Our house is a very, very, very fine house.

I've mentioned a couple of times on here that Joel and I have recently started the process of buying a new house.  The reason I have never really said anything about starting the house hunt and the many weird and wonderful homes we've looked at is because, well, that didn't really happen.  We pretty much found the house we wanted right off the bat and it happened really quickly.  I'm sure this is news to my very good friend and realtor, Sarah, who has been guiding us through this process.  She's been working her tail off for us! 

A couple of years ago when I was out of a job, I thought that maybe I should become a realtor.  It always looked so easy on House Hunters, you know?  You take a couple to a few different houses and then BOOM!  They find something they love and buy it.  That, my friends, is not how it is in real life.  After watching all that Sarah has to do for her clients, I have decided that I am far too lazy to do what she does.  Far, far, far too lazy.  So lazy, my friends, that I asked my boss today if a pedometer would count the "steps" I take whilst rolling myself around my office in my chair.  (Answer: Nope, fat-ass, those don't count.) 

Realtors work hard, you guys.  I would send Sarah a list of houses I thought would fit our bill and she would preview most of them for us.  This involved her first weeding out the houses that were under contract or short sales with 6 offers on the table or something and THEN actually physically going to look at the houses before she would take us to see them.  She actually did a lot of the previews during snow storms, which kind of scared me because I would have hated for something to happen to her while she was looking at houses for me so my time wouldn't be wasted.  You see, Sarah is, to me, far more important than any house that we would have immediately turned down because it smelled of cat pee.  However, everything turned out fine and she found us the most perfect house you could imagine.

This house was actually one of the first ones she suggested we look at.  In fact, she knows us so well, that when Joel saw pictures of this house, he said, "Whoa, she really knows what we're looking for, doesn't she?"  And I could not have agreed more!  Joel and I didn't want anything too big and we wanted something that had more of an open floor plan than a lot of the houses around here have.  We wanted something with most of the living space on the first floor since Joel is around 6' 6", which doesn't really work well with basements with a ceiling height of 6' even.

Our new house is about twice the size of our place now (which isn't saying much because we're in around 650 sq. ft. right now), all on one level, has a great yard, two bedrooms, one bathroom (with room to add another later on), a nice kitchen, a living room and a family room and a dining room, and it's all pretty open and has a nice flow about it.  I'm very excited to make this house our home, the first one that has been both Joel's and mine from the get-go. 

All of this is not without some sadness, though.  Joel bought our condo right after we started dating, so I've pretty much thought of it as "his" even though I've been with him since he moved in.  Even so, I think that I will miss living there because no matter where I am in the house, I'm never that far from Joel.  I mean, it will be nice to have somewhere to go when Joel's watching the same play in a football game for the billionth time, but most of the time I really like being in close proximity to my husband.  So, that will take some getting used to, but we're both really excited to get in there and make this new place our own.

We're keeping the condo for a while, so we'll have two mortgage payments (SCARY) and we'll be landlords just like Mr. and Mrs. Roper.  I'd better look into some muu-muus.  We'll rent it out and sell it when the housing market gets a little less depressed.  (Maybe we should give the housing market a massage or some Paxil or something?  Maybe if the housing market would get off its ass and do some exercise, it wouldn't be so depressed.  It's called endorphins, housing market.  Look into it.)

We'll close in about a month and plan to move in February.  Which means I have to get to packing!  I've got a lot of crap and not a lot of time!  Also, does anyone want to come help me move?  I will make it worth your while!  By which I mean I will have cookies and maybe some punch or something.  Anyone?  No?  Well, you know where to find me if you change your mind.

Comments

[kristin]

Oh, the joys of having more space. We moved from a studio (that is the true test of a relationship, right there), to a one-bedroom apartment, to . . . here. 18 rooms. We skipped a step in there somewhere.

Good luck!

[sarah at soulmoxie]

You make me sound like some kind of saint! I rather like it. You are such a doll! I can't wait for Joel and you to make that darling house your home.

[jive turkey]

Congrats on the house!! We bought our house 3 years ago after eons of apartment living, and I am STILL thrilled by the notion of being able to paint the walls different colors & install new fixtures.