Buying a Central Austin Home for Under $160k
Angela wasn’t sure she was ready to buy a home. She knew she did eventually, but didn’t actually have plans in place. Then she saw an affordable listing posting online, and was curious what the mortgage payments would be like. Suddenly a couple weeks later - she had a house of her own!
Every home buyer story is different, and sometimes it takes realizing that the process isn’t as scary as it seems to get you interested. Once Angela saw she could get a home at an affordable price - she was sold! Not only did she find an affordable home, she found a home for under $160k! And this wasn’t a home many miles from Austin - it was in a pretty central location!
Want to learn about Angela’s process and how her full home buyer journey went down? Keep reading! Want to find an affordable home to call your own? We’d love to see you at one of our workshops or let’s set up a call!
How long have you lived in Austin? I just hit my five-year mark on April 1st!
When did you buy your home and how old were you? I bought my home in April 2017 and I was 31 years old.
Was this your first home purchase? Yes.
What industry do you work in? I am the director of Human Resources for a wellness retail company called Restore Hyper Wellness + Cryotherapy. I’m also a small business owner - I co-founded a company called The B Hive Apiary to help women make friends.
What do you love about living in Austin? Despite what people think, Austin is incredibly affordable. I would have never been able to buy a single-family home in Chicago without a partner or significant help from family. But overall, Austin is just a really cool place to live - it’s warm, lots of things to do and everyone is super friendly.
Income: $70k-100k.
What part of town did you buy your home in and why? My home is in far South East Austin (78747) east of 35. I was living not far from where I purchased and the area is super convenient. It’s not too far from downtown, but still quiet enough to not feel like it’s in the city. And there’s a TON of development going on - so I knew to purchase in this area I would be able to make a serious profit when I sell.
What type of property did you buy? I bought a single-family home.
What was the cost of your home? $155k (I know. Kristina really found a gem at a crazy price).
How many bed/baths & sqft? 2bd/1ba and I believe 789 sqft.
What year was it built? 2002
Tell us a little bit about your home buying journey. Why did you decided to buy, a bit about your process, how many homes did you see before finding the one? Buying a home was really kind of a whirlwind experience. I knew eventually I would want to buy but had zero intention of actually buying. Kristina had shared a listing for this super cute town-home that was at an insane price. And I was super curious about what the mortgage would be.
After looking it up I was like holy shit - that’s so doable. So I messaged her and she told me to talk to a mortgage broker first. I ended up finding Melanie Hadley who specialized in First Time Homeowners. And she was awesome - she gave me a lot of confidence and got me pre-approved. Melanie really showed me that it was not just a pipe dream of being able to own a home. Mind you, my salary at the time was significantly lower than I make now so I thought it was impossible.
We looked at easily 10 homes. Put offers in on 5. Because of my price range, I kept getting outbid by cash buyers. The last home we looked at was mine! We were actually the first ones to view it, we got to the house the minute it went active and I was completing the offer paperwork while driving back to work. I think Kristina probably got the paperwork in within in an hour of viewing it!
All in all, my process started at the end of February 2017 (because I had just started a brand new job the week I started looking) and I closed on April 17th, 2017. It all happened so quickly, spur of the moment decision to take a shot and it worked out awesome!
Who did you talk to before buying a house? What research did you do? What did you find was the most important factor that helped you most prepare for the home buying process? I definitely asked Kristina a million questions. My parents also gave me a little bit of advice since they’ve gone through the home buying process. I think honestly - a great realtor and an even better mortgage broker are key. Melanie really sat with me and told me exactly what I needed to do to clean up my credit, things I needed to pay attention to and got me in a down payment assistance program.
What advice do you have for people like yourself who are about to start the home buying process for the first time? Talk to a mortgage broker before you start looking. It’s really easy to get excited about looking at homes and starting your wish-list only to find out you won’t qualify for that amount. And a really good mortgage broker won’t tell you “yes! We can get you that!” They’ll be realistic and help you get what you can afford and not push you for a more expensive place.
Every time I have a friend who is looking to buy - I always tell them to go talk to a mortgage lender - figure out what you actually need to do to sort out your finance.
What has been the most rewarding part about being a homeowner? Is there anything you dislike? I think the most rewarding is knowing that it’s an investment. I know now, that everything I do to the house is going to help me make more on it when I sell it. Plus its really great to have this feeling of like wow. This is mine!
Ohhhh I definitely dislike handling repairs on my own or constantly having to hire someone instead of calling maintenance. For the first 2.5 years its been just me living here - so anytime I had something go wrong I either have to pay to have someone fix it... or hope I really don’t screw things up trying to do it myself. It can be a pretty big added cost that I didn’t take into account when I first started looking at older homes.
Not necessarily about home ownership - but I do wish I would have thought a little bit more about storage/space. My house is perfect for one person - but two people? Not so much. I would have loved to be able to do some house hacking, but my house is so small, it just doesn’t make sense. I wish I would have had a little more forethought going into it and thought about things like the need for a 2nd bathroom, a linen closet and additional storage space! I’m bursting at the seams after 3 years of occupancy!
What have been the main differences you've felt going from a renter to owning a home? It’s definitely the maintenance piece. Not having a number I can call when things go wrong and its part of the cost of my rent was a huge eye-opener!
Any long term goals for the home? I’ve been doing some cosmetic updates to the house since I moved in (new floors, paint, landscaping) with the intent to sell later this year and purchase a new construction home. Initially, I was planning on keeping it to rent, but based on the rentals in my area and the size of my home - it’s not going to be profitable to do so for quite some time. So I’m hoping to cash out with a sizable profit to put down on the new house! I’m excited for the new house... as it will give me some much-needed space and storage!
Want a home journey like Angela’s? Let’s get started! Fill out our consultation form, and we’ll talk to you soon!