Advice for First Time Home Buyers

I'm sorry I haven't posted in so long! I've been swamped because I moved into my new home and I started a new job all around the same time! So as you can imagine, I haven't had much time to do anything, plus I didn't have internet at the new home for a couple weeks! In any case, I've been doing a lot at the new house, so look out for those posts soon! But for now here's a preview of the front of the home =)

Recently two friends of mine got married and the Maid of Honor had this brilliant idea to create a scrapbook with different pieces of advice for newlyweds. The MOH had asked me to write a section on first time home owners since I had just moved into my new home. She seemed to think I had some good advice so I thought I'd share with you all too. I took out some of the personal parts, but this is the meat of it. Hope it sheds some light for you, but again this is just all from my own experience and my own opinion. The process will be different for everybody.

Dear Bride & Groom,

Owning your own home is a huge, adult step. I don't think I ever really felt like an actual adult until I bought my own home. Some advice I can give to you:

HOUSE HUNTING

• BE PATIENT! I probably put offers on almost 10 homes and lost to people with all cash offers or bigger deposits, I just kept thinking to myself “it wasn’t meant to be.” I ended up buying in a new community because there is no competition there. Just because it’s a new home, doesn’t always mean it’s more expensive. Since I bought in the first phase, my townhome was cheaper than a lot of older homes in the neighborhood, so just do your research.
• COMPROMISE. You probably won’t be able to get everything you want in your first home, so be prepared to sacrifice. Figure out what are your “wants” versus your “needs.” I wanted an older home with some charm and a yard, but it just wasn’t in the cards for me, so I compromised and am trying to decorate the house to have the charm I want.
• SAVE. Buying a home can take a long time, so in the meantime, save, save, save! I tried to “pretend” I had a mortgage already during the house hunt, so I cut down on spending to prepare for the purchase.
• SEE THE POTENTIAL. Look at the bones of the house. Just because it may not look beautiful, doesn’t mean you can’t make it that way. A little paint, and tearing down some walls goes a long way!
• START COLLECTING. I started getting and refinishing furniture for the new home during my hunt so I wouldn’t have to buy everything at once. I would get one major piece a month so it wouldn’t affect my budget too much. It really helped out because when I moved in I had all the main things I needed already.
  
  

BUYING YOUR HOME

• NO BIG PURCHASES. Make sure that you do not make any big purchases during the process because loan companies are very strict nowadays.
• CREDIT CARDS. Don’t open any new credit cards and pay all your bills on time.
• DOCUMENTS. Keep records of everything and be prepared to provide documentation. They’re going to ask for tax returns, pay stubs, bank statements, etc.

MOVING IN

• DECORATING. If you're anything like me, you'll want to decorate everything right away, but remember moderation. All that stuff quickly adds up and with a mortgage now, you’ll want to do it gradually. You can also register for some of the smaller things if you throw a house warming.
• EXPECT THINGS TO GO WRONG. On my first day moving in, my fridge wouldn’t fit in the built-in, the curtains were too short, the ceiling fan I had installed was defective, along with a few other issues that took place. It’s easy to get frustrated and find a quick solution, but take your time and find the best solution to issues you run into because this is your home now, not a rental, and you want to take care of it.
• REMODELING. Budget and plan. I wanted to change the floors of the bathrooms right away and I thought it would be cheap to do since they were small spaces, but turns out the estimates I guessed were way off, so now I am putting this off for the future.
• CLEANING. Get all the right cleaning materials to take care of the surfaces on your home. Granite needs a seal once a year I believe and has special cleaner. Things like stainless steel also have special cleaners, so take notice of those.
• MANUALS AND WARRANTIES. Make sure to file away any appliance manuals, register for any warranties, so you’ll be equipped if anything goes wrong.

Most importantly, love your home and make memories (and babies) in it! This is all I could think of for now. Hope it helps and I can’t wait to see you in your new home. I'm always here for you so let me know if you need help with anything.

Love,

Audrey

My First Post - Savvy and Savory ?

Let me introduce myself, my name is Audrey and I'm living in Southern California. I’m absolutely excited to start this new chapter in my life which is part of the reason why I wanted to start my own blog. Let’s start off with the title. I wanted something that captured my love of “frugalista” shopping, food, home decorating, DIY projects, traveling, wedding and event coordination, and my own personal journey as a  new homeowner. As you can see this blog is going to be about a lot of things so it was impossible to find a title that incorporated it all, but mainly it will be about living life fabulously without breaking the bank and my delicious discoveries through food, travel and life as it happens… hence Savvy and Savory. I can’t take full credit for that name though. I bounced around a bunch of ideas with some friends, and one of my BFF’s, Krisheila thought “Smart, Savvy, and Savory” and I really loved the ring to it and play on words, so I just cut out the "smart" since savvy incorporates that and boom, there you have it.

Beyond the title, I’ve always found writing to be cathartic and I thought this might be a good way to document my finds and my life. I have a philosophy I like to call the “5 F’s”: Family, Friends, Food, Fashion and Frenchie.”  That pretty much sums up the things I love most, and in case you’re wondering, the last one is for my French Bulldog/Frenchie named Rambo. He’s going to be 4 years old this year and yes I enjoy dressing him up every once in awhile, taking a bazillion pictures of him, and letting him sleep on my bed with me. How can you resist this face?

Excuse the tangent, I’m sure I’ll be going on a lot of those, but let me get back to the point of this blog. I see a lot of blogs focused on fashion and décor I can’t afford or the lives of people I can’t relate to. I make what I like to call the “medium bucks,” and I think I am doing fairly well, but I am by no means rich. This blog is dedicated to those women who are in a similar place in their lives where they’re settling down,, moving up in their careers or still searching for the right one, renting or owning their own home… all while doing it in an affordable style. Just because I’m 30 something doesn’t mean the fun has to stop, but it also doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges, and I’ll be sharing those hurdles as well.

 A little more about me, I’m a Marketing Director at an IT Company and I love the company I work for, but I hope to one day also be a Teacher/Professor, two extremes I know. For my undergrad I got a B.S. in Communications & International Business Marketing, and I’ve been working in that industry for over 7 years now. Don’t get me wrong, I still love Marketing, but I've always had an itch to teach. I’ve always loved tutoring kids and about 3 years ago, I went back to school to get my Teaching Credentials and Masters in Teaching. Although I now have my masters and credentials, it just isn’t the right time to be a Teacher, especially in Southern California. I looked everywhere, but because so many teachers are still getting “pink slips” (laid off), when there are positions open, they hire those teachers back because new grads like me don’t have enough classroom experience. I could start substitute teaching to get my foot in the door, but with a new mortgage, I just couldn’t afford the instability of being a sub, which is why I’m still happily keeping my Marketing job. I’m decent at it, and my 2 bosses are amazing to work with, I’m very fortunate. I’m happy where I’m at, but every month when I see my grad school loan payments, and how expensive it is, sometimes I doubt my decision to go to Grad School because I’m not utilizing that degree. It’s hard to not have regrets, no matter how much people tell you not to. I just try to remind myself that someday I’ll be able to use it, whether it’s teaching elementary school kids or combining that passion with my current job and teaching Marketing at a college level, one way or the other I hope to make teaching happen.

Alright, I’m sure you’ve had enough of me. I hope you’ll share your stories too as this blog progresses. Feel free to ask me questions or leave comments, I love to help my fellow ladies (or men too if you’re reading).