Lessons I’ve Learned as a first time Homeowner

Hi friends! I know I teased this in my last blog, but I just did something pretty massive… I bought a condo!! Right here in Chicago, so this move has been quieter than moving to Seattle or across the Atlantic Ocean, but owning has been a whole new chapter of a very exciting book. It just feels different knowing that this place is mine. In a year, it’ll still be mine. And it’ll be mine to decorate, to grow older in, to rent out, to host in, and to ultimately sell - when the time is right. For someone who’s been in a continuous cycle of moving since 2021, there’s something truly life alerting about that. And just like with every other adventure, I want to take you along … to share some life lessons I’m taking with me as a first time homeowner and hopefully help those of you who are thinking about making big boss moves yourselves.

1.) Start your search at that perfect time

What I mean by this is that depending on where you live, there’s probably too early and too late of a timeframe to start signing up for Zillow subscriptions and getting in touch with a realtor. What time is right? Given the standard 30-60 day window for closing (which begins from putting in an offer) you want to start looking right between 2-2.5 months before you’re lookin to move. So for a mid-April move, I’d consider early Feb a good time to start looking. Why start that late? Because sellers will often go with the earliest closing offer (unless there are extenuating circumstances) and you don’t want to cast yourself out of the running before the games even started. Not to mention, markets like Chicago go quick! Something will be on and off the market within a blink, so you really want to make sure the results you’re getting are realistic for your move date. On a personal note, it’s really easy to get bogged down with touring and not starting too early is a good way to ensure you keep yourself fueled up for the long journey ahead!

2.) Be open minded

Go into the process as open minded as possible, especially if you haven’t owned before or haven’t seen a lot of places. I would always start by setting a subscription without too many parameters and then document if you start noticing patterns in terms of what you hate. If you start too narrow, you might miss something that’s actually perfect for you! Same thing applies if you’re not sure whether you want to rent or buy - I’d start open to either and narrow in only after you’re pretty much positive one way or the other.

3.) Stay organized

If you ignore #1 and start looking too early, it gets really easy to wind up completely lost super early in the process. After close to 100 tours, I know I was getting to the point where every place I visited began to blur together. I wasn’t even sure if I had already been inside certain apartments!

To avoid this, consider starting a speadsheet where you list your top choices, the cost of a mortgage / down payment for each, amenities, location, etc. As you tour and start narrowing in on parameters, I would literally create a needs vs wants chart that breaks down what is a must have from what would simply be nice to have. I learned quickly that for me, space was a non-negotiable, while I could live without a balcony and easy access to the train. Having this list will help you filter your options and have some guidelines to share with your realtor as the process really ramps up.

4.) The realtor dilemma

Speak of the devil! I had a really tough time with this one. Not every realtor is going to be perfect for you as a buyer. As a first time searcher, I struggled with the dreaded “realtor break-up” - it’s almost as bad as trying to find a match on a dating app!

If you don’t have any realtors that have been already recommended to you, start by using Zillow or RedFin to get connected with a realtor. They will usually have you sign a contract for touring apartments since it’s technically illegal for them to act as your realtor (even for a day) without that signed. I’d recommend asking for a one-day, one time contract at first. That will allow you to gage their demeanor and their process as a realtor. Some things to notice: do they ask the right questions (minimum rent restrictions, special assessments, reserves) when they go on tours with you? How do they react when you ask them questions like that? How active and empathetic are they to  what you’re looking for? Do they initiate new finds or expect that of you? How long does it take them to respond? Just like everyone is in the market for a different type of house, everyone is also in the market for a different kind of realtor. Finding the latter can be a one way ticket to locking in the former - or to wasting a ton of time. If you find that you’re not a match, don’t sweat it. You can always let them know you don’t think it’s working out and find a new realtor. Don’t force yourself to stick around and jeopardize your plans and sanity by doing so.

5.) Think long term

Probably the biggest difference I’ve noticed between buying and renting has been the long term considerations buying seems to come with. It really makes you think about where you want to be one year, two years, three years from now. I mentioned rent restrictions before, but many buildings will have you live in for a certain number of years before you can even think about renting out your unit. So you do have to think about your future in a certain city and other questions: do you want to be a landlord or just sell your property? Do you need a deeded parking spot? And so on and so forth and what have you. Make sure to think about those things, even if it’s as small as whether you want a bathtub or shower. It probably won’t be your forever home, but three years later you might really regret not having a bathtub - or at least five year renter Sharon did:) Happy to report I’m thriving with the bathtub now!

6.) It’ll happen when you least expect it

Even typing this out gives me the ick because it’s probably the #1 thing people fall back on when it comes to the horrors of modern day dating. People swear you’ll meet the one when you put zero work into it like the universe will reward you for waiting by dropping Zac Efron out of the sky for you.

But while I haven’t seen that miracle work out in dating quite yet, I unfortunately do think it’s true of finding the perfect home (well almost perfect, as you’ll learn from lesson #7). I found mine after a completely different unit became available in the condo. I hated the unit but kept my eyes peeled, and sure enough, the perfect (for me) unit became available three days later on Valentine’s Day morning.

It was love at first sight. I saw the open house listing at 8am on Saturday, toured at 11am, and had an offer in by noon.

So if you’re feeling entirely burnt out and over your search, just remember that the dream house may be right around the corner. Don’t give up, don’t complain about it, and definitely don’t settle until you love the place and can see yourself living there.

7.) Throw perfect out the window

I know I just talked about finding a place you love, but there’s a huge difference between the place you love and the perfect place. The biggest difference is that the latter doesn’t actually exist. If you want proof, here’s a list of everything my apartment doesn’t have: a balcony space, an indoor community area, renovated walls or AC, a pool, close access to a train (the nearest one is a 17min walk away), a bedroom closet, and guest parking. You’d probably read that and be concerned, but then I could’ve listed off all the things my apartment does have instead: beautiful rooftop and window views of the lake, double the room of the place I previously rented, a fantastic location, a deeded parking spot, a washer/dryer (more on that later), great natural light, and security.

It’s not about the laundry list of things a place does or doesn’t have; it’s about how well those things overlap that needs and wants list you made earlier. When I did tha exercise early on, I found having a ton of space for me and Emmy was the #1 priority for me to love living somewhere. A close second was being in a fun location with ample access to stores and activities (and the lake of course!). So if that means I get drenched every so often while waiting for the bus or that I use a portable wardrobe for the first few years, those sacrifices are beyond worth it. It’s super important to figure out what you can’t build a home without and what you’re willing to give up to make a place practically “perfect” in every way.

8.) Under over or just right?

So you love the place and you’ve decided to put in an offer - what is it going to be? Finding your monetary Goldilocks is hard - so hard it feels sometimes like a crystal ball would be helpful. What is the building worth? What are you willing to pay? What are other people willing to pay? These are all great, intricate questions - but there are solid ways to try to sniff out the right value.

One way is for you and your realtor to dig up what the place sold for previously, and even what other similar units in the neighborhood / building sold for more recently than that. Study the pictures of the unit before and see if there have been any substantial renovations done that warrant large price increases over time. And if the unit used to be for rent, you can look at how much the tenants were renting it for per month. This can help establish a good baseline for how much it could go for with you in the landlords seat. You want to be able to assess if you’re going to get good return on it, since it’s obviously a big investment for the future.

Beyond that, location, location, location! Every city has areas that have become more and less desired over time, and this is going to affect the worth of the property you’re thinking about. In Chicago, Lake View and Lincoln Park have been hotspots for younger students and adults to move upon coming to the city, so those are great neighborhoods to invest given they’ll get mostly positive location sentiment.

Handling the “what will others bid question” is probably the hardest, and in today’s market things are constantly being sold and bought and bought and sold. Ask your realtor for their professional opinion on how much it’s worth bidding for and stick to what they say - it might be easy to want to go over asking or higher than what your realtor thinks as a sure fire way to win, but that’s risking how good of an investment the property will be long term. And ask the sellers realtor for updates on if they’ve gotten offers, how long it’s been on the market, etc. They don’t have to be honest with you but at least you’ll get all the information and can work with your realtor to figure out what you want to do.

Point being, you’re not going to be able to always guess whether a property will sell under, at, or above asking price - and by how much. But if you can take the steps to be as informed as possible going in about what your property is currently worth and what it will be worth, you’ll be doing yourself a huge favor in the long run!

9.) Inspect, inspect, inspect!

You may have caught on to a couple of laundry quips earlier in this blog post, and that’s because my dryer machine unexpectedly didn’t work the first time I tried doing my laundry in unit. The clothes came out a little moist, which I’ve been spoiled to not deal with in my last few spaces.

In addition to the laundry, I made other observations upon moving in that were less than ideal: a toilet that flushed somewhat slowly, a faucet that had low water pressure, and a few noticeable cracks in the walls. Nothing past the point of no return, but all of which a good inspector should have spotted. All of this to say, spend the money on a good inspector. Get someone who comes recommended and splurge upfront so you don’t have to splurge later on. And just expect the unexpected… because even with doing your due diligence, you still won’t be able to predict everything.

10.) Celebrate your close

You did it! If you crossed the finish line and closed on a place, just know that 35% of Americans have never done what you just did. It’s a huge milestone, and whether you took out a mortgage or put in a cash offer, whether you’re living in a condo or a single family home, you should celebrate! On my closing day, I’m not ashamed to admit that I immediately took my new keys for a spin and checked the place out. I’d recommend popping the champagne, exploring the area, and making yourself feel at home. It’s easy to feel like you’re still a million steps away from living there, but I would recommend doing a gradual move and overlapping your previous lease with your new home so you have plenty of time to get yourself moved in. That way, instead of moving straight to the next nightmare, you have some quality time to transition and remind yourself just how huge what you just did was! Congrats to all you homeowners, especially the first timers. It’s a club that I feel extremely cool to join!

And those are a few lessons! I’m sure there will be many more coming my way these next few months - no, these next few years. I feel so lucky to be 24 and to be sealing Chicago in as my official home for the next few years.

It’s truly the best place I’ve ever lived, and it’s true what they say: there’s no place like home.

Sincerely,

Sharon