From Home Economics to Home

        In 1986, I was in a high school home economics class surrounded by a room full of young ladies.  I was the only guy in the class so my testosterone levels were off the charts.  I was a wolf in a room full of sheep.  Since it was the first day of school, summer flings were over and it was time to layout new blueprints.  I surveyed the class briefly and started to calculate a plan of approach for each young lady, ensuring not to give-off a desperate no-good cheating dog vibe.  I sat at my desk greedily rubbing my palms together as if I was about to receive a bar of gold from King Midas.  My thoughts were slightly perverted and fill with ideas I got from the magazines in my stepfather's toolbox this past summer.  I had the biggest devilish grin on my face that could be seen from the moon.  A grin that Satan himself would have been proud of especially since he was probably guiding all my thoughts at the moment.  Unfortunately that same diabolical grin also warranted the attention of the teacher, Ms. Pendergrass.  Since I have the awful habit of sitting in the first chair to the right of the class, it was rather easy for Ms. Pendergrass to spot me.  She stepped near and started the class by asking for everyone to give his or her name; why he or she was taking this class; and when do he or she plan to start a family.   She started with me.  This was my moment to shine.  I stood to my feet with my chest out and head held high.  I had all confidence in the world.  Just as I began to say my name and my voice cracked.  Some individuals would have been embarrassed by this but not me.  I was the Alpha.  I was wearing my Brut cologne and spent hours pressing my clothes; nothing could side track me.   I took a short pause and began to clear my throat.  As I was clearing my throat, something didn't clear right and I began coughing uncontrollably.  Now I'm embarrassed.  I ran out the class and headed straight for the water fountain.  I felt like the biggest nerd on the planet.  After composing myself, I returned to the class not as confident as before.  When everyone was finished giving their answers, the teacher returned to me.  I stood and said, "My name is Latroy.  I'm here to learn how to cook.  I'm not getting married until I old and established.  Maybe 23 or 24."  Looking back now, I hope I didn't offend her with my answer.    

        I got married when I was 23 years old and my wife was 19.  Our first task as a couple was to find a place to live.  I wasn't a huge fan of renting.  Rent always felt like throwing money away or paying someone else's mortgage.  We desired a mortgage of our own.  When the weekend came we told ourselves, "The first real estate office we see, we will get an agent and buy a house."  It was that simple, so we thought.  We walked into Century 21 and said, "We want to buy a house."  The agent asked a couple of questions we never considered due in our inexperience.  The agent asked, "How is your credit?  How much do you have for a down payment?  What kind of payments per month can you afford?"  All legitimate and simple questions but we just didn't put any thought into it.  We were still in the honeymoon phrase of marriage where we were just happy to stare at each other and rub noses.  We weren't prepared for questions so serious.

        Combined, our credit was terrible.  It wasn't terrible because of past due notices, garnishments, or closed by creditor accounts.  It was terrible because we weren't established.  We didn't have enough credit references or any credit history.   We were considered a high credit risk.  To make matters worst, we didn't have any money saved for a reasonable down payment.  We haven't even talked about a monthly budget yet.  Needless to say, we left Century 21 and lived in one of those cheap pay-by-the-month trailer parks for the next four months getting our act together.

        During those four months, we save money for a down payment, established credit around town, and created a budget.  We read books and had a basic understand now of how to buy a house.  We weren't real estate agents but we picked up enough terminology not to be lost in the presence of a realtor.  We were ready.

        When the weekend came, we set-out to find another realtor.  Out of shame from our previous attempt, we went to a different real estate office, Prudential.  This time we were prepared for nearly any question and did well when asked.  However, there was still a small issue.  Before the realtor would take us out to search for a house, she referred us to a mortgage lending company to first pre-qualify for a loan.  This was when we were informed we qualified for a $90K house at a variable interest rate of 12%.  I thought that was a good deal considering when we established our around the town credit, everything was 29%.   Finally we could began house hunting.  The realtor never once showed us a house under $100K.  She also told us we could save more money for a larger down payment to make up the different in the loan amount because most of the houses under $100K were in ghetto crime rampant neighborhoods.  I took offends to this.  The fact that I grew up in a ghetto crime rampant neighborhood myself wasn't what offended me but the fact that she was using it as a scare tactic to coerce us to buy outside of our price range to fatten her purse.  We parted ways that day and went to Coldwell Bankers.

        The agent at Coldwell was very professional and did exactly as we requested.  She worked within our budget and even advised us to stay well below our price range in case we decide to have a family soon. Within a week, we found wonderful three bedroom house for $67K at a fixed interest rate of 10% in a great subdivision near work.  We closed on the house and within 30 days we were moving in.  It was perfect.

        My first home buying experience blessed me with a couple of lessons.  First, if an individual is looking to purchase a home, he or she should concentrate on ensuring his or her credit is a perfect as possible.  This may require contacting financial offices to dispute mistakes reported on his or her credit report.  Also, it may require an individual to pay-off particular accounts or open accounts with low balances that can easily be paid-off to establish credit.

        The next lesson I took from this experience, individuals have to stick to a budget and exercise a regular regiment of saving money.  This is a life changing routine and seen by some as extremely difficult.  This is  difficult because individuals are constantly bombarded with advertisements to buy items that aren't needed but wanted.  Advertisement agencies primary job is to make individuals unhappy and their secondary job is to provide the remedy for their unhappiness.  Individuals just have to decide what's more important.

        My final lesson in house buying is to trust no one.  Realtors earn a commission from your purchase.  Rightfully they should considering that they spend hours showing you homes, giving advice, and assisting you at closing to ensuring you do get completely hosed-over.  But it's important not to forget realtors work for the client not just for themselves to get the biggest commission as possible.  The same goes for lenders.  Before an individual settles on financing, he or she should shop a few different lenders to see who offers the best rates.  Buying a home should be satisfying and not a ripoff.  Every part of it should feel good and if it doesn't, there should be a reasonable explanation for an individuals dissatisfaction.