to do that, some of which are Dropbox, Google Drive, Google Docs, OneDrive(Microsoft), etc.

Offline mr_90proof

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Re: First Time Home Buyer
« Reply #3 on: 06. March 2022, 04:43:54 AM »
Why don’t you just go ahead and finish this one up, you know how it should go.

Offline Libra

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Re: First Time Home Buyer
« Reply #4 on: 06. March 2022, 06:17:39 AM »
I'm really enjoying all of your stories.

I do have a bit of advice for you. Don't have too many stories going at one time. Try and focus on one or two stories and complete them, then start more.
.
If you find that you have a good idea for another story, start writing it in a file somewhere and work on it that way. There are a lot of stories on the internet that start out good, then disappear because of lack of interest in it, or because they became too involved in something else. I have a file that I keep my story ideas and older incomplete stories in.

There are many good on-line places to do that, some of which are Dropbox, Google Drive, Google Docs, OneDrive(Microsoft), etc.

some people just want to write without your unwanted ‘advice’ butting in every single post, lol

Offline Braceface2015

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Re: First Time Home Buyer
« Reply #5 on: 06. March 2022, 06:48:35 AM »
I realize that I have been a bit excessive in my advice lately. Thank you for pointing it out to me. I will try to do better in the future.

I really have been enjoying all the new stories lately.

Offline caster72401

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Re: First Time Home Buyer
« Reply #6 on: 06. March 2022, 15:50:38 PM »
I for one enjoy having several different stories to read. I appreciate your efforts as well as all the other writers’. I look forward to each new chapter posted. Keep up the good work!

Offline mr_90proof

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Re: First Time Home Buyer
« Reply #7 on: 06. March 2022, 17:19:26 PM »
Well, I know what the easiest and simplest solution is.  I will let the experts handle the stories from here on out and not bother ya’ll with any more.


Offline Braceface2015

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Re: First Time Home Buyer
« Reply #8 on: 06. March 2022, 19:24:34 PM »
Just ignore us old people, we talk too much. I do hope you continue writing. Your stuff is good.

Offline Libra

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Re: First Time Home Buyer
« Reply #9 on: 07. March 2022, 05:37:54 AM »
Well, I know what the easiest and simplest solution is.  I will let the experts handle the stories from here on out and not bother ya’ll with any more.

don’t let a bunch of people with nothing better to do but endlessly harangue people over braces fiction get you down
just ignore them

Offline mr_90proof

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Re: First Time Home Buyer
« Reply #10 on: 07. March 2022, 07:59:03 AM »
Fact; I have too thin a skin sometimes.

Offline Nameless

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Re: First Time Home Buyer
« Reply #11 on: 08. March 2022, 04:29:52 AM »
Honestly, I admire how you are able to keep track of all of your thoughts and details on all of your stories. I know I for one I couldn't do that!

Ultimately you should just do what makes you happy and comfortable with your writing, especially since you are able to keep everything straight, put effort into all of them, and enjoy crafting your stories

Offline m1090y

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Re: First Time Home Buyer
« Reply #12 on: 09. March 2022, 12:24:32 PM »
Honestly, I admire how you are able to keep track of all of your thoughts and details on all of your stories. I know I for one I couldn't do that!
I certainly can't.  But @mr_90proof, my 'Ideas Reservoir' on my laptop has 95 ideas in queue as of today.  Some are ideas for a scene, while others for a long story.

I used to leave a lot of stories 90% done because I wanted to move on to another one, and would not post it.  Then, when I finally finished it and started posting the story, I found people were commenting on it like I was in the process of writing it.  I really appreciate the comments, and especially right after I have written the story.  That was when I regretted leaving it so long before posting it.  I don't think there is any correct way to do it.  Just have fun and I, for one, certainly enjoy reading what you share with us, whenever you do so.

Offline mr_90proof

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Re: First Time Home Buyer
« Reply #13 on: 11. March 2022, 05:09:48 AM »
Part 2.

To make a long boring story a short boring story, I made an offer on the house.  i didn’t low ball them, but offered less than asking price.  They wouldn’t budge on price; the only concession was they would cover closing costs.  We shook hands and agreed on it.  Assuming the inspection and appraisal came back ok, I had just bought a house.  The appraisal came back slightly above the asking price, and the inspection was clean.  About a month later I was sitting in an office with a broker, agent, and notary signing a mountain of paperwork.  I had keys to my own home.  It took me about two weeks longer to get moved in.  I did it by myself, in the evenings and on the weekends. It was about a 3 hour round trip from my apartment to my house, so even having borrowed a small enclosed trailer from a friend it still took me more trips and more time than I wanted.  But I finally finished.  I cleaned up my old apartment and handed them the keys.  I did get my security deposit back, which I immediately spent on the way home on a new large flat screen TV.  And I was broke.  My bank account had shrunk from around $40k to just a few thousand with the stroke of a pen.  But I was now a homeowner.

Once I got settled in, I went and introduced myself to my new neighbors.  I already knew, or knew of at least, one of my “backdoor” neighbors, they were one of my best friends inlaws.  My other “backdoor” neighbor was an older middle-aged couple.  Their kids were both grown and lived away, but they visited often so they said don’t be alarmed if you see some unusual vehicles in the cul de sac from time to time.  They were nice; I liked them and they seemed to like me.  Over the next couple of year’s I would find out he had a source for some fine moonshine.  And after his dog got bitten by a snake, he went on a crusade against them; if I heard a .22 shot from out back it was just one more dead snake, nothing to worry about.

My neighbor across the street was a retired professor and his wife.  In his retirement, he had started making pottery, and sold a good bit of it.  Unfortunately both of our mailboxes are directly across the street from his driveway, and some of his customers aren’t good at backing up.  The good news is I have gotten really good at putting up new mailboxes.  I have a spare post and mailbox in the garage now. 

My “side” neighbor, the owner of the McMansion, didn’t live there anymore.  He had a lake mansion about an hour away and he kept the house beside me, I think, just so he could send his grown kids there when they wanted to have a weekend pool party and not bother him.  I had met him at a banquet before I had even realized we would one day be neighbors.  He owned a string of fast food restaurants and had done very well financially.  Well enough that he owned the largest house in the neighborhood and kept it just so he could get his kids out of his hair some weekends.

My other neighbor was a lawyer in town when I moved in.  A few years later he was elected judge.  He was nice enough, but we weren’t buddies.  I had only been to his house once, when I went to introduce myself.  We would say hello to each other in passing from time to time.  But he did have a basement and a storm cellar.  And that is where this story really starts. 

Several years after I had been in my home, there was forecasted to be a massive line of destructive storms moving through the next day.  The torcon index was incredibly high, starting early in the week at a 7.  By the morning of the storms they had elevated it to a 10/10.  It was the first time in history that the weather channel had ever done that; and still now years later they have only done it one other time.  It was not a question of whether there would be tornadoes.  And unfortunately they would turn out to be right.  It was a question of where and how destructive they would be, not if they were coming.

The morning of the storms, I woke up to thunder and lightning at daylight.  But it was fast moving and was gone by the time I had gotten dressed and ready.  This was just the first line though, the bad stuff was supposed to be arriving in the afternoon.  I had an appointment at an account about an hour away, so I jumped in my truck and headed that way.  As I pulled into town, I had already noticed several interstate signs down, and after I made it into downtown I noticed treelimbs and powerlines down.  The thunderstorm that had gone over me had turned into a small brief F1 tornado.  I pulled up to my account and briefly met with the owner.  The power was out, we would have to do this another day.  I had one more appointment later in the day, about another hour down the road.  As I got into my truck a voice in the back of my head was screaming “don’t go, go home!”.  Normally I would ignore such a voice, work won’t do itself.  But this voice was loud and insistent.  So I picked up my phone and called the account and asked if they minded, on account of the weather, if we rescheduled.  They said that would be fine, they were watching the weather too and were considering sending their employees home.  So I got in my truck and headed home.  I stopped on the way home and picked up some steaks and a case of beer.  If I was going to blow away I might as well blow away happy.  As soon as I got home I turned on the TV and found the local channel with the best weatherman.  They were showing the doppler radar of a large powerful storm approaching the town I had just cancelled my appointment at.  If I hadn’t listened to the voice in my head, I would have arrived just before the storm got there.  As it got even closer, they switched to a tower cam that showed the big, black angry cone approaching from the SW.  It was terrifying to watch it get closer and closer, and then it went black as the storm knocked it out.  My mouth was hanging wide open.   It was only noon.  This was going to be a long day.  And night.

Offline mr_90proof

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Re: First Time Home Buyer
« Reply #14 on: 11. March 2022, 05:57:16 AM »
Note: I have changed names, but they are actually real places.  And much of this story is true.

Part 3.

For the next several hours I was glued to the TV.  All channels were all weather all the time.  The bad storms were starting to fire up in the state west of us.  And they were heading our way at 40-50 miles per hour.  I text a friend in town who was a firefighter and located adjacent to the EMS office.  I asked him what he was doing.  He said he was off officially, but they were all on call just in case.  And he was next door to me.  He had his wife and two kids with him.  If it got bad he would have to go respond, but he knew my judge neighbor, and he invited them over just in case.  They had a storm cellar and a basement.  He told me to come on up the hill.  For the next hour we hung out.  I drank a couple of beers.  We shot the basketball some.  We had a weather radio and TV outside. 

Around 4 oclock a storm fired up on the state line.  It wasn’t headed for us, but it was headed for the city an hour south of us.  Westal is the largest city in this part of the state, where I am originally from, and a number of people in my adopted little town work there or have friends and family that live there.  One of those people was my neighbor’s daughter.  They frantically called her and told her to get out of there; get in her car right then and come home.  Less than an hour later her Camry pulled into their driveway.  Her parents rushed over to her and hugged her. 

Over the past hour it became clear that this storm was on a collision course with a lot of people.  And it was big and powerful and getting stronger.  Despite all that was going on, I couldn’t help but notice her.  She was blond and while short had an athletic build and appeared to be maybe just a few years younger than me.  She was adorable.  I had gathered that she was done with school and lived and worked in Westal.  As we all huddled around the TV watching radar, I slid over beside her.  I told her “if you are wondering why there is a stranger standing in your parent’s carport, I’m your parents next door neighbor.  I am Robert, and it is a pleasure to meet you, even if under such horrible circumstances”.  She turned to me and stuck out her hand and said “I’m Brittany!  Nice to meet you” and smiled.  She had an adorable smile, covered in metal braces with pink powerchains and a pink elastic in each corner of her mouth.