aww.

I miss my house. :-/

cleaning, scraping, steaming?

We’re in! Sort of. Since the closing last Friday we’ve been bringing boxes of stuff to the house to keep there while we clean, paint and organize. It’s going pretty smoothly so far, too.

Yes…smooth.

Chris is on a save money kick and is coming up with lots of ways to give back. He’s got plans to build solar panels (in the summer) and is changing all our light bulbs and wattages so the output is lower. He’s checked out these energy sites that project that we could save $2,000 in 20 years…or maybe it’s make $2,000 over 20 years…I’m not sure. Either way, it’ll be the government paying US back, and I’m fine with that. I’m leaving that stuff to Chris – he’s pretty into it. All he has to tell me is that we’ll save money, and he knows I’ll be on board.

Isn’t my baby handy? Mmm…

As kicks go, I’m on a cleaning one. Sunday I scrubbed the kitchen cabinets and appliances, and did it again yesterday. NOTE: Mr. Clean Magic Erasers are actually magic. I barely had to press down and everything – grime, dust, dirt – came up with no problem. Clorox Green Works stuff is amazing too. I had no idea I’d ever be excited about cleaning supplies, but man.

We also met our neighbors! Mark lives next door, and seems really nice. The sellers told us about him and Eric, who lives on our other side. Elizabeth lives across the street and is currently selling her house, and Jason lives a couple doors down from her and is something of a neighborhood watchman. Pretty cool. He immediately offered to take us on his boat for cruising and beer, and we’re definitely down for that. He also told us about some of the other people on the street, like the family that routinely fosters children until they can get into permanent homes, and the Filipino brother and sister with good smelling food. It seems like a great community.

Aw...our street. :-)

Well it’s finally time for a break, I think. Chris will be back tomorrow and I’m taking the afternoon off, to go shopping with my mom and catch up on some shows I’ve missed. Pretty soon we’ll have the cable and internet hooked up, Chris’ bed in the upstairs and will be able to stay there for the night (at last!). I hate leaving the house; I feel like it’s a puppy and I’m afraid to leave it alone or something. Guilty. But I’ll be back soon!

We're in!

Finally! We're homeowners!

This has been such an awesome day. I knew when I got in my car this morning and the song that was playing when I turned it on was "Bernadette" that we'd have all good things happen today. The closing went off without any problems (sort of; they forgot to put us on the schedule and we had to wait for some people to show up), the sellers were great, the amounts didn't change and it was over in an hour.

After some celebratory pizza and beer at Como's, we went to OUR HOUSE (!!) and unloaded a bunch of stuff from my room. We sat on the living room floor and talked about how lucky we are to have this amazing opportunity and how much we're going to enjoy this new experience.

I can't wait to start posting photos of the progress, and to see how far we've come as we go along. And really, I'm beyond glad that this part is over. Now the crazy part can finally begin. :-)

Additions

Our dishes came today!

So pretty. I love buying stuff for the house. Currently, my room is all boxed up (well, except my clothes and laptop and bed) and ready to move over. We're bringing a few things on Friday, so we can leave them there after the closing. Speaking of, I think we got a great deal with State Farm on our homeowner's insurance: $733 for the year. Not bad.

Questions

This is all so confusing. I'm supposed to get a cashier's check for our closing costs? Why can't I just write a real check? And when the heck am I supposed to know how much our closing costs even are? And I guess we have to get the utilities turned on -- obviously -- by Friday, but I'm worried we'll get stuck with the bill from the previous owners. God, I hope that doesn't happen. Man oh man...there is a lot to do before Friday. Any tips?

Closing time

We have a closing date! Our buyer's agent emailed me today to let me know: Friday, March 26, at noon. Now, if I can just get my work to give me the day off...

Wish us luck!

Foundations!

Times are weird right now. Well, not weird -- mostly just...busy. And expensive. My wonderful, amazing, loving boyfriend (Chris) and I have decided to buy a home together. Very exciting, I know. We've been with each other for nearly three years, and after about a month of talking, decided to move in together. An apartment or rented house seemed ideal until we realized how much we'd basically be losing in a year (about $10,000). So: home owning, ho.

Now, we're literally seconds away from owning our first home, a tiny bungalow in the small city of Oak Park, just a mile outside our desired city of Ferndale. The purchase agreement has been signed, disclosures accepted, terms reached and agreed upon, inspection, appraisal and mortgage loan paid for and closing date set. All we need is a homeowner's insurance policy. Yuck. For saving money by not renting, we've spent quite a bit so far.

In any case, it's all quite thrilling. Shopping for furniture, accessories and all that pretty stuff is the most exciting part for me; I have naughty dreams about paint colors and curtain textures. Well, you know.

So for a while, I'll be chronicling our most adorable of adventures as we become first-time homeowners. Hopefully, the insights I give can help other first-timers a little look into what they can expect -- and of course, how not to screw up (as I'm sure we will, at least once).