1310 S 75th Street – West Allis, WI 53214
In response to an Active Rain April Challenge by Kathy Strieb, Home Stager and Carol Williams I am going to share in this blog My FIRST HOME Buying Experience in 1978.
I was a newly married young woman of 25, working as an Executive Secretary at Allis Chalmers Corporation in the Agricultural Equipment Division and also working toward the goal of becoming a homeowner. I knew absolutely “nothing” about the process. I was what most would call “green behind the ears”, innocent, and/or a Newbie at best.
One day, while walking home from work (about 5-6 blocks) on Greenfield Avenue in West Allis, WI I passed by a Store Front — that got my attention! The company was Bauman Realty Inc. There were lots of pictures of houses, an old Desk with an antique Remington typewriter and a sign that said OPEN! I found myself walking in … not knowing what to expect!
An older man was sitting at a desk and asked how he could help me. I said I was wondering what you have to do to buy a house. He guided me to a large table with a bunch of big books and said, “take your time and look through these! If you find anything of interest, let me know.” Oh my! They were like large scrap books with poloroid pictures glued onto the pages with a brief description and a price.
I found a great house — it was a 1 Story Ranch similar to the house I grew up in as a child, and it was only about 2 blocks from where I was currently living! Seemed too good to be true! Being a newly-wed with a baby on-the-way and renting a 1 bedroom house I got very excited and asked if my husband and I could see this one. It looked perfect! We scheduled a time for the next day to meet right after work — about 5:30 pm.
Does This Look Like a Bungalow to you?
My husband and I pulled up to the address that was displayed in the Realtor’s Scrapbook at the real estate company I visited. I was confused. What I did not understand as we drove up was that the picture of the 1 Story Ranch was not indicative of the 2 Story Bungalow we were parked in front of. How could that happen? I was totally disappointed. I told my husband, “I’m not going in there.” He said, “”Oh yes, we are! The Realtor just pulled up!” I’ll be honest … I didn’t want to go inside, but I listened to him and begrudgingly went inside. To my total surprise, what I thought a Bungalow was like inside ended up being a wonderful house that was spacious and full of unique character: Beautiful crown-molding, hardwood floors in the Living, Dining, hallway and two (2) first floor bedrooms. The eat-in kitchen was all remodeled and the upstairs (dormered) had 3 additional bedrooms and an additional room for adding a future upstairs bathroom. Much more than a family of three was in need of, but my mind was spinning as I imagined myself in this 1,800 SF home with a full basement that could be finished someday, and a 2.5 car detached garage.
Without thinking about looking at anything else, my husband and I asked the Realtor, “What do we do next? We love this house!” Mind you, we did not flush a toilet, or run the water, or inquire about the age of windows, roof, electric, furnace, etc.
He said, “Let’s write an offer!” And we did. Like I said earlier, we were total newbies! We didn’t even think about negotiating! We just paid the Sticker Price!
Everything went seamlessly — we had perfect credit and had a good down payment. The closing was about 45 days later and we moved into our New Home! Just two weeks after our baby Daniel was born. Perfect timing!
Even our Mistakes God Turned out for our Good
Now the good news is, we bought the Cadillac of the Neighborhood (although we did not realize it at the time) and the roof was newer, windows were in decent shape and we ended up 18 long years living in this house with NO major issues. Were we LUCKY? YES! We raised our two children there and I started an at-home business (at that time it was called the cottage industry) within the first two months of moving in because my baby, Daniel (was colic and we could not keep a babysitter). Since I had the skill set I opened a Business Support Company doing secretarial and administrative work for various businesses, colleges, etc. The Name of that company was The WORD Processor. The two (2) first floor bedrooms became my offices and clients could walk right in from the street without ever going into my house. We used the foyer coat closet and cut straight through making a hallway with storage closet straight thru to my main office. There was also a French Door in the foyer leading to our living quarters and that door was marked “private”.
What Did I Learn Through This Buying Experience?
If I had this to do this all over again I would suggest that we should have at least looked at a few other homes before jumping in with both feet. Our personal experience could have turned out very badly, and I am thankful that it all worked out for us.
Ps. One more thing I would like to share is the interest rates at that time were climbing … We started at 9-3/4% interest and had an ARM “Adjustable Rate Mortgage”. By 1983 we were at 17%. Today, 2023, I am able to share this experience with many new buyers who think 6% is high (and it is in comparison to the past few years of 2.75-3.5% interest rates), however, in contrast to when I was young and buying my first home they are actually in the better place.
In 1995 I sold my first house and moved to Kenosha with my husband, Ron, who had just started a Real Estate company — 1 Month Realty. Today, he is retired and I am now the Broker/Owner — A woman-owned and Veteran-owned real estate brokerage.
Are you thinking of buying a home? Call me and I will be happy to help you find your Dream Home … I will help you to make the Best decision, offering the Best Terms and getting you into a home that will give you many years of happiness and wonderful memories! To date, I have sold thousands of homes and have learned A LOT since my newbie days “before real estate”.
Diana Dahlberg
Broker/Owner/Realtor/ABR/ePro/MRP
1 MONTH REALTY – Established 1994
Office: (262) 657-1171 Cell/Text: (262) 308-3563
[email protected] or [email protected]
