The First-time Buyer Chronicles End with Success

Yes, this chronicle has a happy ending, because we did finally close on our very first home. Over champagne, I will tell you that after all that house-hunting, weekends spent open-housing and hours spent internet searching, the home we bought is right across the street from the home we’re renting now.

I was home one morning, watching the neighborhood squirrels and kitties with my dog from our living room window. From that vantage point, I was perfectly situated to see a real estate agent spiking a “for sale” sign on the front lawn of the house across from ours. It’s a house we know well. We’ve lived in this neighborhood almost a year now, and we knew the place had been on the market before but was de-listed after the sale fell through.

Suddenly I just had a feeling everything would work out. I called the agent’s phone number (conveniently displayed on the sign just a few feet away from my living room window!).  Turns out, my agent and this agent are friends: they play basketball together. We were touring the home and writing an offer on it within a week.

(Super Happy Bright) Light at the End of the (Long, Occasionally Dark) Tunnel

If you’ve been reading these chronicles, you know it wasn’t always easy. I’m making it sound that way now because I am so happy to see the key to our new house—our house!!—hanging on the wall by my desk.  But really, we’ve struggled. From moving to a new a state to finding a Realtor®, from house-hunting to loan approval, to getting IRS transcripts and dealing with a tenant occupied house, we’ve had challenges every step of the way. But we made it. The last step will be a physical as well as metaphoric one,  when we actually step across the doorstep of this house and claim it as our home. And we'll have to open so more champagne at that point-- because look! Our new house has a fireplace!

It has a backyard!

We have a lot to celebrate.

More Chapters to Come

I know it’s not over, this process. Even after two glasses of champagne, I remain a realist. I know the house isn’t perfect, and my husband and I, DIY virgins, will have much to learn and much more to do. And as I mentioned, there are still tenants in the house, and that situation shall be tricky indeed to untangle. From here then, I’ll take this story off the national blog and move it to the Portland, Oregon blog, because our experiences are about to become local. That’s right: I am a truly vested local in Portland!  Follow my trials and tribulations as a new homeowner in PDX!

In the meantime, I thank you for reading these chronicles. It’s been good therapy for me to share the (way high) ups and the (way low) downs of becoming a homeowner with other first-time buyers, and I hope it’s been helpful to you to read about the process—and the success!

 So join me in a toast: To finding the house that’s right for each of us!