The first-time home buyer - shelling out the $

So where did I last leave off? Oh, so after months of home shopping, we had found "the one", and now we had to get all of the finances figured out. Super fun stuff.

So many stories I would read about first-time home buying were always so vague. So here I am, prepared to be honest with our experience.

What we had to shell out: 

1. Down payment (with our loan, we did 7% of the purchase price, but you can do FHA loans for 3-5% of the home purchase price). Obviously your highest cost, but the more you put down the less you have you pay interest on. 

2. Home inspection - $500+ (we paid $350 + $150 for a radon test). Be warned, sometimes if home inspectors find something, like a cracked furnace or a clogged chimney, they then refer you to specialists who can confirm/deny there is an issue. This will cost extra. 

3. Appraisal fee - $400. This was so that the bank could verify our home loan amount was lower or the same as the value of the house. 

4. Closing costs - this varies. In our offer, we had the home owners pay $3,000 of closing costs, about average for our area and for the price of the home. We had to pick up roughly another $3,000 more, but we ended up rolling this into the loan (whichever you prefer). 

5. Bottle of champagne - $20. Because we had to celebrate. We just bought a house!

Obligatory picture of champs. We decided to demo the kitchen before popping the bubbly.

Were there any other expenses you had when purchasing your home? What were they?