In Training: House Hunting: Part 1

To start this saga, I'll have to go back a bit. As you may remember, upon entering the U.S., Royal wasn't allowed to work until he received a work permit -- that ended up being almost six months. We knew about this beforehand, so that plus a few other similar things kept us from purchasing a home right away.

So we began the process of saving money for a down payment on a house of our very own. A couple months ago, we reached our goal! We'd been keeping an eye on the market for some time and even attended some open houses to get a better idea of what to expect. It's the first house purchasing experience for both of us.

We contacted a local realtor, Nessa - she sold my parents their house 16 years ago! - and described what we were looking for: a brick 3 bedroom, 2 bath, with a garage and fenced back yard (if possible.). She gave us about 20 sheets with houses & info and told us to put them in the order we wanted to see them. It was... a long process! But we finally picked our top fifteen and went from there. Our #1 choice was far and away our favorite! No other was even close.

We met up with Nessa for our very first house viewing aaannnnddd... our top choice was in negotiations with another buyer! I was disappointed, but Royal was crushed. Even without seeing the inside, I think he'd already moved in! We went on to look at 10 houses and all of them were far from what we were looking for. I mean really, if you're trying to sell your house at least move the huge reptile terrariums - yes, plural - out first! Luckily, everyone had told us not to get discouraged our first time out so we were prepared for the wave of emotions: the freak-out and then minor depression.

Nessa widened the search and we made another house hunting appointment. When she handed us our 'to-do' packet on the day our top choice was first up! We were over the moon! The negotiations had fallen through and it was ours for the taking. We knew it was perfect for us the second we walked through the door. Even the darn paint colors were perfect! A gorgeous sage green in the bathrooms, a dark red in the kitchen and a lovely desert shade for the rest of the house. Two car garage in a nice neighborhood, even nice landscaping. Privacy fenced in the back on two sides and the best part --- NOTHING behind the house but trees!

After trying to take a serious look at the house, we stood in front of Nessa and my Dad with glistening, wide eyes and said we'd take it!

Next up: the godforsaken process that is: applying for a home loan.

House Hunting: Part II.