House Buying and Staying Sane

Any thoughts on maintaining sanity while buying a house? I’m thinking about making an offer on one in the next 47 hours.

Thanks.

Some things I do to calm down are:

Put an ice pack on the back of your head. This will cool down your brain and reduce activity in your limbic system, where emotions happen.

Do a task with simple, clear steps. I like baking. I follow the recipe, and it’s easy enough that I don’t get frustrated, but it requires enough concentration that I don’t have room to think about other things. Cleaning also helps.

Engage your five senses. This will remind you what is real and what isn’t. Listen to soothing music. Smell something pleasant, like an essential oil. Suck on a hard candy. Look at pictures of things you enjoy. Feel something with an interesting texture, like a piece of Velcro or a stress ball.

Try to levitate something with your mind. You obviously won’t succeed, but it gets you to focus all of your attention on a single point outside your body, instead of on your thoughts. I like to use this on airplanes or in public places, because it doesn’t require you to move at all. It looks like you’re just daydreaming to observers.

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House buying is stressful for months and months, and home owning is stressful too. Good luck. It can be nerve wracking but it’s nice to own.

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It’s even more stressful when your waiting for everything to go through the solicitors. And then the actually moving in when ya get the keys.

I just moved into my own house about a month ago.

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I hope you can trust your realtor and that she will teach you about the process. Staying calm helps you to perceive accurately. Ask questions along the way.

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I got my pre-approval letter for a loan today, and was going to make an offer, but someone else put a contract on it first. Hmmm. It may in fact be months and months.

Thanks for the replies and advice, folks. :slight_smile:

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Consider buying a mobile home. I bought mine for $10,000 and the monthly payments were $250/month

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Yeah. I’m considering a few different possibilities. I’m even considering buying land and trying to put a trailer on it.

Thanks.

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Well, it has been a learning experience so far. For instance: I’ve lost money getting an inspection report that prompted me to withdraw my earnest money on one property. I believe that I simply couldn’t have gotten a loan with so many documented ‘safety hazards.’ Also: I’ve had a real estate agent indicate that the down payment on land was about 20% when it is apparently traditionally 30%.

I think that I may wait until February or March when my contract with one of my real estate agents expires, and then possibly try again.

Thanks for the feedback, folks. :slight_smile:

Holy tamole! You are right. On my third attempt, I waited past the due diligence period, and it looks like I’m going to lose my earnest money, my inspection money, and my appraisal money due to an unexpected expense and my debt to income ratio being too high to get the loan. Expensive education. :frowning:

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I used a independent financial adviser to get a mortgage.

It was free as the mortgage company paid them commission.

I actually got accepted by a bank who said no to me when I tried.

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Planning to close on a relatively inexpensive house on Monday. Any words of advice or warning?

Thanks for the feedback so far.

I closed on a house. :slight_smile: Now I have to get more of the utilities turned on for moving in, or depend on the utilities that are on, I guess.

Thanks for the advice.

I’ve bought a total of three different houses at different times. Each one was stressful. I find the price negotiation to be the most stressful thing. I always think that the realtor is trying to rip me off. The realtors always accuse me of being paranoid. And, I am. I was even hospitalized during one house buying episode.

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