On the latest episode of The Mets Pod presented by Tri-State Cadillac, Connor Rogers and Joe DeMayo are ringing in 2025 by checking in on where things stand for the Mets as the ball falls on 2024.
January 2025
What does the Gavin Lux trade mean for the Dodgers and Reds in 2025?
Lux adds an above-average lefty bat to a Cincinnati lineup that needed a boost and clears some room in the Los Angeles infield.
Rooker, Butler excited to play in front of Athletics’ Sacramento fans
Athletics stars Lawrence Butler and Brent Rooker detailed their excitement about connecting with Sacramento fans on Monday’s edition of “Kings Pregame Live” with Kyle Draper and Mike Bibby.
Seeking bounce-back win, Sixers rule George and Embiid out vs. NBA-worst Wizards
Paul George and Joel Embiid will be among the Sixers out Wednesday night against the Wizards.
Yankees free agency and trade buzz: Jorge Polanco viewed as infield option
The latest Yankees free agency and trade buzz during the MLB offseason.
How Long It Will (Probably) Take to Buy a House
From market conditions, to location, to your individual finances, the path to buying a home can look wildly different from person to person. (For a little snapshot of what that range can look like, consider a few of the first-time homebuyers I’ve interviewed).
According to October 2024 data from ICE Mortgage Technology, the average time to buy a house, from contract to closing, was 44 days. Of course, that timeline doesn’t factor in pre-purchases phases like setting your budget, figuring out where you want to live, and shopping for a place you actually want to buy. For instance, right now my mom is currently moving houses—right down the road, but still, a move is a move. I’ve followed along with her every step of the way, and her timeline has been an (anecdotally) far more typical four-to-six months from start to finish.
With the understanding that the process can vary significantly depending on your circumstances, here’s an easy-to-read timeline detailing how long most people can expect at each stage of the home-buying journey.
Stage 1: Pre-purchase preparation (1-2 months)
When you’re thinking about buying a home, there’s a lot that goes into the timeline before you even consider house-hunting. Let’s break it down.
Getting pre-approved (3-7 days)
A pre-approval letter is key to make your offer more attractive to sellers. It can also streamline the buying process, since being pre-approved can speed up the final loan approval once you’ve found a home you want to buy. Plus, the pre-approval process is prime time to uncover any problems with your credit or finances early on, giving you time to address them.
The pre-approval process involves:
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Gathering financial documents (pay stubs, tax returns, bank statements)
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Submitting a mortgage application
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Having your credit checked
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Receiving a pre-approval letter detailing how much you can borrow
Setting your budget and criteria (1-2 weeks)
One of the biggest challenges to home buying is figuring out exactly how much house you can reasonably afford. It’s crucial not to skip this step and to simply go with the number a bank gives you, as you probably don’t want to end up “house poor,” paying so much for your mortgage that you have little left over for other expenses and savings. The “25% rule of thumb” as a helpful, if conservative, guideline; under this calculation, you will aim to spend no more than 25% of your net monthly income on your mortgage and property taxes.
During this stage, you’ll:
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Determine your comfortable monthly payment
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Research target neighborhoods
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Create a list of must-haves and nice-to-haves
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Interview and select a real estate agent
Stage 2: House hunting (1-3 months)
This stage varies the most in duration, depending on market conditions and your specific requirements. During this phase, you’ll:
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View multiple properties (often 10+ homes)
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Attend open houses
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Research comparable sales
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Refine your criteria based on what you see
Once again, the current market conditions can significantly impacts this timeline. In a seller’s market, you might need to move quickly and make multiple offers before one is accepted.
Stage 3: Making an offer and negotiations (3-7 days)
Once you find “the one,” things start to move quickly, as you:
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Submit your offer with pre-approval letter
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Negotiate terms with the seller
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Reach an agreement on price and conditions
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Sign the purchase agreement
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Submit earnest money deposit
Stage 4: Under contract period (30-45 days)
This is the most detail-oriented phase of the process, but a lot of the work will likely be handled by your attorney and your lender while you sign a lot of paperwork and email them for updates every few days. This stage involves:
Getting a home inspection (Week 1)
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Schedule and complete inspection (2-4 hours)
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Review inspection report (1-2 days)
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Negotiate repairs or credits (2-5 days)
Make sure you save your home inspection report and turn it into a DIY to-do list after purchasing.
Bank appraisal (Weeks 1-2)
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Lender orders appraisal
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Appraiser visits property
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Review and address any valuation issues
Mortgage processing (Weeks 1-4)
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Submit additional documentation to lender
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Underwriting review
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Address any conditions or questions
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Receive final loan approval
Title work (Weeks 2-3)
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Title search conducted
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Title insurance arranged
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Property survey (if required)
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Review of any deed restrictions or easements
Stage 5: Closing preparation (1 week)
The final stretch includes:
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Final walk-through of the property
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Review of closing disclosure
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Arrangement of funds for closing
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Scheduling closing time and location
Stage 6: Closing day (2-3 hours)
Congrats! You’re finally at the finish line. The big day involves:
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Final document review and signing (a lot of signing)
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Fund transfer
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Key handover
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Recording of new deed
Tips for staying on schedule when buying a house
There’s no shortage of circumstances that can lengthen the home-buying process. The appraisal could come in low, forcing you to renegotiate your offer, for example. Or the inspection could reveal issues with the property that requires extensive negotiations with the seller over who will pay for the repairs. You might also struggle to get your mortgage approved or face other bank delays.
With so much of the housing market outside your control, keep the process moving by staying on top of what you can control. Respond as soon as possible to all requests for documentation or signatures, and make sure you have your funds readily available when it’s time to close. And of course, even though we all should know certain terms, there’s no shame in a quick refresher of all the terms you need to know when buying a home so you can be more responsive and better informed when your attorney gives you the latest update.
Remember that while this timeline represents a typical home-buying process, every situation is unique. Working with experienced professionals and staying organized can help keep your purchase on track and minimize delays.
Analysis: With Gavin Lux gone, how Dodgers might deploy more versatile lineup in 2025
While the Dodgers will be sacrificing potential offensive upside in trading Gavin Lux, they are banking on the overall versatility of the roster.
Eight Unexpectedly Useful Drill Attachments
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No matter how handy or non-handy you are, there’s a good chance you have a power drill somewhere in your home (honestly, it should be part of any basic tool chest). They’re useful for a wide range of DIY projects, from screwing together furniture to more involved projects.
If you’ve only used the standard bits that come with your basic power drill, you’re missing out on a lot of usefulness—your power drill can actually work like several tools in one. Some of these uses are obvious, like screwdriver bits or a paint mixing attachment, but there are some truly unexpected drill attachments out there that can make even the cheapest electric drill an incredibly versatile and useful tool.
Paint sprayer
Paint sprayers can make paint jobs much faster and much easier to tackle, resulting in a nice, smooth finish without the tedious process of recharging paint brushes and rollers continuously. But if you don’t need one often, or only have to deal with small paint projects, having a paint spraying attachment gives you the ability to do pro-level painting whenever you need to. You can see the paint sprayer in action in this video, where it does a pretty solid job without the commitment of a dedicated sprayer.
Roller dryer
Painting is one of the cheapest and easiest upgrades you can make to any room in your home, but cleanup can be a pain. That’s especially true for paint rollers, which become frustratingly saturated with paint. A paint roller cleaner attachment for your drill makes cleanup incredibly fast and easy. You can see the process in this video—you spin the roller in a bucket to force as much paint out as possible, then you spin it in a bucket of water. The end result? A perfectly clean roller ready for the next job.
Log splitter
If you’ve got a wood-burning fireplace or stove at home, you already know that splitting logs can be a literal pain in your back. A wood-splitting drill attachment like this one makes it much, much easier once you get the hang of it (you can see one in action here).
Vent cleaner
There are a lot of hard ways to clean your dryer vent (and a lot of very wrong ways), but it needs to be part of the basic maintenance you do on a regular basis if you want your dryer to keep functioning at peak efficiency (and last as long as possible). If you have a power drill, just buy a vent cleaning kit like this one and you can have sparkling, clean vents in no time.
Metal cutter
Cutting sheet metal with a pair of manual shears or snips can be a slow and even painful process (those edges are sharp), and cutting straight lines is a real challenge. A metal-cutting attachment like this one makes the job a lot easier. How much easier? Just watch a similar attachment slice through some sheet metal like butter in this video.
Reciprocating saw
Buying new power tools for one-time use is a waste of money, and even having a tool like a reciprocating saw on hand for the occasional need means you’ve got something taking up space and requiring maintenance with very little payoff. Believe it or not, you can buy an attachment that turns your drill into a very effective reciprocating saw, perfect for when you need to quickly saw through something in the middle of a project but don’t need to own a saw full-time.
Auger
Like to garden? Need to sink some fence posts? An auger attachment for your drill and your job just got a lot easier. Your drill can power surprisingly enormous augers, actually, though if you’re going to be doing heavy-duty fence post drilling you’ll probably be better off with a dedicated auger instead. But for gardening and the occasional post-sinking, a drill attachment is an economical and effective choice.
Pump
The worst time to realize that you really need a pump is when you really need a pump. Luckily, this attachment turns any power drill into a transfer pump capable of draining or transferring liquids through a standard garden hose. Whether you need to pump fuel out of a tank or get rid of some standing water, this little attachment can save you the trouble and cost of having a utility pump on hand.
CES 2025: This Dock Fixes the Mac Mini’s Power Button Problem
Amid all the weird and wonderful announcements at CES 2025, there is one accessory for an Apple product that caught my eye. Remember the M4 Mac mini’s awkwardly placed power button, which requires you to lift the device to power it on? It’s one of the most baffling design decisions Apple has ever made. Now, accessory maker Satechi has a solution for that.
The company’s CES launches include the Mac Mini M4 Stand & Hub with SSD Enclosure, which has a cutout exactly where the Mac mini’s power button is located. This means that you can press the power button without moving the Mac mini all that much. The dock sits flush against the base of the Mac mini, and only raises the height of the device a little bit. That, coupled with the cutout, is enough to let you easily press the power button.
The Satechi dock has a USB-C cable that allows it to connect to the M4 Mac mini, which means that you’ll have to sacrifice one USB port on your computer to use this dock. It also has an SSD enclosure that lets you expand your Mac mini’s storage by up to 4TB. Additionally, it includes useful ports on the front—an SD card slot and three USB-A ports. (Every photographer will tell you that it’s incredibly convenient to not have to contort yourself to plug in an SD card.) Satechi claims that the aluminum dock has heat-dissipating vents that keep the device cool, but those claims remain untested at the moment.
This Satechi dock is scheduled to release in Spring 2025; there’s no price for it yet. If it’s priced well and works as advertised, then it may offer a nice alternative way to upgrade the storage on the new M4 Mac mini. Now, someone: Please make something as elegant to let me charge Apple’s Magic Mouse.