If you're not living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space.
Jason and I woke up one morning and said, "This economy is not so good, and that means it's a good time to buy....how do you feel about a house?" We were making rent payments that would dwarf our future home mortgage, and felt more than a little silly knowing we could be paying for a house with that money. The freedom that sat on the horizon was amazing, paint the walls whatever color you want, remove walls if you don't like them, get a dog, and there is no weight limit, etc.
The one conundrum was that we are moving to West Africa (a whole story in itself) and we needed a special house that had many options, so we began looking for something that would be a good rental house when we're gone, and a good home for us when we're here. Our "list" of things we wanted to find was eccentric: a house with 2 apartments, a spiral staircase (just for funsies), a loft bedroom where the entire top floor would be the master bedroom, it would be located in a convenient place in Golden with a good view of the mountains, etc.
We talked to Ben, our trusty realtor and friend, and he got us looking at houses around our area. We looked at houses far and wide, from condos in the city to houses in the mountains. We eventually found this house, and it was made to order, except all the things we wanted to change.
After some struggles with the bank (which, of course, made us appreciate this place all that much more), we moved in on September 15th, 2009. The first picture on
the page is us signing the mortgage. It was such a weird feeling, you wait FOREVER for the bank to approve something, and then BAM, you're signing paperwork, and you walk away with a house. It feels so weird. No one at the table but you and your realtor actually even know what the house looks like. But, man, you just bought it!
We talked to Ben, our trusty realtor and friend, and he got us looking at houses around our area. We looked at houses far and wide, from condos in the city to houses in the mountains. We eventually found this house, and it was made to order, except all the things we wanted to change.
After some struggles with the bank (which, of course, made us appreciate this place all that much more), we moved in on September 15th, 2009. The first picture on
the page is us signing the mortgage. It was such a weird feeling, you wait FOREVER for the bank to approve something, and then BAM, you're signing paperwork, and you walk away with a house. It feels so weird. No one at the table but you and your realtor actually even know what the house looks like. But, man, you just bought it!
We congratulated ourselves as we walked into our new house that had signs hammered onto the doors reading, "DANGER: DO NOT EXIT". What new homeowner doesn't want signs like that on their new home? Jason was equipped with a beard of protest he'd grown during our time without a home as we waited for the bank. He came to the final meeting with the bank in the protest beard, and I think it had a nice effect.
The first thing we did was remove the offensive wallpaper that was EVERYWHERE.
The kitchen was full of newspaper print wallpaper with advertisements for bust enhancers and slave markets, and the living room had smelly textured wallpaper that I'd been picking at on every visit to the house while we were waiting to buy it. It was the most pure feeling of joy to tear off that grimy wallpaper. The first step of thousands in a long process.
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