Day 2 of home shopping

Day two of the Housing Hunt involved meeting with a representative from Live Baltimore and learning more about all the incentives offered by the city. They have an excellent website and I went in knowing all the questions I would ask. The helpful associate there answered all my questions and helped me understand a few of the nuances about incentive programs, like the one for city employees and the one for Healthy Neighborhoods. This is good, because I'm going to have to scrape to make 3.5% down (which will include my tax refund), and closing costs will be nearly impossible; however, she stated that hardly any buyers are paying closing costs these days because sellers are so motivated and usually pay the costs for them. It will be a necessity for me, if this is to happen (either that, or I have to find a different mortgage program, which is also a possibility, especially if I decide to do a Healthy Neighborhoods home).

I also met with a realtor, this guy, and he seems nice and has already followed up a couple times this evening on a Saturday night. I've spent a lot of time looking at properties online, plus did some driving around today, and have already really got my online eye on one place in particular, a $110,000 place with 4 bedrooms and a sunroom behind the Stadium Place YMCA. I've actually "favorited" about ten houses, and hopefully will start to tour them in the next few days.

I'm still fighting off this nasty respiratory virus, so I haven't done much else. Still, I'm feeling decent about things. People have been giving me advice like crazy, and I really, really wish I had six months instead of two, but, hey, you can't always get what you want.

I do worry - my car could die in one month instead of one year, putting another huge purchase on my plate - but I've spent five years worrying too much and hemming and hawing too much. It's time.