Our House, in the Middle of the Street

You know, I've never understood those lyrics. Why would you want a house in the middle of the street? Could cause some traffic issues.

Any-way. Some news. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you've probably already inferred this but, after long deliberation, J. and I have decided to buy our first house! We decided earlier in the week but I finally ripped the bandaid off and told my Mom tonight. Not an easy conversation, but that's to be expected. She is just worried, that's what moms do.

Why now? A couple of reasons:

1. The big one, The $8,000 stimulus package. Why WOULDN'T we buy when we can get a huge chunk of cash back into our pockets? We can ammend 2008's taxes and use the money to make any repairs needed or buy furnishings, and of course, put most of it into savings for later use.

2. We are ready. We are sick of renting. I hate paying to live in someone else's house. I want to be able to have a yard, to plant a garden, to have a puppy, to be able to hang a shelf and put some pictures out. Yes, this also means that if my kitchen sink backs up, I have to pay the plumber to come run hydroscrub it. I have to mow that lawn (well, J. does anyway). But those are tradeoffs that we are willing to make. Responsibilities we are willing to take on. It's not going to be easy. But I think that's part of it. I'm ready for a new challenge.

3. Our jobs are as stable as they are gonna be in the next few years. Sure, there are no guarantees. Sure, I could lose my job tomorrow. I think everyone is in that boat right now. But I have to take that leap of faith sometime. I just have to know that God is gonna be there to catch me if that happens. If I didn't feel he was leading me in this direction, we wouldn't be at this point. But after so much talk and prayer, I really think He's telling us to take this next step, that it's ok to jump.

WHOOOOOHOOOO!!!! I am so excited! J. and I met with our real estate agent Wednesday and we got home and we both sat down and felt completely at peace. Well, maybe not at peace, we were both pretty pumped up about the whole thing. But we just feel really positive about it. Our agent is the type of person to be very upfront and honest, she's not going to let us shop out of our price range. She and I are going to get along very well, I think. She was very open to my questions, no matter how off the wall they were (or at least seemed to me).

I'm going to go to some open houses tomorrow. J's at drill and I could use a partner, let me know if you would like to go with me!