My ugly-cute dog Chiquita and I moved in and the rest is happily ever after, right? Not. The next few days were a rush of annoying expenses and never-ending paperwork. I had three different types of inspectors come look at the house (ranging in $150-300 each) to check for a variety of issues from foundation to termites to plumbing. This isn’t mandatory, but it’s a small price to pay to know what kind of costs you might be dealing with down the line. I had to pay a licensed home appraiser to tour the house and tell the bank what it was worth, This is to make sure that I’m not taking out a mortgage that is higher than the actual home value. They are known to under-appraise, and it appraised for exactly $470,000. Thankfully.