I can has house?

[tcepsa]

All right, so I've got the new job at JHU/APL and it is incredibly shiny, but I'm living in Springfield, VA so the commute is not. Therefore I am looking to move to somewhere in the Columbia/Ellicott City area. At first I figured I'd just find another place to rent, but the more I think about it, the more tempting the idea of actually buying something.

So I'm kicking around the idea of looking at LendingTree.com and seeing what sorts of mortgages I'd be able to get, and I'm also starting to look at housing listings to see whether there's anything that looks shiny to me. I've already found one, here, that looks pretty attractive... but we'll see. I've gotten some advice from folks already, but if you want to add your two cents I'd love to hear it! Comments are open, but if you want to send me something privately you can shoot it to my username at livejournal . com e-mail address ^_^

Comments

[elkor.livejournal.com]

First thought: "It looks like and MC Escher print!"

Follow up, that's a lot of stairs to be moving stuff up and down.

Advice:
* Find a realtor. Feel free to "go it alone" on your second house, but a realtor you trust is a godsend for your first house.
* Shop for mortgages. I've heard not-so-good things about Lending Tree.

In this market, get a home inspection.

Last thought "Damnit, not another person moving to Maryland!"

Follow on thoughts....

[(Anonymous)]

When comparing houses, one way of calculating value is to take the square footage of the place and divide it into the offering price. For example, if the place you listed is 1500ft2, then the per foot cost is $200/ft2. I notice they didn't list the square footage.

Also, decide on what your minimum standards are for the place and make sure it meets it. Especially when considering resale (# of bedrooms, # of baths, etc). At 3/2, that's a pretty good location for reselling to a family (so I'm told), depending on where the bathrooms are. i.e. if one of them is a master suite bath, that's good in terms of resale, except that it only leaves one bath for the rest of the house.

Lastly, you might consider waiting until January to go house shopping:
* The market (so I'm told) is better then.
* You get more of a tax deduction for interest paid
* It gives you a few more months to establish yourself at this job and build up for a downpayment.

Follow on thoughts....

[elkor.livejournal.com]

When comparing houses, one way of calculating value is to take the square footage of the place and divide it into the offering price. For example, if the place you listed is 1500ft2, then the per foot cost is $200/ft2. I notice they didn't list the square footage.

Also, decide on what your minimum standards are for the place and make sure it meets it. Especially when considering resale (# of bedrooms, # of baths, etc). At 3/2, that's a pretty good location for reselling to a family (so I'm told), depending on where the bathrooms are. i.e. if one of them is a master suite bath, that's good in terms of resale, except that it only leaves one bath for the rest of the house.

Lastly, you might consider waiting until January to go house shopping:
* The market (so I'm told) is better then.
* You get more of a tax deduction for interest paid
* It gives you a few more months to establish yourself at this job and build up for a downpayment.

[reedrover]

Shiny! They did a nice job with those photos.

I love house hunting and apartment hunting. It's not that I dislike my house, it's that I love the what-ifs and potential of someplace new. And I like seeing how people use space.

Good luck!

[emeraldliz.livejournal.com]

Ellicott City gets you closer to the parks, but Columbia is your better bet for access/travel/long term.

totally unrelated

[lolabrandywine.livejournal.com]

Next week is Edward Scissorhands at AVAM ^_^

http://www.avam.org/cgi-bin/Events.cgi