the process

We are getting closer and closer to mutual acceptance on a house...and that means closer and closer to some big changes in our lives. Right now the front runner is a brand new home in a new development. It's 2300 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, walk in closets in every bedroom, wood floor in kitchen and entry, all new appliances...and on and on. It is a beautiful place and will definitely have a great resale value when we get to the point (although, who knows, we may love it so much we could stay for much longer than we think!).

BUT the house will definitely require us to put some constraints on our fun money and expendable income. We will probably cut down our cable drastically or even get rid of it, we will have a backyard so we will cut out the cost of doggy day camp and paying a neighbor to let Scrappy out, we will consider a roommate, we will happily carpool with any and everyone who wants to share the cost of gas, we will cut coupons, we will become garage sale experts for some of our new furnishings, we will carefully plan major vacations, we will entertain at our house instead of go out...We will learn to make sacrifices that won't change our happiness, just broaden our horizons. And that's something we need to accept. We are so lucky that we can consider a place like this so early in our lives and we need to understand that we can't have EVERYTHING at once, we can learn to grow into our house and start with the basics and make it fun...and at the end of the day, come home to a house we absolutely love.

We are sending back a counter offer tomorrow and will wait and see what happens. If it's not accepted we are prepared to (sadly) walk away and keep looking. There is one other house that is a possibility but we are unsure about the neighborhood and its resale value and therefore have put it on the backburner for the time being (which really is like a day in real estate world because we are now at the point where things will move very quickly). So we'll see!

We are in our townhouse until May so we have time still for any time needed for closing (because that's when things start to slow back down again-at a snail's pace) and in fact we are happy for it to take as long as needed so we don't have to pay a rent and a mortgage in the same month. Chances are slim it will happen but we are taking precautions.

So here goes nothing! Our realtor has the details and will call the agent at 9:00am tomorrow. I am to then check in with her at 11:00am and hopefully hear some news. Fingers crossed for a good deal!