Someday is Now

We have embarked upon a new adventure, the adventure of buying our first home.  Not our first home, because wherever we have lived has very much been home, but the first home that will belong to us.  It has been a long wait, 17 years since we were married and started thinking of our "someday" house.

The journey always starts with a mortgage, and ours was an appointment with our local bank branch mortgage specialist.  Apparently not just anyone can handle mortgages anymore, you need to be a specialist.  Although we had our finances in order and have been dutifully saving since we finally conquered debt mountain last year, we were in still fear and trembling before our appointment Saturday morning.  Since we are property virgins the possible problems lurked in our subconscious like dragons.  But we walked out of the appointment with big smiles on our faces and full of hope.  No dragons!

Unfortunately the first property we looked at wiped the smile right back off again.

Waterfront is on the wish list, as is an acre or more that is less than 20 minutes out of town.  I would also love a newish house that doesn't need a new roof or windows, etc.  I would love to redo floors and paint walls and even knock out a few walls down the road.  However, I am not sure that we are up for major renovations quite yet or even in our first house.

The first candidate had the waterfront on a lovely small lake.  It was 10 minutes from town.  It wasn't an acre, but had a nice level of privacy.  And the view was absolutely perfect!  Neighbours and other houses around, but not stuck up cheek and jowl with one another.  And I had spent enough time going over the online pics to convince myself that the problems would be cosmetic and this could very likely be our "someday".

But the house in reality.  Oh, my.  The house.

The most accurate word would be disappointing.  It was an old place that had been moved from another location on the lot.  There was a sagging ceiling that showed that the move may not have been done quite right.  Brand new laminate floors were wavy.  The new windows had ugly gold rim in between the panes - very eighties and not removable.  Plus the wood stove in the basement and the outdoor wood stove were both shot, leaving an electric furnace which is the most expensive heating option.  A dug well and no water treatment system made for a great big up front expense.  Plus it was clear that the sellers were very attached to their asking price, which was somewhat inflated.  All things considered not our "someday".

Seeing our clear disappointment, our realtor took the time to give us detailed tour of the whole town, pointing out houses that have been sold in the last few years and the prices.  The man is an encyclopedia of real estate!  We came out of that with a much more realistic perspective of what we can afford for our first house. Waterfront will be for our retirement.

We are also motivate to cut out spending on wants and sock money into savings at an accelerated pace.  So no more new shoes for me.  No more lenses for LK.  No more stuffed friends for Jo, and Fi will have to live with free apps.  We joked about sending the dog to my parents to be fed, but maybe that is overkill.