10 days into Homeownership

Whew!  Need I say more?  Moving is crazy, add in a toddler to that and oh my!  Did I ever mention V and I have never moved together before, talk about learning experience! LOL! We are all settling in well now, Liam is fully adjusted to the new house, it's so sweet how happy he is here with all the extra room. 

For the most part we are fully unpacked, aside from odds and ends, the kind of stuff that probably should get donated anyway.  I've been putting off getting shades for the house, there is another oh my but a different kind all together, they are so expensive!  Luckily V's work started selling them (and area rugs!!!) so we'll take full advantage of his employee discount!  Here are a couple rugs I'm considering and the shades I want: ( take it back I couldn't get the website for the rugs we are considering to load, here is a pic of the shades, lame I know but I love that you can pull them down from the top and just let some light in!).

I have to admit I've been terrible about decorating.  I pulled our a few things I was given for my birthday but have yet to hang a single thing... I'm sorta overwhelmed with all the decisions (where to put things, what walls to paint accent colors, colors of rugs/curtains/plates).  I just need to start making some decisions and the rest will come. So far the only thing I've decided is the tree I want to plant (we need to let the dirt settle for another few weeks before we can sod and do flowers which is yet another decision). Our tree will be an Autumn Blaze Maple with turns, as the name suggests, a very bright red in the fall.  I can not wait!

What else could I share? I've got my first few runs in here in the new 'hood.  It's not the same as the our old rental, it's one saving grace was that I could step out our front door and run along the river which as you can imagine was beautiful.  I could still jump in my car and drive 15 mins (at most) and run along the river but I choose to just run in my new neighborhood, which isn't all that bad....we are out on the edge of town, out here I notice the mountains much more and can appreciate their beauty. 

Ok, it's late and I'm rambling.

Until next time, much love-
Jen

Building Our Home: Offer Accepted

Oh my tummy turned a little as I type that, in a good way of course.  I literally just received an email from our realtor that our offer will be countered in the morning, the developer will pay 70% of our closing, good enough for us!  I called V and we agreed we would accept his counter......holy cow, we are really building our first home!

So it begins, I can not wait for all the things we get to pick out, I know it will be totally overwhelming at times but I think I'm ready!!!   I know I'm more than ready for Liam to have more room to run and play!

Building a Home: Selecting Our Lot

Last night after work V and I scurried over to a meeting with the developer of the subdivision where we plan to build our home.  Our realtor is out of town so one of his associates went with us, unfortunately we arrived before her.  BUT fortunately the developer was waiting for us and one of the nicest people I have ever encountered! He even shared with us a story about how he came up with the names of a few of the floor plans, the cheapest one was for his father and when he told his father about that he said "that was alright" with a smile....the floor plan we like is after his mother because she would have liked all the storage and the vaulted ceilings!

Once our stand-in-realtor arrived we began discussing all of our options.  V and I already knew what floor plan we want because it's the same as the home we made the unaccepted offer on.  We  will make a few changes to differentiate our home from that one.  Then we reviewed the upgrade options and were given a list of options for our lot.  We all agreed that V and I would drive out over the weekend and select our lot then we'd write up our buy-sell with a closing date roughly 120 days out.

This morning V let me sneak away for a workout, I got home just in time for Liam to snuggle and go down for a 3hr nap.   Once Liam finally woke up we all ate lunch and headed out to look at lots.  Since we had reviewed them the night before I *thought* I knew which one I liked but we both wanted to look and make sure.  I am SO glad we did!  We drove up and down the street, through the ally, parked and looked at the homes surrounding each lot and took into consideration distance to the park.....and we BOTH agreed on one.  Can we just take a minute to soak up the fact that we both agreed on something with ease?!  Whew!  I have a lot of peace about it, I really (REALLY) like our lot.

So now we just need our realtor to get home and write up our buy-sell agreement so they can break land!  Good thing he gets home tomorrow because it's snowing as we speak!

After that we'll have a million decisions to make on decor, so far V says it's all in my hands but I don't buy that for a minute, he's too opinionated! 

We're Buying Our First Home!

Well, soon we will be! V and I were just pre-qualified for our first ever home loan!  I couldn't be happier!  We are in a really good, stable place where home ownership is within our reach, I never thought we'd get here.  We live in a area where incomes are lower and the cost of living is high, but the recession and current low interest rates have given us an amazing opportunity!

via google images

I've been looking at homes online for well over a year, it was my hobby and just a daydream.  This weekend we went to a few open houses, looked at the newspaper and had some really great talks.  It's so exciting!  V's cousin is a realtor so he'll be helping us on this journey.  Ideally we'd like a three bedroom, two bath single-family home.....by the end of this year.  We'll see!

Homeowners, past and present, advice PLEASE!

Much Love, Jen