HOME: It's Official, I am a homeowner

So with one of the most hectic days I can remember in my life, we finally closed on our house. I am officially a home owner. We closed on a Wednesday and Monday and Tuesday were spent running around gathering more information for the mortgage guy. Everything was finalized with our mortgage at like 6pm Tuesday night.

Wednesday Morning...
We awaited a call from the lawyer telling us exactly how much we needed to bring to closing. Since we needed a cashier's check, we had to schedule in a trip to the bank. While we waited, we were on our way to the new house for our final walk through when we got a call from our Realtor. The sellers were not out of the house yet. So... we turned around and waited some more.

Our walk through ended up being at 1pm (closing now scheduled for 2) where we discovered, they STILL hadn't taken everything out of the house. We were also waiting for some town permits to be closed for work we had asked the sellers to do. So... the sellers realtor, grabbed one of our keys they had left us so she could get someone to empty the stuff out. She would meet us at the closing with the key. Sounds like no big deal.

It's now about 3pm and we are just arriving to the Registry of Deeds where our closing is to take place. We start signing our life away with our lawyer. Once everything was signed... we waited some more. We still hadn't received the closed permits saying the work was done correctly, and still there was no sign of their realtor with the extra key. We had the rest of the pile of keys with us, but weren't sure which was which. Our lawyer finally got an email with copies of the closed permits and with 10 minutes to spare submitted our paperwork to the Registry of Deeds. By 4pm we were officially home owners.

So now your thinking... this is where the story ends? One would think. But not in our case. We still had to go and make sure the stuff they were suppose to remove was out of the house. Around 5pm, we get to the home... its getting dark. Try every single key they gave us in every single door. None of them work. So... we're on the phone with our realtor trying to get her to get ahold of their realtor. Turns out their realtor left the extra key on the counter inside because she couldn't make it to our closing in time. FANTASTIC. We were homeowners locked out of our own home.

By now its completely dark so we decide if we're going to call a locksmith to get us in, it would have to wait till morning. Around 8pm or so... my phone rings. It's our realtor again. She informs me that she went out to dinner with her daughter and in walks the sellers! She went over and told them what happened and asked if any of them may have an additional key to the house. One of the sellers reaches into her purse and pulls out her keys and says "I may have given them the wrong key." So she gives the key to our realtor. We met her at about 8:30 in a dark CVS parking lot. She gave us the key and said good luck.

At about 9pm we went to the house (with a flashlight... it was pitch black out) and tried the key. WE WERE FINALLY IN THE HOUSE!! I was so excited for the day to be over. I spent all day Thursday cleaning and by the weekend we had started painting. Details on that later. For now... Here are some pictures of the house.

Please note these pictures are from the MLS listing. This is how it looked when we decided to purchase. I will be updating once projects are complete. Stay tuned :)

WEEKEND: Supply Shopping and House Hunting

I spent the weekend running around like a crazy person, dragging D along side with me. (actually he was nice enough to be my chauffeur and drive me around like a crazy person) Anyway. It is safe to say that I am ready for any holiday COZYmade orders. Which is great because I have already begun to sell holiday wreaths thanks to Etsy using my wreath in the Holiday Browse section for the Wreath category for a whole week.

I feel somewhat prepared- with the exception of lack of a proper work space. However- I am use to this since I haven't had a proper workspace in quite sometime. Which brings me to my second task of the weekend- House Hunting.

For those of you who are home owners, you understand. House hunting is a ridiculous process, and I am a little pickier than I had anticipated. I have been looking at houses and dreaming of a place to call my own for YEARS. This is not to say that I have been ready to buy for years, I've just been looking. I am not one of those people who can't see past the cosmetics of a house. I don't mind if I have to put in a little work to make it a home, but the process is a little frustrating and harder than I anticipated. Willing to redo a kitchen because its original to a house- sure. Willing to rewire the entire house- not so much. Taking down wallpaper form the entire house- I can handle it. Needs a new septic system and all new plumbing- I'll pass.

Photo Credit: Shop Vol25 via Etsy

I gave this print to D for Valentine's Day last year. We have been day dreaming about a new house for a while and finally are in the position of purchasing. This will be the first thing we hang when we finally have a place.

What I have learned thus far from my house hunt is this:

• Don't start looking at houses before you're ready to buy: A few years ago I went to an open house. I was just driving by, saw the sign, had always liked the house and so we decided to go in. A few years ago, the market was at a completely different place so the house was in a different price bracket. I loved it. Since we weren't ready to buy yet, it was a love from afar. Now... every house I go into- I compare to that house. Making the house hunting just that much harder.
• It's good to see everything, even if the listing looks like crap: We have been looking at houses not only with our fantastic Realtor, but also going to open houses on the weekends. A lot of the time, houses in person look completely different than their listings. This can happen for 2 reasons: The listing agent has an amazing photographer or the listing agent has a horrible photographer. I have learned not to judge a house by its listing (unless of course it says something like, house needs to be completely gutted... thats not in my plans.)
• Keep an eye on houses that are slightly out of your budget: If you have a budget of say $300,000. Expand your search slightly higher. There could be a seller willing to negotiate OR if they don't get offers the price could be reduced and you will be ahead of the ball by already knowing about it.
• Make a list of the must haves and the wants: You may already have a list of everything you want in a house. Come to find out, if your budget is tight- chances of you getting everything on your wish list will be slim. Make a 2 (or 3) column list with your "must haves", your "wants" and your "deal breakers". This helps not only you, but also your Realtor help you find the right home for you.
• Search multiple websites: If you have a Realtor, they most likely have set you up on the MLS website to view listings. I have found other sites to be slightly more easy to read. Try Zillow or Redfin (my personal favorite- but only available in some areas). You may need an account to view all information on a listing, but it's free and well worth it.

Now- take my advice with a grain of salt because I have yet to find the home I want to purchase. However, this is completely a learning process for me. Since D has owned a condo prior to this search, he is a little ahead of the game... but this is new to me. My first home. I seriously can not wait to find "the one". I can sadly report... we didn't find anything this weekend that was a contender.