I'm all grown up!

[Mr. Poopypants]

Well, as of today @ 6:30 PM I am a homeowner. My fiance and I are closing on our house. I have finally moved into the grown up world (at least physically, NEVER MENTALLY). Anyone with some great tips on homeowning, please lay them on me.

[ColonelPanic]

Woo hoo, Mr. Poopypants! That's awesome! I wish I had some advice for you, but I don't... I'm still trying to find a house myself. Gotta do something, I'm sick of renting, although my place is crappy and dirt cheap, I still hate throwing all that cash out the window... So, I'll be interested to see what the folks here say, since I'm hoping to be in the same boat you are here pretty soon!Good luck to you man, and I'm happy for ya!

[Mr. Poopypants]

I do have one suggestion about looking for a house. Be sure you go through a multilist realtor. That way, the realtor you deal with can show you almost any house on the market. ALSO, be sure to save as much money as you can before you buy, "No closing costs" doesn't mean that you can buy the house without spending any money upfront. With everything that we needed to do before hand, we are looking at about 2 grand, and that's before we even buy the house.

[Pablo1669]

congrats poopy, you are now a HOMOwner. Ha, couldn't help myself. I do remember you saying something the other day about looking at a house and thinking you found the one you wanted.I too will be looking to buy a house in about 1 year.

[Mr. Poopypants]

Yeah, the whole wedding planning and house buying has kept me off the site for awhile. The house that we originally were looking at was a little too pricey for what the house had. The one we found is perfect for us, it's about 85 years old, it was just remodeled, the kitchen is brand new and HUGE. It's 2 BR 1 bath. And the nice thing is, it can easily be built on to which is a huge plus. Good luck on house hunting, trust me, it is stressful.

[ToolGuy]

Great news Poop!! Very exciting and I remember the days, married 4 years ago and been in my house for 3. The Poopyhouse, brown with yellow shutters!

[Mr. Poopypants]

Actually, beige with green shutters. So there's booger color instead of urine!

[Psychobroker]

Grats Mr. & Ms. Poopy! That's awesome.

[Mr. Poopypants]

Thanks! Now the fun starts, I get to go over there after work and scrub the floors and bathroom and wipe down the walls yada yada yada. Luckily (as you so nicely put it) the future Mrs. Poopy is over there now getting a head start.

[kostby]

Welcome to homeownership! Gee, maybe this should be a thread in the Humor forum... Homeowner Maintenance Tip #1: Whatever it is, find out how much it costs to have it 'done professionally' before you try to do it yourself.Homeowner Maintenance Tip #2: After trying to do it yourself anyway and screwing it up, call the guy who quoted you the best price. (See Tip #1 above) If you're lucky, he won't laugh much or charge more than double what he would've charged to fix it before you screwed it up. If you're really lucky, your girlfriend/wife won't laugh much and keep reminding you for the next 30 years.Marriage Maintenance Tip #1: To avoid divorce, a) Listen to your wife, and b) Refer to Homeowner Maintenance Tips #1 and #2 as often as necessary.Homeowner Financial Tip #1: (This one is actually serious...) Now that you're paying all that money to the mortgage company in interest for the next thousand years, be sure to itemize your personal income taxes (that means 'long form' 1040), so you can deduct it from the taxes you owe the Federal Government at the end of the year. Since you're closing so late in 2004, it may not help you for this year, but you can get a headstart for 2005 by keeping good records, starting NOW. A reminder that charitable contributions can also be deducted when you itemize, so if you'd rather redirect some of your hard-earned tax dollars to a favorite charity or church instead of letting the Federal Government spend it for paperclips and trashbags, NOW is the time to start being generous and sharing your blessings with others of YOUR choice!

[Sputnik]

Congrats Poopy! My bf and I just purchased real estate for the first time back in March. In fact my real estate agent just left here 5 minute ago having stopped by with two lovely bottles of wine as a Christmas gift. So I gave him a brief tour of the upgrades we've done since moving in (about $10,000 worth so far). Home renos are more stressful (at least for me) than actually buying the place.

[rasermon]

Congrats Poop. Let the fun begin with your home improvements. That's the best part and I'm always doing something to better my house. Lol, I just need to finish them.

[MoonDogg]

Congrats on the purchase.. I just recently bought a house too so I know what you mean about the " no closing cost" cost.... too bad you did not ask thease ?'s before you purchased.. cause on my first purchase (knowing nothing about buying a house) it cost me about $1200 up front and I got like $2500 back @ closing... here's a homeowners tip... If your friends are willing to help with a project for free... think about how much you want that project done right before accepting there help...

[cohocarl]

Congrats Mike. We bought our first house back in 87, did some fix'in up, built a nice new 2 story, insulated, vinyl sided pole barn, then we had a little boy and we found we needed more room, so we found a different house about a year and a half ago. It is a lot of work moving, and stressful also. Enjoy your new place!

[Mr. Poopypants]

Thank you all! As far as home improvements go, I am already planning a few. First off, paving the driveway, it's not a huge driveway and I got a decent quote on it, so that will be first thing in spring (hopefully). Of course the repainting will be first before we get the furniture and appliances in. Everything is coming along nicely, the house is pretty much clean now, with the exception of the carpets, they don't need scrubbed, but we are going to scrub them after painting. But anyway, as far as improvements go, I know how to do most small projects, and my dad just retired, he was a carpenter for 37 years, so he offered to help.

[Merzbow]

Now all you have to do is have a kid. Make sure your kid is a boy so he can cut the grass and do everything else around the house

[ColonelPanic]

lol! And he shall be named Mr. Poopydiapers!

[Mr. Poopypants]

The kid will wait for awhile. We are planning on waiting for 2 or 3 years after we get married (sept. 17 2005) to have Mr. Poopydiapers. LOL