So we are new homeowners.
While it is mostly been a good endeavor, there have been some struggles.
So Tom and I have come up with our pro/con list of new homeownership.
Pro-Awesome big windows that allow for natural lighting pretty much all day.
Con-Having to find curtains and real blinds for said windows. (read spend lots of money)
Pro-Big yard that allows the dogs to run A LOT; they basically have a dog park. And hopefully it will be a great space for George to play once he is not walking around like a drunk.
Con-Typically cities own dog parks and have crews to maintain that greenspace. It takes Tom pretty much a whole day to mow and weed eat. And this doesn’t even begin to factor in the future flower and vegetable/fruit beds we hope to have. Work.
Pro-An unfinished basement allows us to have a lot of potential to design a space exactly how we like.
Con-An unfinished basement is just that, an unfinished basement. It’s a soul sucking abyss of things that you still own and plans that haven’t happened yet.
Pro-We don’t have to ask permission to do ANYTHING. General maintenance can just be done. And we can paint a room any color we want.
Con-We have to pay for general maintenance. We can’t just call someone and say come fix it.
Pro-We finally have space for any type of furniture we want. We can actually have nice grown up furniture especially since we know we wont be moving anytime soon. So the investments seems to go longer.
Con-Who can afford all this furniture? We have empty rooms right now. Also nice furniture takes time to deliver…Lawn chairs it is then.
Pro-Wood floors look great.
Con-Unless they are the slightest bit dirty (with dog hair), then they look awful. And don’t even get me started on the price of rugs that are apparently needed with wood floors. I might as well have carpet…
While it can be daunting to have a house with the work that goes into it, we actually have a lot of pros.
Tom finally has a shop. We have a dining room that is just a dining room and not part of another room. We have three bathrooms. I have a kitchen I can do pretty much anything in and not feel cramped. And hopefully someday very soon, I will have a craft room!
And this little man gets the space to explore, dream, and let his imagination run wild.
I may be in the minority saying that I actually like that we are paying a mortgage. Yea it stinks to be tied down for that time financially, however I now feel that I am investing in my own space instead of throwing away rent money. We also settled on a place that meant our mortgage payment was not much more than we were already paying for rent, so it hopefully wont be too much of a hit. Note: if I had a choice of not paying anything for a house, I would take that offer like George takes pasta, immediately.
This was Tom’s response to buying a house. “What’s the next adult thing we have to do? Do we buy a van?”
This weekend we moved the last of our stuff to the new house. There are days were I am still in awe that we live here permanently. (Part of that could be because we have nothing on the walls yet and still many boxes to unpack and organize.) The longest we have lived somewhere is 3 years (outside of our childhood homes). Throughout our relationship we have moved collectively 11 times. Eleven times in eight years.
Well we are finally home. I can’t wait to see all the memories made. The meals shared. George’s first. Maybe another baby. Just the regular days.
It’s time to settle for real. Naturally, we are all excited.
Forewarning, this may turn into more of a DIY/home-makeover blog. We are compiling a long to-do list by room that I will be adding as a new page to the blog so you can follow along in our homemaking endeavors.
Don’t worry there will still be lots of George posts.
Congrats!!! I can’t wait until we can buy. We both hate the thought of renting… just throwing money away for something we’ll never own. I’m sure owning is a lot more upkeep, but hey, at least you get to choose everything… and you can stay there as long as you want!! 🙂
There is upkeep, but you get to choose when and what that upkeep looks like. We like that we can do what we want.
Ashley and I bought our first home at 23 because we didn’t want to throw away rent money. I never look at a home as permanent anymore. They are just investments, that can make you a ton of money with a little effort. Now we are onto our 3rd home, that has become our “dream” home. We compromised a lot on the first 2 homes, and with those investments, we didn’t need to with the 3rd. I love being a home owner!! I hate being a landlord! It’s a tough job! So much stress when things get broken, not to mention renters telling landlords when things go wrong. I hope that you will love your home, and if not, you can always get a different one! 🙂
We are so excited by the possibilities. And you are right if we find down the road this isn’t the dream, we can always sell it.
congrats!! I can’t wait to have all of those things! Except the three bathrooms. We have three now, and I have to clean them all. I’ll settle for two with one that has a tub that doesn’t take a half hour to fill up (jimmie takes a bath in about two inches of water and that takes 10 min!)
Yea cleaning is a big bummer with being an adult period. Luckily, we only really use two of the bathrooms since one is downstairs.
Congrats on being a homeowner! A friend of mine & her husband just built a home, so I’ve been listening the pros & cons of building/home ownership for about the past year or so. I think with every type of living situation there will be pros & cons. It’s all in how you deal with it. Also, I think it’s always fun to read about the DIY type blogs…makes me miss Young House Love.
I soooo miss Young House Love. I may buy their book because I miss them so much!
I’m sososososo happy for y’all!
Thank you!
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