First Home Style

I know I haven’t posted here in a while but I’ve been so busy.   Life has been good to me so I don’t have too many complaints. Which makes it even more difficult to type the following words, I hate my job. I don’t want to come off as an entitled brat as I know that there are many out there struggling to find work and to put food on the table. I have been lucky that I have been paid reasonable well for what I do. However I feel that I have outgrown my current position and I’m just feeling anxious to advance in a career. Unfortunately there isn’t much growth with my current company. Within the last few months, I have mailed, faxed so many resumes that I’m physically exhausted.   Why I am telling you all this? I guess this is my way of saying that my priorities have shifted. While I still want to purchase a home, I’m more focused on finding a better job. I attended two open houses about two weeks ago and sadly there wasn’t much about either property that I liked. Both properties were li

I know it's been a while since I posted last, but the last few months have been so crazy. Lets just say that buying property hasn't been my top priority. I bought a used car (more out of necessity to help with work) I have also been searching for higher paying positions  and have sent out quiet a few resumes and cover letters. I just wanted to be in the best financial situation possible before buying my first home.I haven't been to a open house in over two months and instead I have been focused on saving more money for a down-payment. I mentioned several post ago that the real estate market here in Brooklyn has become so competitive especially with the low inventory, coop boards are now looking for cash buyers or someone who can put more than twenty percent down payment. I have always been frugal with money but in the last months I have decided to become more so. It doesn't appear that I will purchase that first apartment this year and that is quiet disappointing to wri

When I started this blog a year ago, I was in contract on a two bedroom cooperative in Brooklyn, NY. I was very enthusiastic about getting the property and I started planning my design strategies. A year later after being denied by the coop board for the property, I have taken a bit of a break from my home search. I will still update the blog from time to time. However, I am less enthusiastic about the property search and haven't really seen a coop that grabs my attention like that first apartment did. There are certain things that I do not want to compromise on such as location, price and bedroom space. I haven't become a homeowner just yet but I haven't lost all hope of that happening. It just may take a longer time and I'm ok with that.

Last weekend, my agent took me to see a two bedroom top floor apartment here in Brooklyn.  The apartment had been on the market for a few weeks and was in a quiet building on a tree lined block and close to transportation.  Almost immediately I was taken aback by the size of the unit. As we entered,  there was this huge window over looking the rest of Brooklyn and allowing an amorous about of natural light into the apartment.  It had a nice layout, adequate closet space, updated kitchen, hard wood floors and it was practically move in ready condition. I immediately made what I thought was a fair offer and the sellers countered at almost $10,000 more. I'm a girl on a budget and though I liked the apartment, I wasn't going to overextend myself. I made a counter offer. After several days and numerous telephone calls, we didn't hear back from the sellers agent. On Thursday my agency received a call from the sellers agent stating that they are having an open house this weekend a

For the last few days, my agent and I have been looking at apartments in need of renovations. In other words, fixer-uppers. As mention before my budget is small and therefore I'm willing to make some concessions on my wish list items, such as updated kitchen and updated bathroom. I am not willing to compromise however on closet space, that is an absolute deal breaker to me.  Needless to say we were hoping to get a bargain. Neither apartment were in my ideal neighborhood and I decided that I would compromise on the location because they were not too far away from where I wanted to be. Apartment # 2 best fit my location wish list as it was close to a subway station and lots of buses. It also has a business district which includes shopping, restaurants, etc. Apartment #1 was in a more quiet area and is less than 10 minutes away by driving and maybe about 15 by bus. I like that Apartment # 1 had a balcony, as I really wanted an apartment with some outdoor space.   I actually like

As if I needed any more convincing that there is an entity or higher being that doesn't want me to purchase my first apartment. Last week while at work, I got two missed calls from my real estate agent, each a minute apart. On the second call she left a voice-mail message asking me to get in touch. I didn't immediately think that there were any concerns as the day prior we were talking about me signing the contract and completing my coop board application. I was super excited about the process now and my previous anxiety were beginning to fade away. I called the real estate agent back but I was not at all prepared for what she had to say.   “Are you at work?” she asked.  “Yes”, I responded.  “I wanted to talk to you when you're home,” “What's going on?” I asked finally coming to the realization that all was not well.  “I don't think you're going to be able to move forward on the property.” “What? Why?” “Well, the Sellers’s attorney informed me th

I made an on offer on the coop, which the seller quickly accepted. I was so grateful that there wasn't any back and forth negotiations.  I strongly feel that both the seller and I are getting a good deal. However, having been through this process once before, I remained optimistically cautious. For the past two weeks I have had the coop board application on my desk while every now and again I would thumb through it.  The coop board application is nearly $500 (which is non-refundable) and I wanted to make certain that I got mortgage application approval before submitting the documents and sent off the check. Last year when I was working with HSBC, my mortgage application was denied in underwriting. Today I spoke to my loan officer and he informed me that the underwriter has approved the application. I was beyond elated. On that great news I called my attorney and we hope to meet sometime next week to sign the contract which means I have to continue working on that coop board applic

This week my agent and I went to look at two new coop apartments. The first apartment was a one bedroom in need of a updated kitchen and bathroom and it also lacked storage space. The second apartment was a two bedroom in the same complex with less amount of work and with great potential. I could image myself living there. It had the right amount of space and while it needed some minor work such as staining the kitchen cabinets and the floors (both of which I can probably do myself), there was a recently renovated bathroom and the kitchen offered a nice amount of counter space. And as an added bonus, there is a balcony. Here are some of the pictures I took with my cellphone. Floor Master bedroom Kitchen

There was an open house scheduled today in my ideal neighborhood.  Unfortunately I didn't attend. I wasn't in the mood to look at property that I can't afford. This listing is a one bedroom coop that's been on the market for less than a month, however it was incredible overpriced. I haven't given up on my property search but I'm less eager to buy at this point. The prices around are too high. So in the meantime, I 'm trying to come up for ways to improving the style of my current home, particularly my bedroom. I have been eyeing this Ikea mirror for sometime.  I'm ready to purchase it.

Happy New Year! I know I'm a few days late. I have been meaning to post here for awhile but the end of 2013 was froth with many distractions. So here is a little update. I heard from my previous real estate agent, Adele last week. She's doing better and is receiving physical therapy since her involvement in a car accident over the summer. We talked for about 10 minutes and she stated that she would like to continue help me in my home search.  I said ok. I told Adele that I had been working with another agent, who she already knew and had a professional relationship, Ms. Williams. Adele didn't appeared too bother by this. However it got me thinking about weather or not this was even ethical. Ms. Williams is ok, I guess. But over the past several weeks I have noticed a few deficits. She almost never remembers anything I tell her and she repeatedly sends me listings that I previously told her that I wasn't interested in. She is a nice lady, but just too darn forgetful. I