We Bought a House!!!!

Yes, yes. As many of you know from Instagram, John and I bought a house. We are so so excited for this new adventure and are absolutely loving exploring our new neighborhood. With that being said, you all have been dying to see various features of the house and I truly can’t wait to share them with you, especially my certain rooms (i.e. my cloffice!). With that being said, today I thought I would share a little bit of our experience and few a things we have bought already for our gorgeous space.

John and I started our house hunt probably last Summer/Fall. We weren’t entirely ready to put in any offers (we wanted to save a little bit more), but we knew we wanted to begin getting a feel for neighborhoods and our likes and dislikes. During that time, we went to a few open houses, but did more of our search online. John was pretty kind in the process in that he let me do most of the searching, knowing I would be the pickier one, and then after he got a feel for what I liked, he would share homes he found that he felt sort of fit for both of us.

So sweaty from cleaning, but oh so happy!

As we searched online, any that I really wanted to see or was really in-love with, would get a drive by. Random Saturday or Sunday mornings, we would go out and grab a coffee and just sort of drive around until John got tired haha. It was amazing because just that process alone really helped with the search. Many times when we would go there we would realize it wasn’t where we thought it was, or the route would take a long time from work, or they had edited the photos from online…I may not have gotten to see the inside, but for a lot of the homes, the outside was enough.

Finally, by the end last year, we met with a realtor that we loved, and agreed to begin getting serious. Honestly, my expectations far exceeded reality. I thought I liked X neighborhood and we bought in Y, I thought I wanted a certain build and we ended up buying totally opposite…it was sort of funny really how it all worked out.

We ended up seeing 8 homes with our realtor (who can definitely make or break your experience), and fell in love with number 8. Throughout the whole process, I was pretty quick. I didn’t need to see much to know if it was the one or not. I walked out telling my husband that we needed to put in an offer. There was no rush (the house had been on the market for some time), but I could just feel it was the one. Two days later we put in an offer, and 24 hours later we were under contract.

The whole process was super smooth and easy, which in my book, is my “sign”. God has always illuminated my path. He makes things very simple, and this was no different (especially given I had a lot of reservations prior to us beginning our search), so seeing God in the process was super reassuring to me).

We are extremely lucky and I truly am so so excited for this next chapter. I think it might be one of my favorite ones yet, but only time will tell!

Now, that you have heard a little bit of the story, I will share a few things we bought (or are in the process of buying) immediately.

The first, was a washer and dryer. We actually just found out this week we bought the wrong ones, but luckily they were willing to exchange it for us. So, we currently have not been able to wash anything which has been…interesting. John did a lot of research on washer and dryers and settled with purchasing from Lowe’s, but I truly think it depends on what you are looking for, the size of your family, and what your space will allow.

Next, was a security system. This was something super important to both of us (in addition to getting a dog haha), just because we feel that is important to feel safe. Plus, after some random experiences over the past few months, I knew I wanted this first thing. We opted for the Ring, but I think this once again depends on your personal preferences.

Third, was a bedroom set. One thing we have really been needing was an updated bedroom set, but knowing we would be buying a house, we decided to hold of on this. We are currently in the process of purchasing everything, but it is definitely one thing I am so excited to share with you guys, once it’s completed!

Lastly, was a Roku! John and I knew we wanted to cancel cable for the new house. Spending time together in the evenings is super important to us, even if that means we are working together side by side. As a result, we knew a big distraction for us (definitely me more than John), was TV. Our plan was to cancel it all together, however, upon setting up our new plan, we were informed that you can actually do a plan that includes 10 channels of your choice plus all of the local channels. The price was pretty inexpensive, so we opted for that. As a result, we ended up purchasing a Roku. Through this we are able to get the app our cable company uses, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix, and others all in one place. I know there are other devices that can do this as well, but this was a more affordable option for us.

As things come together, we will continue to share more and more of our space. I am so so excited you guys. In fact, it is a little hard being in California currently when I know all the fun things I can do back at the house.

My mom always told me that once you own your home, your perspective shifts a little bit. It is yours. You bought it. You drained your entire savings for this little plot of land that you can now claim, and because of that, you cherish it a little more than any other space you have had before. You want to learn all of its intricacies, you want to treat it with respect, you want to make it into something more than just a house…you want it to be a home.

I feel beyond blessed that at our age, my husband and I were able to purchase a home and I know many of you are hoping to do the same one day in the future, or have been able to have to same blessing. It is a fun adventure and I can’t wait to share as we slowly learn to navigate it all.

xoxo,

Melissa