Mortgage Monday: The Beginning

It is time for a new series… having purchased and moved into our new home last week I thought it appropriate to write a post every Monday about being a new homeowner. While the topics may vary these blogs will all be rooted in our recent purchase, the process, and some of the things that happen along the way. I will be writing about the services we use, experiences we have had, or simply how much things have changed in comparison to our years (and year) or renting. It is certainly a change for us but a great one that I want to share with all of you that continue to read these posts.

The process of finding a home was a long one to say the least. As I have written about numerous times before, this has been a dream of ours for years (certainly preceding the formation of this blog) and a search that has taken us to numerous places throughout the area, into other states, and even to a foreign country. While our criteria has changed since our first discussion about what we wanted our home to be, we currently find ourselves in the perfect place at the perfect time. Finally, we have a place to set our roots and a place where we can raise our son.

Looking back there are certainly things that we would have liked to have changed along the way. Even recently, it took a deal falling through on inspections in order for us to find our perfect home but, as we have been told many times before and as we keep telling ourselves, things happen for a reason. However, while we are happy with this wonderful change and becoming homeowners, my wife and I definitely agree and wish that this whole process had gone differently. Our ability to find a home came at a price that we were forced to pay and we know that we would give this all back if a refund were offered.

Look for more posts in the future that will get into some of the additional details about the process and some of the experiences that we have along the way both good and bad (hopefully there will be an absence of content for the latter). But, for now, we are going to enjoy this new way of living and the additional comfort and security that owning a home has to offer to us. And, of course, some stories about the adjustments that we are all making to this new reality.

Sunday Search: Moving Our Archives

As we are slowly getting settled into our new house, all the boxes that I spent packing long into the night are starting to get cut open and the contents roughly organized. Not only are we having to put clothes away, line the books neatly on the shelves, organize the boxes of toys, and get the kitchen put together, we are also having to get all of our binder and boxes of photos and figuring out a system for storing as well as a place to put all of them. Of course, now that we have a home and we are not anticipating any further moves, we are taking things a bit slower this time around and really figuring out a system that works for each of us.

Thankfully, we have enough room in our house that we each have an office to go along with an abundance of storage options. However, with options and wanting to take things slowly this time around, we are falling a bit behind in getting things to a place where we can readily pull out images or information. And with things previously so scattered it was a bit overwhelming when we realized just how much we have… we knew we had a lot but we didn’t fully grasp the sheer volume of research and images that we have collected over the past several years.

With a few more storage options, and more boxes, my wife has figured out her own system. While I have a few less places where I can hide the disarray, I have figured out a way to get organized and have started putting thing in an order that will allow me to pull out information I want fairly easily. Of course, this is only half of it as much of my information is still in a digital format. While there are certain advantages to this I still prefer to have hard copies and many times find it easier to pull up information rather than rummaging through files on my computer.

While there have been many attempts in the past to get all the family information and history organized, we are finally in a place when we can get it done and not worry about what would happen if we had to pack it all up and move it into a completely different space. So, for now, we are going to take a quick break from researching and focusing on the archiving of our legacies. In the end, this can be just as important as finding that next new piece of information.

Let The Hunt Begin… Again!

It is bitter sweet, to say the least, that we are able to resume this search. Frankly, I wish we weren’t in the position to do so. But things have changed over the past couple of years and we are now, once again, on the hunt for a new home and this time we are not looking at rentals. This time we are looking for a house that we can look forward to coming home to for many years.

The past few years, while incredibly difficult for a variety of reasons at times, have helped us to figure out what is truly important to us in a home and where would be the best place for us to live. There have been a variety of towns and communities in which we have lived and also looked for places and now it seems as though we are finally figuring things out. While I am not going to disclose exactly where we have decided to look I will say that it will be a short commute for my wife and a pleasant drive for me.

In the past we have always looked at places that worked for us, that could serve us well for where we were at that moment in life. There was consideration for the future but when renting that really isn’t much of a consideration. Now we find ourselves taking a closer look at school districts and what would be best for our family. Our wish list or ideal home list was long before, now it is getting a little longer.

And that is what it really comes down to… what is going to be the best place for all of us? My wife and I want the security of a home and we want our son to feel the same way. We each have a long history of places where we have lived and we have learned from each one of those stops along the way. We are finally in a position where we know what we want and where we hope to find it.

All we have to do at this point is find that perfect listing at the right price point and get the paperwork started. Essentially, now is when the real work begins. You can search all you want but sometimes you have to dig to find that perfect property, that home among the houses, the place where our family can grow, and the soil where our roots will take hold. Wish us luck because, given our list, we are going to need it!