We Asked 3 Homeowners The Important Questions About The Process Of Finding A Home

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These days, the road to finding a home is filled with twists and turns.

Since the process can be different for everyone, we asked homeowners Andrea, Teri, and Jana about their perspective on the house-hunting process and here's what they shared.

Introductions

Andrea: I bought a house in the South in the middle of the pandemic. I had gotten out of a serious relationship and was ready to move out of my small 500-foot studio in the city.

Teri: I live in central New Jersey and work in media in New York City. I am married with three children.

Jana: I live in Boston and am married with one kid (now 2 1/2, but about 9 months old when we were house-hunting).

How did you know you were ready to start the home-buying process?

Andrea: I was lugging my laundry and coin purse full of quarters to a local laundromat and thought, What if I could just do this in my own home?

Teri: We lived in our first home — a little yellow house in Red Bank, New Jersey —for eight years but we knew it was time to move when I got pregnant with my third child. We needed something a little bigger. I also wanted to move somewhere that would be an easier commute to New York City for work. Red Bank was two hours on the train each way and that meant too much time away from my family.

Jana: Honestly, my husband pushed us to get going! I had never really imagined owning a home but with an about-to-be toddler in an attic apartment in a third-floor walk-up, it definitely made sense to find a place that was our own. We also had a good amount of savings after working throughout the pandemic and were back in Boston near our families and knew we'd be staying here for the long term.

Did you have a certain type of approach during your search?

Andrea: I found a real estate agent with a lot of experience in home-buying and land investing. I asked a lot of questions but also just accepted that there were a lot of intricacies that would be better left to my very experienced real estate agent.

Teri: Every weekend, we visited New Jersey towns within commuting distance of New York City and looked at houses. It was fun sometimes but mostly exhausting. We knew the purchase of our second house would have to be contingent on the sale of our first house because we couldn’t possibly carry two mortgages so we started to prepare our house for the market. We spoke to some real estate agents to get a sense of what we’d get for our first house and mapped out what we could afford to buy.

Jana: Once we knew we had enough saved for a down payment, we got on the phone and got approved for a loan. I was surprised by how quick this was — just one evening on the phone with the bank and we were set. We also became regulars on real estate sites, sending each other different listings every day and talking about what appealed to us (and what didn't).

What was a priority for you in your search (location, commute, size, move-in ready)?

Andrea: I know "flips" are having a moment but honestly, I looked for a place that was super turnkey. I knew that moving from New York down South was already going to be stressful; I can't imagine adding having to get a new roof or figuring out a water system on top of that. 

Teri: After a few months of exploring our options, we honed in on what really mattered. We realized we really didn’t want to leave the Jersey Shore area but we needed to shorten my commute to the city. The solution was practically right in front of us: Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, a sweet little Victorian town on the shore with ferry service to the city. Atlantic Highlands checked so many other important boxes, too. A great little elementary school. Walkable. A cute little downtown with restaurants and a movie theater.

Jana: We were very focused on finding a house that was walkable to a town center — a place where we could walk to coffee shops, bookstores, bars, etc. We wanted something move-in ready (even if it needed upgrades down the line) and we wanted to be near public transportation. We were also looking for a community that felt inviting and warm. And after initially thinking we might like a condo, we realized in the course of our search that we really wanted a single-family where we wouldn't have to share the backyard.

Was there anything you found daunting during or after you found a home you liked?

Andrea: The inspection. You hear a lot about inspectors not catching things that end up being costly to the homeowner. Thankfully, my real estate agent set me up with a very honest inspector who marked down every little thing — from the cosmetic to a small gas leak he found that needed to be fixed.

Teri: Home-buying can be a nerve-wracking process. What if we can’t sell our first house? What if we can’t find a new house before the baby comes? What if the schools look good in our research but turn out to be terrible? We also realized a sad fact early on in our house-hunting process: Even though we were prepared to spend quite a bit more on our second house than we had on our first house, if we were going to move closer to the city, we were going to spend a lot more for a smaller and less attractive house.

Jana: Definitely the fact that the market was so insanely competitive when we were buying. We were looking in winter 2021 and houses were going within a day of being listed. I definitely wasn't prepared to have so many offers rejected (six, to be exact) and the emotional ups and downs that went with finding a house we liked on Thursday, putting an offer in on Saturday, imagining our lives there from Saturday to Tuesday, and then getting rejected on Tuesday night.

What was the first room you decided to make “yours” after moving in?

Andrea: My guest room. I had a friend coming to visit less than a month after I moved in so I made the guest room very me.

Teri: I have boy/girl twins who shared a room in our first house so they were getting their own rooms for the first time. I focused on their rooms first because I wanted them to feel settled before their baby sister arrived and shook everything up again for a while. My son was obsessed with superheroes so I got him a superhero quilt for his new twin bed. We did a mermaid theme for my daughter’s room, updating an antique iron bed that has been in my family for 100 years by painting it bright pink. They were super happy so I was happy. I finished their rooms just before the baby arrived. Needless to say, we’re still working on the rest of the house.

Jana: I would say the backyard, actually. We moved in in late June and it was so, so wonderful to have that space where our toddler could play as soon as he woke up and while he waited for dinner without having to make it a big production to go outside. We filled it with a water table and lots of other toys for him, got a grill, and spent many evenings that summer out there.

What is one thing you wish you knew before starting your search for a home or moving into a new home?

Andrea: Have a plan for the future. Your tastes will change over time because you as a person will change also. One week you'll really love the location of your home but in another you'll absolutely hate it. But unlike an apartment or any other sort of rental, you can't just up and leave. Make sure the pros outweigh the cons before you going through all that paperwork. Thankfully for me, they have because if I ever get bored with my home, it's in an area that is prime for renters.

Teri: I would have spent more time thinking about our budget. Because I’m always very careful with money, we were very conservative when it came to setting our maximum budget. When we found the “one,” we first thought it was out of reach but after some crunching, we realized we could afford paying a little more than we thought, without putting ourselves in financial risk. Ultimately, you want to buy the best house for your family that you can comfortably afford.

Jana: I wish I'd known how long it might take and how many offers might not go through. With our first offer, I was sure we'd figured it out. And over the next few months, I realized that this would be a much longer process.

Imagery from Getty.

House-hunting and homeownership come in all shapes and sizes. Confidently plan your next move with State Farm®.