We have moved past the "coolness" of the apartment... the lack of space is really getting to us. I'm sure it's just because the end date is getting that much closer, and we're getting that much more impatient! (Remember: our original closing date was June 29th.).
We are getting SO excited about the house. We tried to be really smart with this house purchase. We did a lot of research on the area where we're moving to; looked at schools, crime rates, history and trends of the area. We talked to people in and around the area, people who live in nearby areas who told us they wish they'd purchased in the area where we'll be, etc. You can never predict the future of real estate, but we're hoping we are making a good decision. We've definitely lived and learned from our last 3 home purchases!
We also are purchasing a house that will suit our needs, but won't be anything crazy. The main thing our new house will have that our old house didn't is one more bedroom, 2 more full baths, and a basement. (Parker will now have his own bathroom, and we'll have a guest room with a full bath). We got a house plan that fits our family perfectly, with room to grow in the basement for the future. We are purchasing in a n'hood where we're one of the lesser expensive homes, in hopes that the other houses will help our value will go up.
We also are making a point to keep our monthly note as low as possible. The last thing we want is to be "house poor". I've had several friends purchase recently and they're purchasing houses that will guarantee that they'll have to work to pay for their mortgage. In our case, we want to make it so that I don't have to work, and if something happens with Stephen's job, we'll be okay. There are so many crazy houses around us that yes, we could technically afford, but no- we don't need all that space/upgrades/fancy stuff, and... we just don't want to have to pay so much each month for our house. I'd rather travel! ;)
We tried to get a more "traditional" looking home instead of one that's trendy. The farmhouse look is one that I LOVE (!!), but I have a feeling it'll be one of those trends that goes out of style in 10-15 years. You know, when I think of the 70s, I think of more architecturally wooden homes; 80s and 90s, I think of stucco. We're going for mostly brick/siding that hopefully won't scream a certain era. But don't you worry- the inside will be more of a farmhouse theme- I figure we can more easily change that later when the next thing is in style! ;)
We were really conscientious about the upgrades we did in the house (because holy cow, you could easily add $100,000 to the base price of your house with all the options they have). We went ahead and did what we knew we liked and couldn't easily change/do later. Then, things we could do later, we're going to save up for and just pay it in cash- that way, our house price is lower and our monthly mortgage will be kept lower. I think we'll be glad we did it this way when we're ready to sell one day and all those upgrades are done and paid for, and won't be reflected in our mortgage.
So, as you can probably tell, we've put a LOT of thought and time and prayer and hope in this decision... and we are BEYOND READY!
The countdown is on... hopefully in a little over a month we'll be saying PEACE OUT to this apartment... and HELLO 👋 to our house!
Almost there...
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