Robbie and I made the decision to move out of our apartment way back in October of 2015. We had been having issues with our neighbors directly below us, and we had just outgrown apartment living. Back in October we set out to buy a house. We happened to stumble across a great realtor and lender at the SAME open house one Sunday afternoon. After meeting with our lender, he gave us a cap, and we began looking for houses that met our criteria. From October to March, we probably looked at 100 houses (in person and online) combined. It was exhausting because nothing struck our fancy as a 'forever' home. We liked the idea of buying a 'forever' home vs. buying a starter home and going through the hassle of selling it in a few years. March snuck up on us real quick, and we had to figure out what to do, as our lease on our apartment was up in May, and we knew we weren't going to be renewing it. We are not the kind of people who make snap decisions based on urgency, especially one so large as buying a house. One day in mid-March, Robbie and I had a discussion about renting a house. We talked about the advantages of saving money for a few years to increase our house spending cap, and to also give us more time to make such a huge decision. We both really liked the idea. So literally that night, we went onto Zillow and looked for houses to rent. We found one we liked that had only been on the market for not even 24 hours. Robbie called the realtor the very next morning, and we got an appointment to view the house that same afternoon. Before we saw the house, we knew that it was bigger than any of our apartments have ever been, with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths, it had 2 levels, an upstairs laundry room, our very own backyard, and most importantly, we had our very own walls! When we saw the house, we liked what we saw, and that night we filled out and turned in the required paperwork. The realtor said we were one of 12 applicants from that day that the owner was choosing from. We found out that the owners would be taking care of the taxes on the house, as well as the Home Owners Association fee! We kept our fingers crossed until 2 days later when Robbie got the call that we got the house! Wahoooo!
To make our application more attractive to the owners, we put a lease start date of April 1, increased the asked rent $50, and were willing to sign a 2 year lease. That, and the fact it was only the 2 of us without pets (the owner didn't want cats), gave us the green light. The April 1 lease start date also meant we had to act fast with our apartment as well. Management advised us that if we want to break our lease we can, but if they can rent it out between our move-out date and the end of our lease, we won't owe rent through the end of our lease. Knowing that, we decided April 9th as our moving day. This way we won't let the house sit vacant for too long, and we are giving the apartments time to rent out our old place, so hopefully we won't be on the hook for our May rent.
In planning our move, we confirmed the same movers who helped us move into our apartment last May. This time, however, they moved our stuff on both ends, and they brought the truck, too! Easy! Being we have moved so many times, it's pretty much clockwork on who does what in the way of changing addresses and all that fun stuff. We save all our boxes from move to move, so it was easy to start the packing process. We took a Saturday and just packed like ninjas! It was really the most stress-free move prep that we have ever had; we are seasoned veterans! We had 9 days from when we got the keys to our new house to when we moved in, so that allowed us to bring small loads of stuff over, like our clothes. It also allowed time to clean stuff that the previous tentent's didn't.
April 9th came quick, and we were ready to go. The movers were a couple hours late (we had a 10am start time), but it didn't matter that much to us because they were packing and unpacking the truck, and we had nowhere to be that day. While we waited, we wasted time being silly. If other people saw us, they would've declared us insane!
It was a lot of fun watching the moving crew just take load after load while we did nothing, haha. Our entertainment while the movers were there was trying to get a ping pong ball into a standing lampshade without it bouncing. We both succeeded. Mind you, we were on the 3rd floor, and they we taking dolly's down those stairs. It was great. It took about 2 hours for them to clear our apartment, and then we were on our way to our new house!
Unloading all our stuff was much quicker, and the movers even helped put together our complicated bed! The movers pulled away after about an hour 15, and the house was ours (kind of....the owners are in China, so it pretty much is ours)!
It didn't take us long to unpack; we were pretty much done the next day. The last picture was hung on the wall that Friday, just in time for our first house-guest later the next day!
Below is a virtual tour of our home with captions below each picture, as I'm sure you all want to see it!
From our front entrance, looking into the living room to the back left, and the dining room and kitchen to the back right. Just inside the entrance to the left is a front closet and our stairwell. Between the stairwell and living room is the 1/2 bath.
Our huge living room, complete with a fireplace!
Dining room leading to the living room, taken from the kitchen.
Dining room leading to the kitchen, taken from the living room.
Our stairwell,which makes a 180 degree turn, leading to our first ever 2nd floor.
Top of the stairs, leading into what will be our guest bedroom. We are waiting to fill it until our first overnight guest comes!
Huge master bedroom, with master bathroom to the right, and master closet to the left.
Master closet.
The first of my favorite designs of the house. This built-in alcove is just outside the master bedroom, and perfect for both our families pictures, and our wedding photo in the middle!
Down the hall from our master bedroom is my office.
Our eastern-facing view that I get to look out at everyday from my office! Robbie's work is to the right; it's close enough for him to walk to and from work each day.
Just outside my office and to the left is the guest bathroom.
The second of my favorite designs of the house. This is right outside of my office, a long countertop, perfect for family and adventure photos!
Our backyard, with mountain views! Lovely!
The morning after we moved in, Sunday, I woke up early to watch the sunrise being we have a great eastern-facing view, but it was clouded over, which still made for a cool photo. The clouds were moving north, just crawling through the mountains!
Our first sunrise came on Monday morning. It was a pretty one!
As I write this, we have been in this house for exactly a week, and we are going to relish the next 2 years in it, and make lots of memories! Hopefully after the 2 years are over, we will be making our last move ever into our 'forever' home! In the mean time, who's coming to visit?! We have room for you!
"Welcome to my house!" -Flo Rida
