Reflections on Home Buying and Homeownership (3 Months In)

(a beautiful sight from January 30th)

Three months ago today, Adam and I became homeowners. It was a blustery January day that represented a threshold we were crossing as adults and would mark the beginning of a thirty-year journey in our home.

While I am by no means an expert after only one home purchase and three months of homeownership in my past, I’m a reflective person who attempts to learn something from every life experience and have already committed a lot of time thinking about what I wish I had known before diving into this next phase in our lives. Home buying is uniquely stressful and uncertain, filled with second guesses, emotion, and a lot of money. I hope that a few of the thoughts I’ll share today will help readers contemplating buying a home or relatable to those more experienced home owners out there.

So, here's what I've learned...

Today is the Day!

Hi, friends! I'm popping in just for a second to let you know that today is a very big day for my husband and I--we settle on our house today! Tomorrow is moving day, too.

I've been occupied this month with packing and undoing all of the things we did to personalize our rental. It was certainly a little sad to see that all go but change is a very good thing.

I promise to be back on a regular basis next week, posting as a homeowner. Yippee!

We Bought a House!

We bought a house, everyone! 

Despite rattling on about "starting our house search" for what seems like years, Adam and I made an appointment to visit a house in the nearby suburbs just before Christmas. We walked in and fell in love. Like, head-over-heels, stars-in-the-eyes in love. We put in an offer and had it accepted just before New Year's Eve and had our inspection yesterday. Oh, and we are closing at the end of the month. What a whirlwind!

If I Knew Then What I Know Now: Real Estate Edition

You'd have to be living under a rock over the last decade not to have seen the bevy of house-buying shows on HGTV. I, for one, started watching "House Hunters" when I was in high school and I remember at the time thinking, "Huh, these people are really particular" or "Can't they see the potential here? It's just the owner's furniture that they dislike" or "Why are they going with the house that's at the very top of their price range?" Many more shows have aired about the house-buying process, but the more I see the more I feel like it's all a bunch of noise. 

So, today I'm turning to you all: