Home owners

Our search for a home has been so very fun, long, exciting, tedious, frustrating, and so much more. I'm sure everyone feels that way. Our realtor showed us so many homes but none of them felt good. In the last couple of months, we've felt a bit more pressure to take the plunge and buy in time for the new tax year. So basically, we saw a couple homes that interested us, made a few offers, set our hearts and minds on a few different homes and then had to let go of when we found out someone just barely beat us to it. It was seriously a bit crazy!  

So one Friday, we had a list of about ten homes to see and overnight a few of them went into escrow. The second home we went through, there were about five other appointments going through it with us. We liked it enough, and compared to many of the other homes, it was move-in ready. So walking away, we decided to make an offer. Just like that. There was no thinking about it, walking through a second time. We just made an offer, once they accepted and were in escrow, I felt so uneasy about the fact that it was such a quick decision. But when we went back for inspections, I was pleasantly surprised. Things were bigger/better than I had remembered. And I began getting really excited.

The 30-day escrow period was overwhelmingly busy. We learned so much in that short/long month. So much that we wished we had known about purchasing a home. You live and you learn, sometimes the lessons are learned in less-fortunate circumstances but hopefully you only have to learn those lessons once.

So after just over a year in our rental in Reno, we were moving again. 

The sad thing is that our new home is in a new ward & stake, and in a new school district. We really didn't want to leave the friends we had just made. But for the first time...this would be permanent.

Walking into sign the papers, a very nauseating feeling...like your signing your life away. 

Got the keys and headed over to our home.

And by that first night, we had purchased Spackle and paint to fix up the garage. I know its such an interesting place to start but look at how nasty this garage looks. If we didn't do it when we first moved in, it probably wouldn't get done.

Look at how much better it is!

And just so we never forget, Doug and I were working at the house by ourselves. Doug was filling in wholes with some expandable spray. He was filling some holes around the water heater when the pilot light caught the fumes and blew up. Doug started screaming, "Fire!" I ran over to see the flames and frantically looked around. I asked what he needed, his reply was a fire-extinguisher. Nice try! Ironically, I was next to the utility sink, found some cups, and we threw water on it. Not knowing if it had become an electrical fire.  Once the flames were out, Doug started poking holes in the wall to make sure the fire traveled inside.

It made for a very intense first experience of true home ownership.

And the next project before moving in was to build the girls some bunk-beds. Doug's a good one. He did it in just a few days.

Having never owned a home, there is so much we didn't have. And naturally, we wanted to save as much as possible so we decided to go with craigslist for the washer and dryer.

I asked many times if there was anything wrong with them. They assured me, they worked perfectly, and we ended up getting a great deal. Doug picked them up and installed them and with the first load, we had a flood. I tried to get ahold of the lady who sold them to us but she wouldn't answer. Love it!

So after another $100, and thanks to Amazon-prime, youtube, and Doug's handy-man nature, we had fully functional washer and dryer two days later.

We have many projects around the house, but the next project after the garage was the upstairs bathroom. It was hideous! I got right to it because I just hated it so much. Even though we don't use it much.

We had to paint, fill a lot of holes, replace all hardware, stain the vanity, replace a rotting soup dish, which had to be busted out, frame the mirror, and a few other odds and ends. It took about two more coats than we had planned on thanks this sick dark green paint. And we learned a thing or two about staining the vanity. BUT I LOVE the finish product!

Instead of a dark, gross cave we have a light, beautiful, very clean feeling guest bathroom. I love it! 

One thing we love about our new home is the wood burning fire place. Which we've learned a thing or two about. A professional chimney sweep come clean it out and we learned a lot about the proper way to build a fire for maximum heat and minimal smoke. It has made such a difference! (Side note- I want to change this entire fireplace someday)

And one of our favorite home-owner moments is when all my smoothie fruits and vegetables that I put down the disposal ended up in the bathtub. It ended up being a full day of researching, a couple trips to Home Depot and eventually calling the Roter-Rooter at 10 pm, with a hefty bill to top it off. And the great information that due to the age of the house, we have roots that grow in the sewer line and will likely have to replace it in the future.

Its all worth it. We love our home. Love our area, and are so excited to be settled.