23 before 24 update

Number 11: Start the process of buying a home.

hahaha betcha didn't think i'd cross this off my list so fast, did ya?! well guess what we did last night? made an offer on our first home. <3 <3 <3

it's sort of a long story. and it sort of just happened. remember back when i was complaining about my shower being broken? a legit complaint because a shower is a necessity of my life, hello.  well, there was this adorable house down the street from us on the way to my parents' house. every time we'd drive by we'd say, "there's our house!" we didn't know what the inside looked like, but it was so stinkin cute from the outside. (let me tell you. curb appeal is SOOOO important.) one day we grabbed a flyer and about died of shock from the price. it was cheap cheap. except evan and i had no idea how much 888 square feet is but apparently not very much.

anyway. it was just a dream. we were like, maybe by Christmas we'll have saved up enough money to start looking. then the shower got worse. so we told my parents about the house, on a whim, and they tried to find it one sunday during open house time.  they didn't find that house, but they found another, so the marched over to my house, picked me up, took me back. the realtor was a titch rude, like "oh you're a first time homebuyer? ohhhh. mmhmm. kbai." as if i can't afford a nice home because hi. i can.

that house did me in. i needed to see more. it was like crack. so my mom and i spent all night looking at houses online and finding a million for me to show evan. we found one we loved...remember this picture:

 it's two blocks from where we live now. we love love love our neighborhood because it's pretty much where we both grew up. we love the schools, all the parks, most of the people.....but we fell in love with this house. except, it was the first house evan saw. it was the first house we saw together.  and it was expensiveeeee.

we went through a million different fights on this house. from price, to her taking it off the market and letting these children move in who i see smoking 2 inches from the front door which if you ask anyone who is allergic to cigarettes, they'll tell you that's basically indoors. and they have parties there every night, with people who leave their trash in the yard. and i am going to spend that much money and have to clean up after these dumb boys?

uh no.

so last week, our realtor told me someone put an offer in the house. very much above what he told us the seller would be willing to take. which meant our offer would be puny in comparison, and we would lose the game. we were both pretty upset. we love love love this house. the adorable loft, which we were going to turn into a chic wood cabin-y master. the two fire places. the 1950's kitchen with its metal cabinets. the gorgeous crown molding in all the rooms. the privacy stone fence and the massive garage. the things we loved trumped 150% the things we didn't. 

and then we didn't get it. part was our fault for waiting so long to put an offer in. but even with the highest offer we would have put in, our mortgage would have been on the high end of what we were comfortable paying and we would have stretched ourselves thin, never left the house, and ate dirt. 

obviously someone's watchin over us. =]

so our realtor forced us to continue to look even though every other house paled in comparison. like the one with cat poop in the floor of the closet. (that happened.) or the one with cracks in the wall and 1-2 inches of space between each board on the floor. and the dirt in the living room where they ripped out the fireplace. or the one with the matching wallpaper and bedspread.

but then we found one.

it is the perfect little first time home buyer home. a family of four lives in it now, and i'm sure it was their first home, too. we put an offer in last night, and now we're just waiting to hear back. i am so anxious i could pee my pants. 

but we started this process. we took a huge, gigantic step into this process that is not as hard as it sounds. and also, evan has been amaaaaazing through everything. because 1. i am picky. 2. i am picky. 3. i am picky and a child sometimes. and he put up with it all. <3