Just bought a house!

[The Annoyed Man]

Congratulations! Being a home owner can be a pain, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

[SQLGeek]

Congrats! I do like the size of that yard.

We're looking to buy our first home this year. Right now we're trying to get a general idea of where. If you have any recommendations for research on the process such as websites, I'd appreciate it. Any tips now that you've gone through the process?

Congrats again!

[boomerang]

We're looking to buy our first home this year. Right now we're trying to get a general idea of where. If you have any recommendations for research on the process such as websites, I'd appreciate it. Any tips now that you've gone through the process?

In the Houston area, I'd start with HAR especially their neato map search. http://har.com/mapsearch/

There was also a discussion about Houston neighborhoods a few months ago here.

And congrats to 74novaman and woman.

[The Annoyed Man]

Congrats! I do like the size of that yard.

We're looking to buy our first home this year. Right now we're trying to get a general idea of where. If you have any recommendations for research on the process such as websites, I'd appreciate it. Any tips now that you've gone through the process?

Congrats again!

When I was still living in California but preparing to move to the DFW metroplex, I shopped a lot of homes online at realtor.com. I found that resource pretty helpful.

[A-R]

Realtor.com and any number of local real estate offices' web sites will give you great info on what's actively for sale in different areas of a city. Just beware that once you get serious and want to know what homes in an area really cost, you'll need to know the previous SALES in that area not what's FOR SALE and certainly not the tax appraisal (which is often a far cry from true market value of a property). To get that SOLD data, you'll need the services of a good Realtor who really knows the local market area and understands how to compare previous sales to currently for sale homes.

/tout for using a Realtor

[A-R]

Thanks! Yes, its the first one. New guns would be nice...but for some reason she's wanting some furniture to actually put in the house so I'm probably out of luck with gun/car parts purchases for a while....

"But honey, when you said to 'buy furniture for the new house' I just assumed you meant tacticool "furniture" for the new AR and new shotgun. After all those are 'for the house' - the handguns are for carrying outside the house. "

[The Annoyed Man]

/tout for using a Realtor

Oh absolutely. I used one both times I bought homes. The value of realtor.com to me was that I could browse homes for sale in Texas from my computer in California. But nothing beats actually going and looking, along with a realtor who knows the area.

[74novaman]

we surfed for a while on realestate.com, then got in touch with a realtor. We called a couple, and went with the first one to call us back. He's been great in this whole process, really helped us out.

[tacticool]

We found ours on zillow.com, if that helps.

Congratulations Andy. Was it MLS or a "make me move" listing?

[Kythas]

Congrats!

[03Lightningrocks]

Very Nice. That back yard is just about right for a pool.

[cougartex]

Congratulations on you new house. Enjoy. Now find a shooting range.

[The Annoyed Man]

I remember when my wife and I bought our first house back in California. We paid $170K in 1999 for a 1,122 sq foot home on a 6,100 sq ft lot in Pasadena. The house was built in 1946, and it was in pretty bad need of some repairs and upgrades. I think that I spent that first week in the home laying awake and staring at the ceiling all night, asking myself "What have I done!?!?"

We sold that house 7 years later in 2006, at the height of California's real estate bubble, for $530K when we moved to Texas. The poor guy who bought it now owns a home worth $364K and he's taken a $166K bath. Now he's laying awake at nights, staring at the ceiling and asking himself, "What have I done!?!?"

You are blessed to have bought a home in a state with a relatively stable real estate market.