MY VIEW
Purchasing a home opens new doors
Updated: 05/09/08 6:33 AM
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- Zanna Vaida, who lives in Lackawanna, decided to become a real estate agent after buying her home.
People have different reasons for buying a house. Some strive for the American Dream and believe in long-term investments. Others think their residence is too small or too big and look for adjustments. As an old proverb says, “Different strokes for different folks.” My husband and I had a reason, too. We needed space for our two cars.
Being new to this country and living in a small, inexpensive apartment in South Buffalo in the 1990s, we worked minimum-wage jobs with plenty of overtime for a temporary agency. We had a chance to save some money.
In the beginning, it was good. When we bought two used cars because we worked different shifts and went in different directions, parking became a serious issue. We were under stress every day, and paid a few parking tickets.
Although we discussed this issue with our landlord and the people who lived in the building, nothing helped. We had no choice but to move. Instead of moving to a new apartment with parking or a garage, we decided to buy our own place and invest in ourselves. This is how we began learning about local real estate.
Our biggest concern was residency status. Luckily, we learned that it’s not a big issue for lending institutions. You don’t need a green card to buy real estate.
We were informed that to qualify for a mortgage, we had to be approved by a credit bureau. Lenders want to see a stable income history, with at least two years of continuous employment in the same line of work. If a borrower defaults on a loan, the lender will have the property sold through a foreclosure process.
While learning about the purchasing process and the local real estate market, we read a lot of information, visited open houses, discussed where we would like to live and why, and most important, what we could afford to pay. We also learned about location, taxes and insurance.
At one point, we thought about moving to Cleveland, Ohio, to live close to our friends, but we decided to stay in Western New York.
We liked the Southtowns, with their view of Lake Erie and close distance to Allegany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties. The lake reminded us of the Black Sea and the border counties of the Carpathian Mountains in the Ukraine. Going to Canada reminded us of going to Poland.
Staying within a multicultural community and hearing foreign accents around us, we felt comfortable and safe, like at home.
We finally came to a conclusion: We’ll buy a maintenance-free home with three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a fully finished basement and a two-car garage with plenty of parking.
It didn’t take long for us to be preapproved. After that, we got more organized and focused. We were not dreamers anymore. We were on a mission. We developed a vision with action that changed our lives.
One day we walked into an open house, which we had spotted by accident, and fell in love with the home right away. We had found our match. We made an offer and negotiated the sale price.
Twelve years have passed since we bought our dream home, and we continue to live a stress-free life with no parking tickets. Who knew that a serious parking issue would open doors for a great experience and investment in our life?
And a few years ago I decided to become a Realtor to help others with the challenging process of purchasing or selling real estate.
