Let the House Hunting Begin!

I’ve never owned a house. I went from living with my Grandmother when I graduated high school to living with my sister and her family for the first year of college. After that, it was my first apartment. And it’s been apartments since then. Six apartments in the last 15 years with a couple of stints living with family between apartments. I’m tired of apartments.

Not all of our apartments have been bad, I’ve liked a couple of them. But, we’ve been in this one for nearly three years and I’m so done with it. One of my major complaints is that the neighbors are chain smokers and the smoke comes through our shared bedroom wall. When our bedroom door is closed, the room smells like we’ve been smoking. It is so very gross. But the neighbors are super nice and they’ve never said anything about Tobin or Nicholas squealing and playing and crying and laughing so I’ve never felt like we could say anything.

So, we’ve decided to become homeowners. Like grown-ups. I don’t know why starting this process makes me feel more like an adult than so many other things I’ve done. I mean, I’m almost 40, I have two children, a career and an awesome husband. You would think that any one of those things would have made me feel as adult as I ever would. But this house-hunting thing takes it to another level.

We meet tomorrow with a loan coach where we’ll go over every single little bill, every debt, every line item to track our every penny. And then we’ll all work together to see how much house we can afford (and how much we really want). I’m excited and nervous. Also? We’ve already found a house that I really want. But I won’t get all attached to it. Yet.

I would love to hear from you on things we should remember/ask/think of/talk about. Any house-hunting tips?