Alexa! Queue DJ Khaled “I Got the Keys!” 

I feel that song is the perfect song to play with this story. Keep it on repeat. 

My husband and I are officially homeowners and bought our first home!!

We purchased the home in June and have been walking around the house saying, “Here you go homeowner” or “Good morning homeowner.” 

We purchased a new construction three bedroom home in North Carolina. 

We officially paid the closing costs and got the keys to the home on October 14!

Let me take this moment now to inform you that Fred and I are not house buying experts. However, now that we have purchased our new home, here’s some information for you. 

The Builder

We did not use a realtor because we were told we really did not need one. Also, I know others may not recommend it, but we used Zillow to find new construction homes and compared what was in the area via Google Maps. This really helped us decide what builders we liked and where. 

Based on the YouTube videos we have been watching since late 2020, this has been a housing market that builders, sellers and realtors have not seen before. A few contributing factors were, the cost of lumber due to COVID, house wars (eight families bidding on one house versus three families doing so), and the waiting list for homes. 

For example, when Fred and I picked an area for us to live in, we called the builders to certain neighborhoods we knew were a fit for us. As I said, this was June 2021. One of the builders we were interested in told us homes he was about to build would not be complete until June 2022.

A second builder had a house that we were interested in, but explained to us that the house was going to be completed by August 2021. That was too soon because of the lease of our apartment. We knew we didn’t want to pay a mortgage and rent at the same time. 

The third builder was who we went with — Century Communities. 

The fourth builder we could not get into contact with. 

Our Wants and Needs

We knew we wanted specific things for different reasons. We wanted a new built home (because we knew it came with a warranty) with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Our loved ones told us to find a home that was five to ten years old and we cringed. Yes, a home like that may have been cheaper, but we worried about fixing it up. 

A second thing for us was we wanted a home in Charlotte. This home is on the outskirts. We are 40 minutes from downtown Charlotte, but 30 minutes from Rock HIll. 

The third thing we wanted was a home near our favorite places — Whole Foods, Cava, Trader Joe’s, or H-mart (an international food store). Something where we didn’t have to go more than 25 minutes. 

A fourth thing we wanted was a home that did not cost more than $275,000 for a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom. We learned quickly for the areas we were searching- we needed to open up our budget. Because of that, we decided we needed a home that was no more than $350,000 for a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom. 

In an upcoming blog post, I’ll walk you through the steps we endured. 

Let me know in the comments what your ideal starter home is. If you are already in a starter home, what is your next ideal house and where. 

Comment if you learned anything from this blog post.