House Hunting...so far

So far house hunting has been a lot of wait and see because I currently have six months left on my lease and so I won't get into the nitty gritty of looking at houses physically until late fall/ early winter.

So I've worked up a list of things I need to do to prepare myself for a crazy few months.

Pay off the debt.
It's been tough but it's neccessary. The car accident didn't help either but slowly and surely, I'm getting there. I've designed a spending plan and I've had to make some sacrifices. So far it's working.

Get my research on.
You name it, I've looked at it. Trulia. Zillow. Movoto. MLS. Property Appraiser's Office. Tax Collector's Office. I've even looked at court documents. Bank sites that listed forclosed properties. I've seen so much and yet I haven't even scratched the surface. I'll be blogging about some of these sites later.

Decide on which neighborhood to live in.
I've made my decision, kind of. I've decided which side to live on. It took a lot of soul searching and talking to friends and family to realize, I need to be on the Southside. My family lives on the Westside and a thirty minute drive to visit them isn't bad compared to a thirty minute drive everyday from home to work.

If I want to remain in the career that I'm in, Southside is the place to be or at least in the Mandarin area. I'm looking to find a place that's a fifteen minute drive to work.

Talk to real estate agents.
Luckily my cousin went through the homebuying process a year ago, so I asked her for a reference. I also looked up another real estate agent. After talking to my cousin's agent, I decided to work with her. She has the energy I need and I researched more about her credentials and read some of the testimonials. But most important of all, I got a good vibe talking to her.

Talk to a mortgage lender.
I've talked to three of them so far. All of them were a wealth of information and I've been given a better picture of how much I'll need for the process. It's not just signing a contract and paying a down payments. There's appraisers, closing costs, there's opening utility accounts and moving vans and repairs. Ugh, getting a little winded just thinking about it all.

Move in with my parents.
I seriously don't want to go to my parent's house. It's that whole, you're under my roof, you need to follow my rules thing. The whole, I'm not going anywhere, I'm just getting my phone thing. Or the, Yes mom, I'm going to my boyfriend's house and I don't know when I'm coming back thing. I never thought I would have to do this again but I really don't have much of a choice it's the only way I'll be able to...

...Save.
No matter how many spending plans I design, I couldn't figure out a way to save what I need to save with out living off of a Ramen noodle diet. I'm seriously considering getting catering gigs or seasonal work just to shorten the time at my parent's house.

Wish me luck.