Lessons were learned. Wounds were licked. Eyelids calmed down. But after two and a half years of renting, we were ready to buy again. This time, we were smarter – much smarter. VA loan with a super low APR? Check. At our final duty station before my husband’s retirement (and a place where there were billets galore)? Check. Buying a house in a rising market? Check. Buying a house in a much desired community? Check. But just when you think you know everything, life throws you a few curve balls.
9. Our ninth mistake: not understanding how California calculates property taxes.
California has this lovely thing where they base your property taxes on the sales price of the home – not the appraised value of the home and its community (like the way other states calculate it). The property taxes we were quoted during escrow were off – by more than 50%. How did we learn that? By a nice letter sent to us from the County of San Diego, alerting us that we owed over $3,000 in tax payments for the year. What did I do? I made a ton of phone calls to the county tax office. I cried. I made a ton of calls to our mortgage company. I cried. I called the tax office back to make sure I understood everything. I cried some more. But, we paid it. Not only that, we pay extra money into our escrow accounts every month so that the same thing does not happen to us next year.
10. Our tenth mistake: not understanding that some house problems can be missed by home inspections.
The roof was great. Our home was on the second largest lot in our entire (huge) community. It was nice. It was in a much desired community. However, it also featured deteriorating cast iron pipes that cost us $3700 in repairs our FIRST week here. The previous owner denied knowledge of such. We sucked it up and paid the big bucks.
That’s actually all I’ve got (so far – we’ve only been here one year) on our mistakes the second time around. If I could go back in time, I would have made certain that I understood what the tax laws were for San Diego, and California in general. Also, I would have asked questions about the age of the house (our home is 54 years old) and what kind of problems it might have. If I would have learned about the cast iron pipes and the problems they presented, I would have hired a plumber with a snake camera to inspect the plumbing. If problems would have been found then, we would have had a different conversation with the seller. How can you protect yourself from these same mistakes?Read On.
