Unflattering home pictures almost kept Nick and Stephanie Conner from viewing a Roswell ranch. But the couple were glad they gave the home a close-up look, because it ended up being the home they purchased.
Nick, 26, an information technology professional for Surgical Information Systems, chatted about their three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath home.
Q: Did you know what type of home you wanted to purchase?
A: Yes, we definitely had some ideas. Of course, your expectations always outpace your budget. For a while we were looking at Craftsman-style homes in Decatur. But we wanted to be closer to work (Alpharetta and Sandy Springs). So we started looking in Roswell. Before we were driving anywhere from an hour and a half to 2 and a half hours one way. My commute takes me about 8 minutes now (Stephanie's is a maximum of 30 minutes).
Q: Did you find a lot of bungalows in Roswell?
A: It was much harder to find what we were looking for, in our price range anyway (a maximum of $230,000). We gravitated toward slightly older homes. We wanted something that had some character and was a little unique and wasn't cookie cutter.
Q: How did you find the house you bought?
A: We were on the Internet almost every night looking and figuring out what we wanted and what we might be able to afford. We initially saw the pictures and were a little unsure about it. But we looked at a few other houses in the area and were impressed.
Q: How were the pictures unflattering?
A: The exterior picture was the first thing that turned us off. They had done some really nice landscaping and the exterior of the house is very attractive. But in the pictures, the house is very dark colored. You couldn't see the outside of the house very well. The house has a very open layout, which we love. But all the pictures on the website were of individual rooms and such that you couldn't see how everything flowed from one room to another.
Q: What sold you on the house?
A: When you pull up to the outside, the lawn is beautiful. Right when we walked in we both kind looked at it each other and knew that it was possibly the one. ... As soon as you walk through the front door, you have this big open living area. The previous owners added on a breakfast nook and screened-in porch.
Q: Where you able to negotiate the price?
A: They had already come down a good deal (dropping the price by $20,000-$30,000). We went in a good bit lower. The came back and said they weren't willing to go much lower. But they were planning on taking the appliances (Bosch washer and dryer, Samsung stainless steel refrigerator). So we negotiated those into the deal. We also got some closing costs.
Q: Have you made any changes since moving in?
A: When all the furniture and the decorations were gone, we saw that we couldn't get by without painting. We ended up painting the entire living space and a little bit in the master bedroom. We recently tore down wallpaper in the dining room to find an unholy mess behind it and spent two or three days preparing that wall to get it painted.
Q: What's a financial tip for buyers?
A: We set up our mortgage payments to be bi-weekly, meaning we pay every other Monday. Because you're paying off the interest more quickly, you're paying off more toward the principal. In doing so, we are actually cutting seven years and $30,000 off our mortgage.
At a Glance
Nick and Stephanie Conner's home, built in 1986 in Roswell, has three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and about 1,800 square feet. They purchased it in March, assisted by Laurie Nixon with Redfin and Matt Shirley, now with Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. Homes in the area are in the mid $100,000s to low $200,000s.
