Homebuying journey: Kat and Jake's story

“I wanted our own home because the rent was going up and stuff was falling apart in the apartment. I thought since we were spending this much money, we could tie it to a mortgage,” Jacob explained. He is an engineer with Rockwell Automation in Mequon, Wisconsin.

Katherine said that buying a home really wasn’t on her radar. “Owning a home seemed so complicated, with mortgage payments and property taxes. I was much slower to get on board with the idea of buying a home. It seemed like such a grown-up decision,” she said. Katherine is a graphic designer for a local university in Milwaukee.

But once the process was underway, they moved forward together. They were happy to share what they learned on their first homebuying journey.

“Our real estate agent said we should look at the guts of the house first. Don’t be distracted by things like granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances,” Katherine said.

Jacob agreed, “You can get too caught up in the aesthetics of the house and it has been staged that way on purpose. It could be a beautiful home, but not if the basement is caving in. We looked in the basement first, at the foundation and to see if anything was damp.”