Our record of the purchase of our first house.
Hi everyone! We're very, very excited about our ducky little house, so we go around telling people about it all day long. Sometimes it's a little hard to remember whom we've updated recently and whom we haven't, so we thought we'd start a little blog to keep everyone up to speed and to let us track the trials and tribulations of transforming ourselves into homeowners.
A Little Backstory
We started looking at the beginning of February, when we pulled together our Christmas money and bonuses. I was anxious to buy in winter, when prices are lowest, and also to move forward on this project before my car engine blows up or one of us gets bird flu or any other catastrophe could intervene to snarf up our downpayment.
A friend recommended a mortgage broker, and we were pleasantly surprised to discover that we had been looking in just about the right price range for the past few months. Unfortunately, that price range dictates either a grungy 500-sqft shack deep in the 'hood in Austin or a move to a suburb or neighboring town. We chose the latter.
That Friday, we went home squeaky with excitement to review our options on the MLS. There were several in neighboring Elgin that looked especially plausible, so we drove out there that Saturday to check them out.
Now, mostly, my experience with MLS pictures is that they are there to misrepresent the house. The pictures are minute, the resolution is crap, and the realtors are very clever about cropping out the adjacent highway/mechanic shop/pig farm/or field full of broken-down school buses. And presumably they haul the trash and busted old sofas off the front lawn before snapping the picture, then drag them back in again. So in preparatory tours of possible homes, we've experienced a lot of disappointment. And an urgent need for some anti-bacterial handi-wipes.
Imagine our delight when...
(to be continued)
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3 comments:
Hi Mel,
Your web site and blog are great! David and I enjoyed reading all the info and seeing your decorating and landscaping plans. We look forward to future installments.
Last year we saw lots of rock houses in our travels and thought they were so neat. Now we will have family members who own one!
Congrats. to you and Matt on the purchase of your first home. Can't wait to see more pictures of your painting/decorating progress after closing.
Love,
Aunt Pauline
Congratulations, Matt & Mel!
We had a great time looking at the house exterior and downtown Elgin with Mel this weekend.
Two things you can't see on the current photos -- there's a TON of storage shed space (think 4 car garage's worth), and there's a giant back yard.
We took a stroll down Elgin's main street, too, which is in walking distance from the house. We had a good lunch followed by transcendent pie at City Cafe, found a local art gallery that regularly hosts live music, and found a tiny natural foods store. Keith is even going to have his guitar serviced by the guy who runs the art gallery!
Thanks, Aunt Pauline! I'm itching to get started on the painting and fixing up, too. I've begun packing the rent house, but that's not nearly as fun.
And thanks to the Ks for touring downtown Elgin with me. It was great having a couple of extroverts along--they engaged the locals in conversations and ferreted out all kinds of information I would have missed by myself.
--Mel
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