Monday, July 13, 2009

First Blog from New Home

It's been ages since I last posted in my blog (shame on me) but its been a busy three week stretch for me. Not only did we celebrate the Fourth of July, but I also enjoyed my birthday and the very important occasion of moving into my new home. The closing for the home was on June 26th. For those unfamiliar with a closing on a house - it's basically the final hurdle in the long home buying process. You meet with the bank, sign a ton of papers, hand over down payments and other assorted checks, and then it's basically the handing over of keys and voila! It's officially you're own home. At least for me, I had to wait a day before the ex-owners were officially moved out. But with all things considered, that delay in ownership worked out for the best.

When I first started the process of buying a home, I had no idea how exhausting it could be. I mean, you can't simply pick out a home and buy it right then and there. You have to find a bank where you can acquire a loan, you need to have your home inspected by a professional to detect any potential problems that could hinder the purchase of said home. You also need to transfer utilities into your name or move utilities prior to closing. You need to find home owners insurance, especially if your plan on including it in an escrow account as part of the home loan from the bank. Then there's the whole packing and moving from the old place of residence. It's a whole whirlwind of activity that I'm certainly glad is over. However, I'm glad I went through it because I ended up with a really nice home.

I would say that since I moved into this home, I have found very few surprises left by the previous owners. One thing I was a bit surprised to find out was how much stuff they decided to leave behind. Mind you, it's not tremendously a lot. But there were a few treasures here and there that were pretty awesome. And obviously the home is not perfect - there are things that I'd like to change eventually. But considering the age of the home (it's 40 years old this year) and how good the previous owners took care of the house, there's not really any major work that needs to be done to the place. A lot of the work is cosmetic and minor. I am very thankful I was able to find a home such as this because many others I went and saw on my first initial tour were pretty dreadful. And they wanted a lot of money for them, too!

So there you have it folks, I am officially a home owner. It's nice not needing to worry about paying rent at the beginning of each month and being stuck with a place you absolutely cannot change. Sure, you can change around the furniture from time to time, but with the way my old apartment was set up, it was very difficult to do that. So from the time I moved in three years ago this month at the old apartment to last month, the furniture was in the exact same spot as it was when I initially moved in there. In the new house, I have the freedom to do whatever I want. If I get sick of my current bedroom, I can move to the one across the hall or into the room next door. I can paint, wall paper, and completely gut rooms if I wanted to. But at this point in time, I'll just stick to painting. And with me being involved with re-siding my parents house this summer, I probably won't be able to get to many of the improvements on my home until this fall. And I'm okay with that, because actually I'm pretty happy with the stauts quo at this point in time. But I'm sure in time, that'll change. After all, doesn't that come with owning your own home?

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