First-time Home Buyer Workshop

This Tuesday, Jan 24th, from 5:30  – 6:30, I’m holding a “First Time Home Buyer” workshop at our offices at 540 West Union.     The workshop is free and open to the public, but please register by phone (740) 541-3251 or email at russell@myathenshouse.com.

My wife and I bought our first home on Athens’ west side about 15 years ago (pictured here, though that’s not us–more on that in a second).   I think we paid $34,500, and we sold it less than 3 years later for $50,000.

I wasn’t “doing” real estate then, but it was a good experience for a first time home buyer in terms of making a relatively easy profit.   We made lots of cosmetic improvements–mainly beautifying the yard and gardens–but that was about it.   It was with that sale that I really got the real estate bug.

The downside to our first purchase was that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.   I didn’t know an FHA loan from an ARM from PMI.  This was also before home inspections became commonplace, and we pretty much bought this place without doing any real due diligence.   The crawl space?   That area under the house that I looked at only once?   I had no IDEA what was going on under there!   In the end, it all worked out OK, but we also could have lost our shirts, I realize now.

Now real estate is my livelihood, and I’ve been helping first-time home buyers through the process for many years.   Hands down, it’s one of my favorite things to do.   Some are young folks–not even out of school yet–and others are well into their 50s, having never taken the plunge.  But whatever the demographics, the need is always the same:  buyers need to understand right up front what they are getting into as they consider the purchase of a home.

This workshop will cover all the essential elements, from learning how to qualify for a loan, to the actual process of looking at homes and evaluating them, to making and negotiating an offer, to finally closing on your purchase and taking possession.

All you need to do is bring yourself, a friend or partner if you like, and all the questions that you can think of.   Our workshops are very informal, and if you are shy about things like this, I promise not to call on you in any way!

One last thing about this picture postcard–titled “Appalachian Yuppies”–which does in fact picture my first home:  A few weeks after closing on our house, I stumbled across this postcard at  Lamborn’s Studio uptown, and of all things, it was of our new home!  I bought 30 of them and used them as a change of address cards that we sent out to friends and family.  This card is one of a series of humorous postcards about life in Appalachian, and the series was often criticized for its cultural insensitivity–for obvious reasons.    The series also sold bazillions of postcards over the years.  Brian Blauser was the photographer–an accomplished artist in our area–but I can’t recall who came up with the concepts and ideas.   As for the “actors” in this still shot, the woman is Mickey Brooks–currently a real estate agent in the area, of all things.

So, come on out on WED evening and learn how you can start down the path of home ownership.   If nothing else, you’ll know an FHA loan from an ARM from PMI!