buying a house, freaking out

[rafter]

im buying a house, im freaking out
anyone else ever do this?
my escrow closes in mere DAYS
and i'm just a ball of excitement and nervous energy
it's such a grown-up thing to do
for me who is a spaztic music kid
wooooooooooooooo
wooooooooo
woo
wo

do you have any recommendations for me on how not to go insane?

[kcrusher]

i'm so green with envy, so shut the fuck up.

[penelec]

I've got three words for you:

Home Dee Po.

You thought you spent a lot on Quantegy 456? Check out the shweet cabinet pulls. And windows. And lighting. Oh, you are in for some obsessive compulsive sport, my friend.

[rafter]

You thought you spent a lot on Quantegy 456? Check out the shweet cabinet pulls. And windows. And lighting. Oh, you are in for some obsessive compulsive sport, my friend.

man i really get the feeling like you're right...
i'm terrified - i made a list this morning of things i want to do/things to get etc for the house, w/estimated $ amounts and added it up and promptly pooped my pants... but one thing at a time, i guess. projects projects projects.... i am gonna try to rebuild the garage (to rock in) and patio that's above it (just a 1 car garage) and it's probably gonna be aorund 25 - 30 GRAND! owch.... i could buy 316 sm57s for that money.... or 500 alesis smashups! or 4 neve 1073s!
gaw dam!

[JES]

Rafter,

I'm in the process of selling my first house. Spouse and I bought it five years ago, had our home despot moments, and all that. Now that we're getting ready to get it on the market, it's interesting to look back on the choices we made. For instance, we painted the downstairs right away when we got the place, then ran out of time and started living in it and just said "fuck it, we'll paint upstairs next summer." five years later, we're hiring someone to do it because we don't have time (forget recording!) and I'm thinking for the $1200 or so it's going to cost (and that's a deal around here) we should have done it five years ago and enjoyed the place that much more.

The other thing is, as you're putting together your studio, make acoustic treatment your highest priority. It's the same deal for me. I bought a bunch of Owens-Corning 705FRK last summer, ran out of time, and then planned to do it this summer. Instead, I'm selling the house. . . .and the fiberglass! But acoustic treatment is much easier to get in there when you're assembling the studio than when you've already done it.

So that's how I'd prioritize if I were you.

When we bought in 1999 I totally freaked out -- it was the most money I'd ever spent. Now I realize what a deal we got. We'll never have a place this affordable again.

Best,
--JES

[maz]

man, we just bought our first house a year or so ago... freaked me out too.

My loan guy was really cool, understood the whole musician thing, but for like the last 2 weeks before closing he was calling me saying, "um, I think we might need a statement of your income to this point in the year..." and "um, do you think you could get a letter from your wife's job saying that her part-time employment is a 'real' job..." It really got me scared but it turns out he was just being thorough because he knew how our loan might look to his company and he wanted to make us look as good as possible.

We bought our hosue from friends... we thought maybe we were crazy but it's turned out to be great. they moved down the road, I moved into his studio space, it's really cool.

congrats!!!

[theslumlord]

We bought our house about 3 years ago. It really, really freaked me out. The whole thing was a slap in the face of responsiblity. But, in the end, everything worked out OK. I wouldn't have done anything different in hind-site. So, I guess that means that I'm happy with the overall experience. I love having my studio at my house. It's suits my persona so much more than before. Good luck, and I prefer Lowe's over Home Depot.

[wing]

man, i'm really happy for you. i hope the best for you and i pray the stress will go down and all will work out soon!

how is the live room and recording area?

[bobbydj]

Don't be facetious Jonathan.

[wing]

Don't be facetious Jonathan.

?

[rafter]

how is the live room and recording area?

it's a little 3 bedroom 1903 victorian w/a 1car garage - pretty small place.
i'm gonna sleep in 1 bedroom, have 1 for a mixing room, and have the other for a vocal booth/guest bed/office. i'm gonna rebuild the garage so i can have band practice in it, and tiny tho it is, that'll be my room for tracking loud stuff - i'll just have a snake that i run thru the walls to the mix room. my mix room's probably 11 x 10 or something like that - pretty small, but i'll make due. i own a pretty big recording studio that's about a 5 minute drive / 15 minute bike ride from my new house, so i'll probably track drums n loud rock stuff there most often - we've got a 1000 sq ft live room there which can really do good w/the rock drums. but i also really really love small dead drums, and my garage will probably give me that in spades. i'm so excited about this whole thing - my bed will be under a skylight in the upstairs, i have a clawfoot bathtub, hardwood floors, high (11') ceilings, a fireplace, etc... it's like a little dream. i can barely believe it. i would say to anyone reading this that buying a house is something that you should check out - it might seem impossible but it's not! and think of the $$ that doesn't go to rent! how cool! a friend of mine bought his house w/10K down that he borrowed from his parents, and when he sold it 2 years later it had appreciated $150K. ha!

[XXGABEXX]

When we bought in 1999 I totally freaked out -- it was the most money I'd ever spent. Now I realize what a deal we got. We'll never have a place this affordable again.

Same here... when I looked at that last line saying what I'd actually pay after 'X' years I peed a little. But we were in the same boat as you. Housing prices plunged here back then and we got a house built in 1925 with 2200 sq ft for $105,000. Standing in my front yard you can see the Atlantic Ocean at one end of my street and the Halifax river at the other. We'll never find this deal again.

a friend of mine bought his house w/10K down that he borrowed from his parents, and when he sold it 2 years later it had appreciated $150K. ha!

My wife had $10,000 from a major car crash settlement so we put that down on the house when we bought it in 2001. Housing prices are now shooting through the roof for some reason here. With all the upgrades we've made, our realtor asked us if we'd take $225,000 just the other day. Again, I peed a little.

Congrats on the purchase. It's got its headaches, but if you're an appreciator of old architecture (which you seem to be) you'll probably have a blast restoring things.

[mikeyc]

Congratulations Rafter...

This is my 3rd year in my house, and I have to agree that it changes your spending habits. Now instead of just dreaming of audio gear, I occasionally find myself drooling over a good deal on a compound miter saw or a cordless hammer drill.

Within the first 3 months of owning the place, I laid down about $6K on improvements. I was lucky to be able to do most of the work myself or with the help of family members. It's definitely worth it though. I sold a small commercial building that I was runnning my studio out of and moved into this place, so the recording space definitlely took a loss in space, but I think it forced me to trim things down to the necessities and I think my recordings have benefited greatly. And it beats the hell out of renting.

I've got 3 acres in the back, and if things look up money-wise in the next few years, I may try to build a studio from the ground up out back. It's a fun fantasy.

[rafter]

man all you guys are makin me green w/envy!
you have SPACE! san diego is such a nuts market right now that my 1550 sq foot house, w NO yard to speak of, appraised for 609K. sure it's in a cool neigborhood, but in my conception of houses a 600,000.00 house should be down right mansionly! and have a couple acres in the back. ah, the price you pay for urban living.... i bought it for 587K, but still.... you folks in non-ridiculous real estate places should feel happy. although the sword cuts both ways for sure. the land we have our studio on, in downtown san diego, is semi-near the new ballpark they built, and people are offering us 2 million for it (10,000 sq feet) a year and a half after we bought it for 860K. it's a weird world. the high prices here make me wonder if the quality of life is really that much better than in middle america... i can't be, can it?

[mikeyc]

the high prices here make me wonder if the quality of life is really that much better than in middle america... i can't be, can it?

The Midwest is not so bad, as long as you can accept the whole lack of any nearby major music market. I'm about 3 hrs from Chicago and Detroit. There's very little happening around me, so I record audiobooks for a living. But I got my 3 acres with a 1000 sq. ft. house for $80K and it just appraised at $120K after the improvements. The high prices on the coasts are what keep me away from the coasts. But I guess the income usually relates to the cost of living, right? (tell that to my boss)