AMA: We bought a house (!!) and you guys had a ton of questions
Here are some of them :)
Ayo! We bought a house last October. It took me awhile to officially share this, (aka hard Instagram feed post) mostly due to the disbelief that two freelancers managed to get approved on a mortgage and also because of how long this god damn sale took.
What was the approval like and how much was downpayment?
How much time do you have? Long story short, two freelancers = not an ideal lending scenario but that was the case here. Jon had left his full time job at the beginning of 2023, so unfortunately without his most recent tax return being complete — I was left as the solo dolo responsible one to qualify for this bad boy. We opted for local financing (something I highly recommend over a Chase type bank, plus you’ll work with a real person and not a bot!) and rates were a teeny bit more competitive to what was out there… Since I didn’t have a letter of employment or W2, we went off my former tax returns (previous 2 years) and I had to get a bunch of additional co-signs, like letters from my management to prove I made a certain amount of money etc
To complicate matters, I am also in the midst of my green card — so we needed my immigration lawyer to also write a letter basically saying that I was good for it and wasn’t going to abandon ship and leave the country anytime soon (you would think having an almost one year old here would be enough of a guarantee but apparently not!)
We put down 20% which was standard, but I would recommend having a buffer for additional expenses like taxes, maintenance repairs in escrow (more of an old house thing), insurance etc.
What did you prioritize in your search?
Decent acreage, proximity to water (we are on the Housatonic), proximity to the city (as we still have our place there and ideally wanted something under 2 hours for weekend commute) good bones!!!!! — this I cannot stress enough. Good bones and untapped potential was probably the most important thing for us, we knew we wouldn’t be happy in someone else’s botched work. Jon and I have a very specific aesthetic and we love restoring old projects. We also have a mutual dislike for modern finishings and original features being torn out of old homes so we were really looking for an untouched gem. Good light, big windows and a place that had a sense of community with activities nearby (hiking, local markets, good restaurants etc)
Which space do you prefer at this very moment?
CT is a weekend spot for me right now. The work can be exhausting, so after 3-4 days, I very much am ready to go home to a finished apartment with no rickety surprises. I suspect this will change as we continue to renovate and it becomes more of a relaxing escape vs a place full of never ending projects to be finished.
How did you find a spot with so many fun things, foreclosure?
The house was left in a trust! The lady who owned it died and her family took the sentimental items and left what feels like 99% of her personal items there. The barns were also FILLED with stuff, we haven’t even gone through them yet — definitely going past her and dating back to 1745 (yes, seriously.. kinda spooky)
It definitely was a blessing and a curse but for the most part, I’ve really enjoye getting to know her and the house through her belongings. More on her later — she deserves her very own newsletter as she was fab·u·lous!
Why did you choose that part of CT?
We ended up in West Cornwall because Jon’s brother and his family are there. We had already spent a decent amount of time there and knew if we moved back to the city, we needed something as an escape that was still relatively close and doable for weekends only. We also wanted somewhere with creative spirit and it is very much that — filled with pottery, vintage, artist studios etc.
Freelancer too. Taxes prove past income, how to prove current?
Get letters!!!!!!!! Letters from current clients, letters from retainer work — any kind of testimonial you can use to prove work flow. All the banks wants to see is that you’ll have an incoming stream of work, so any clients or projects that you have upcoming can be proven with a letter (you can even write this yourself and have them sign off on this)
Saving tips for home ownership?
Delete the Ssense app from your phone. Ha, but seriously I had to get real about no shopping or fun expenses for a period of time. Luckily we didn’t overextend ourselves and got something in a range that is comfortable for us, being outside of the city helped with that. I also took on a ton of additional work, I went back to work 10 weeks after having my baby — which sucked! But, I knew that this was something we wanted to do relatively soon and there everything comes at a cost to that. We still have boundaries that help us stay within a good place to comfortably make our finances, like no weekday postmates and limited ubers (thankfully we bought our car back to the east coast and parking in Brooklyn is much easier)
Essentially you will have to compromise your current state of living in some way or other — share with a rommate, stick to a budget, pick up exta hours, find a hobby that you can monetize. Unless you’re a trust fund nepo baby (in that case, lucky you) — it’ll hurt! And it’ll continue to hurt… but in the end, it’ll pay off.
How did you get started house hunting? I find it super daunting.
It is super daunting but there is always a positive way to look at things, for example — interest rates are high right now, which means inventory is also higher to normal. Look at up and coming areas surrounding the “dream location but is slightly out of reach” right now, try search engines that are more localized to the area. For example our place was listed in the Cornwall Chronicle (local community paper) and Coldwell Banker — and wasn’t on Zillow/ Streeteasy.
Follow blogs and real estate agents that share houses within your price range, for example something like Cheap Old House — while it’s nice to get inspo from places like Take Sunset, sometimes those accounts can make you feel even worse… but they’re always good for getting an idea of what you like/ don’t like.
If you have a specific area in mind, spend weekends driving around scouring FOR SALE signs, trust me on this one.. Especially if you’re looking upstate or in a more local area. Once you find a place listed on a popular site, you’re almost guaranteed a bidding war.
I hope this was helpful! If I didn’t get to your question (there were soo many) — feel free to re-share it in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer it. I can’t wait to share more of the house with you.
Thanks for taking the time to step outside with me! -aX
Amrit you are such a good writer. You have such a compelling way with words!! Thoroughly enjoyed reading this as I plan to buy land/home out in the country one day. I hope you keep writing!!