We bought our first house!

“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15

My husband and I officially just bought our first house! This is a moment I’ve dreamed about for many, many years — and it’s finally a reality. We are so excited to take this next step in our lives… to own a place we can call ours, to invest in and to grow our family in.

The whole process, from house hunting to closing, took less time than I was expecting. We looked at houses for about two weeks before we found the one. The process to close took about one month.

House hunting seems glamorous on TV (thanks HGTV!) but in reality, it’s an exhausting process. And as we quickly learned, it’s much more than looking for cute houses that have great curb appeal or the perfect kitchen. You also have to pay attention to the quality and upkeep of the house… are the windows newer? What shape are the AC and heater in? How old is the roof? What are the neighbors like? Basically, there are A LOT of factors to weigh when searching for the “perfect house.”

Thankfully, my husband and I had pretty realistic expectations. Our realtor, who is also a lifelong friend of ours, was always upfront and honest with us about everything. She gave us the good, the bad and the ugly of a house.

We looked at a total of eight houses. We saw several different styles — ranches, two-stories, Cape Cods and split-levels — which was great because it gave us a better idea of what we liked and disliked about certain styles. The final house we saw, a split-level, marked all the boxes on our checklist. We knew we had found the one.

The part that took the longest was everything that came after a purchase price was agreed on — the inspection, the appraisal, the loan agreement.. so much to take care of and so much paperwork! Thankfully we were working with a great realtor, attorney and mortgage lender who all helped to make the process smooth for us.

Today we officially closed and I can’t say enough how blessed we are. Undoubtedly, God guided us through this whole process. From finding the house to the team we were working with to negotiating with the seller to finalizing closing costs, God was watching over us. I am so thankful to serve an amazing God, the almighty provider.

Now time for the really fun stuff, painting and decorating!

Stay tuned for more updates as we transform our first house into our home.