We’re Buying A House!

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We’re in contract to buy a house!

Our sellers signed the contract a couple of days ago and made it official.  We’re extremely excited about owning a home.  We’re also a little scared.  A house is a big commitment that comes with a ton of expenses.  We’re confident we can handle the payments and such but our finances will be tighter than they have been.  It probably means no vacations for us for a bit.  At least no big vacations, maybe a day trip or two here and there instead.

What Owning A Home Means To Us

Freedom – We lived in a co-op development (we sold our co-op last year).  There were a lot of nice things about the development, like having a big court that all the kids could play in, but there were a lot of limitations to what we could do with our place.  Any major renovation had to go through the board first which added a lot of time to the project.  We also had neighbors above us and next to us.  For the most part our neighbors were great, but sometimes having people that close was a little intrusive.  Now we’re renting a place but we’re very much aware of our neighbors.  We hear and smell a LOT!  Having our own place, with some space, will be awesome.  Also being able to do things like laundry whenever we want without bothering a neighbor will be a relief.

Size – We’re a family of five.  Our co-op was two bedrooms and was getting too small for us quick.  Even our current place that we rent, which has three bedrooms, is a little tight for our stuff.  I know, we can pare down our belongings, but sometimes you just need more room.  For example, my “blogging office” is my seat at the end of the dining room table right now.  I’m looking forward to have a little spot to call my own where I could work without distraction.  We’ll also have more space for the kids to play: in the basement, living room, their rooms, back yard, front yard…where we are now is well, tight.

Parking – We have a mini-van and a compact for the family.  My wife takes the small car to work and I have the van for the kids.  Where we live we get a garage for the small car but we still have to find parking for the van.  Now, if you live somewhere that has ample parking then you might not be able to relate, but we live in a place where parking is prime real estate and people are always on the lookout for a closer spot.  Seriously, people will run out of the house to pull their car into a spot that opens up.  There are some nights where we are parking blocks away (long blocks, up a hill..over a river, through the woods).  When you have to unload the kids and the days supplies THEN go find parking on the other side of the earth, well it can get tiresome.  Our new home will have space for both cars and if friends visit they won’t get lost looking for a place to park.

Permanence – For some, owning a house means getting locked in and losing freedom to move around.  For us it means settling down in one spot that we can grow in.  Since our son was born (he’s three now) we’ve known we would have to move.  Our baby daughter’s arrival made moving that much more a priority.  It adds stress knowing that your location won’t be permanent and that things you would like to do to make a place your home will be short-lived.  It killed us to renovate the kitchen in the co-op and then sell our home a year later (though it did help it sell!).  We really look forward to settling in and becoming part of a neighborhood.  Even where we used to live, we lived there for years, didn’t feel like a community since a lot of the families we knew moved away as well.  One summer there were a ton of kids playing in our court, the next it was empty.

Along with all of this we will have a lot of responsibilities as well.  Mortgage payments, taxes, lawn maintenance, security system, energy costs, and all of the other costs in maintaining a home will be ours to bear along with the benefits.  But its a price we are willing to pay to make a place for our family to grow!

We still have a ways to go before the deal is done (fingers crossed). But we’re confident that the sale will happen.  We might even get to take advantage of the homebuyer tax credit if we can close before June 30th!  We are looking forward to the day when we can come home to a place that’s really ours.  I’d love to hear any tips you have about buying a home or moving into a new home.

Wish us luck!

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