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HomePersonal SituationWe Finally Bought a House!

We Finally Bought a House!

After month after month of updates we finally closed on our new home on Friday, January 18, 2013.  It seems I provided some type of update every 6 or so weeks :

The Finances of My New Home

In my December 5th housing update I provided all the reasons I liked and disliked the home but never really talked about the finances of the home.  Readers of this blog vary so some of these numbers are going to seems completely amazing or completely 100% crazy, but they are what they are in the market I live:

  • Asking Price $500,000
  • Negotiated $485,000 (3% reduction which seemed to be in line with the market)
  • Put down 20% as to avoid PMI – I think it is DAMN admirable that The Wife and I were able to do this
  • Received a 3.375% 30 Year Fixed – Hell yea!
  • Taxes are about $11,000

With homeowner’s insurance my home fixed costs increased from about $2,100/mo to $2,900/mo.  A significant increase, but The Wife and I knew that it was coming.  While we aren’t house poor as our cash flow can sustain it, the move has absolutely shifted a lot of our assets from liquid to illiquid.  I thought my days of trying to horde cash were over…they aren’t.  As one could imagine this financial move decimated what was our long term savings/emergency fund.  I have a particular number in mind that I would like in cash, but I am not going to stay hyper focused on it.  Just save what I can while investing what I want and when I hit the number I’ll stop putting anything into the cash account.

The “only” thing we are doing to the house right now are:

  • New Carpets in the Den, 3 bedrooms and basement
  • Painting the bedrooms and the den
  • Replacing the stove to match the rest of the kitchen

I am pretty sure that when all is said and done my net worth will have decreased dramatically from  closing costs, taxes, fees, the above changes which I wouldn’t feel the need to account for in my net worth statement, etc. Obviously, life is more than just a net worth statement just going to be hard starting the new year in such a hole.  Notwithstanding the current and short term pain of the dollars and cents I am very happy for The Wife and I.  The home is beautiful and something we can grow into and best yet we didn’t get sucked into the whole buying more than we can afford, or buying a project that I knew we would never complete.

Cheers to the end of housing posts!

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22 COMMENTS

  1. Congratulations! I am sure you feel relieved and excited! Wishing you the best in your new home. Impressive money down!

    • Thank you! I do feel relieved that the whole process is just over. If I move in the next 7 or 8 years it will be way TOO soon.

  2. It is damn admirable that you put down 20%. Not everyone (and I should say it usually a very small amount of people) can do it. You should be extremely proud of yourself! I definitely would not be able to put down 10% not even 20%. Congrats on your new home. It is a very exciting time.

    • I don’t think 20% should be a requirement for everyone in terms of affordability of a home, but I had zero interest in paying PMI until I got there.

  3. Congratulations! I am always amazed how high property taxes are in New York. My brother in law lived on the water (Massapequa) and he sold his house for less than a million. His annual property tax bill was $17K. In California, you pay 1.025% of your sales price. Neither is a great deal for the services, but that is another story!

    • Property taxes on Long Island are INSANE. My old place was a 2 bedroom 1600sq foot condo with $5,400 in taxes. The whole system is just a scam – since you can challenge them and often win, but the counties hope you don’t!

  4. Congrats on moving in the new house. My wife and I are in the process of selling our home and buying another one across town. We want to get the 20% down before we do it though.

  5. Congrats!

    I know we were joking the other day abd home prices in CA, but in this case you’re actually paying mor ein property taxes than you would on a similarly priced property here (for what it’s worth!).

    Anyway, enjoy it (and toss up some pics)!

    • I will post some pics this weekend when we get all our furniture back from storage. Property taxes vary wildly on Long Island from insane to bat shit crazy – sure it is the same there.

  6. Congrats and best of luck with the new home! I’m glad to hear you closed. That’s a sweet 30-year. We refinanced and still got a bit higher.

    So when’s the big blogger BBQ?

    • That’s a fantastic idea! I’ll set something up for the spring. We’d have to see if there are enough people on the island.

  7. Congratulations on the new place mate you both worked hard to save up for this. Don’t worry about your net worth now it will all balance out in time. Have fun with the new place.

    • Thanks CBB! It is in my nature to worry about it, although I am sure over the long haul especially with that 3.375% rate it was a good call.

  8. I feel the same way, starting the new year in a hole is the pits. But you will fall in love with it and things will get back to normal soon. I wish you the best in the new place. Random Tip: Get an insulation expert to give you an estimate on updates, this will pay itself off really fast and you will save on utilities for a long time.

  9. Congrats we just got a home at 400K with 20% down and a 7/1 rate of 3.5% closing in November 2014. Btw we have no credit and auto loan debts. All pay off.

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