Why I started Home 101
Hi, my name is Allen, and I started Home 101 to increase home ownership in the United States. I see my mission as teaching you everything I know about buying a home. Purchasing a home is a key path to building wealth, but this American Dream has become difficult with high interest rates and prices. The recent NAR settlement has created a new opportunity for you to buy a home without having to pay 3% commission. That's enough for a 3.5% down payment with an FHA loan!
I've been lucky enough to buy 4 homes in my life. For family and career reasons, we had to move from New York, to New Jersey, and most recently to California. Every time I purchased a home, I learned a ton, and that is what I'd like to share with you.
All homeowners have to start somewhere, right? Let’s see how I got started.
Renting in NYC Sucked
Ever since I graduated from school and started my first job in 2012, I’ve always wanted to own a home. To me, owning a home is a life achievement and part of the American dream.
At the time, I was living in a New York City apartment. Every year, the building manager would raise the rent by 10-15%, and we dealt with the rent increases by moving around the building into different apartments. The big corporation that owned the building knew that most people didn't want to deal with the inconvenience of moving and would just deal with the incremental rent increase. Each time we moved, the new apartment was a bit smaller, on a lower floor.
The NYC co-op
In 2015, my girlfriend at the time (now wife 💍) and I wanted to stop paying rent so badly that we bought a small apartment. We weren’t even married at the time. We prioritized home ownership over getting married and having a wedding. Not having to pay for a wedding at that time helped with the down payment. 😊
I loved that 700 sq ft apartment. Sure, the windows were drafty and the view was of the brick wall next door, but it was a relief to have a place I could call my own. My wife and I made it through COVID lock-down in this apartment, and celebrated numerous holidays and birthdays with family and friends here.
It also gave me financial security. Mortgage payments felt way better than rent because the monthly payments on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage were never going to go up. Having a fixed mortgage helped me with budgeting over the long term because it eliminated the headache of rent increases.
The NJ house that changed my life
By 2021, I was married and had a baby. Our 1 bedroom apartment wasn’t going to be big enough, so we bought a house in the New Jersey suburbs.
For the first time in my life, I truly understood the power of having your own house and your own land. It gave me peace of mind knowing I had a place to live and raise a family. I loved having the freedom of being able to do whatever I wanted on my own land (like starting a bon fire!)
When inflation hit, the 30 year fixed mortgage became a huge safety net because I knew the cost of my monthly payment was never going up.
The 30 year fixed mortgage is actually unique to the US because most countries only offer 5 year fixed mortgages.
Moving to California
Less than 1 year later, I had to move to California and find a new house on short notice. We hit the ground running - we flew into SFO on Saturday and started going to open houses on Sunday! 🏃🏼♂️➡️
I quickly put a bid on a house and got an accepted offer. However, I learned a lot about my rights as a buyer when I discovered a previous landslide in the backyard. After struggling with the decision for a few days, we ultimately decided that we didn't want to take the risk on something as potentially catastrophic as a landslide.
I ended up buying a different house off-market that needed a lot of work. We saved a lot of money by buying a fixer and doing a lot of the renovation ourselves.
The second home
Last year, I bought a second home because I wanted a place nearby where my parents could live and help out with the kid.
My experience buying the first 3 homes taught me to run a thorough inspection process. Although the house looked like it was well maintained, it actually had a lot of issues that were exposed upon inspection. The roof was old, the duct work had problems. We were able to negotiate for a $40,000 purchase price reduction with the seller.
