Who's idea was this anyway? Well, it depends on the day.
The decision to buy our first house was not taken lightly. We had talked about it in college and after years of renting, the idea had come up often. Our one bedroom apartment was small but cozy and updated. The tan painted walls really sold me on the place since I can't stand white. Then, last spring we had some "noisy" neighbors move in that got us longing for a house with no wall-neighbors.
We casually started looking at open houses and trying to figure out what we could afford, if anything. We met our realtor at an open house in the area we wanted to live. He specializes in the area and was really good at following up and getting us out to see places. We were encouraged by the "buyers" market and how great the interest rate was so we started getting serious about looking.
The hard part was finding a place. You would think they would just build all houses with nice open floor plans, decent closets, a backyard, entertaining space and a master bedroom that could fit a bed AND a dresser. If I was amazed at how many houses were on the market, I was just as shocked by how many I would NEVER want to live in. The really fun ones were the bank owned foreclosures. One such savory house had shag carpet and, we are sure, a dead body in the basement.
Finally, after looking at almost every house in the area we wanted, we found one. As soon as we walked in I felt at home. It had everything we were looking for and more! The old lady who owned the home had taken good care of the house but hadn't done much in the way of updating anything (wood paneling, a mosiac on the kitchen floor, brass kitchen fixures, etc.). Just what we were looking for! A fixer upper that we could live in while making DIY home improvements. I wanted to buy it right away; Luke was more cautious. After much negotiating and 3 months of waiting her out, we finally agreed on a contract.
Now, we are 4 days from closing. The emotions that we've gone through are exhausting but apprently normal. We've had to talk each other back into the decision a few times. Every now and then we dream about backing out and moving to Paris or vacationing to New Zealand or buying a new car. Then we flip through a magazine or go to a garage sale and find something we'd love to try/have. Being the big planners we are, we are getting really excited to put our plans in action and build something together.
So, 4 days will probably crawl by but I think the wait will be worth it. We are going to try and relax this weekend. Goodness only knows how much work we (have no idea) are getting into!
