We've been keeping this a secret for a while now, but we officially closed on the house last Monday! However, we were in the process of buying this house since February 19th! I'm so incredibly excited for the house and all of the changes we'll be making to make it our new home.

Originally, we weren't going to buy a house until way down the road. I'm talking like 7-10 years from now. Since my husband is military, it didn't make since to buy when we'd be moving every couple of years.

We didn't actually consider moving until the beginning of February. Our lease was ending soon at our apartment and I knew I needed something on the first floor, but our apartment complex just didn't have anything. We started looking around, but there just isn't much here. Plus, since it's a college town, there was very little available before August. 

Another factor was our budget. Unfortunately, since we live in a college town a lot of the rentals are per room. They usually average about $450 each and since we were looking for a three bedroom house/apartment, that just wasn't doable. We thought we caught a break with a cute little three bedroom for a good price, so we went and looked at it and we really liked it. The rental agency said that we could think about it over the weekend and put in an application on Monday. We went to their site on Monday and they had raised the price to $1200! So we had to keep looking. 

Eventually I ended up on another realty website that we could rent or buy from. I saw this adorable gray house for about $160,000 and it said that our payments would only be about $700. That's less than we've been paying to rent a two bedroom apartment! It was that moment that we started to seriously consider buying.

The following Friday night, we put in a request for a quote on the Veterans United website. We didn't expect to hear anything until Monday, so we were shocked when we got a call less than an hour later. The woman on the phone asked us a few questions and we were prequalified in minutes. 

Immediately after hanging up, we started looking at houses. It took weeks of searching, touring, and meeting with our realtor before we found the one. I honestly never thought I would have a mortgage and a three bedroom house at the age of 20, but I am so incredibly grateful. 

As I mentioned in my post, 75 Things I Wish I Learned in High School, buying a house was one of the biggest points. This was our first home and we had no idea where to start. I, of course being the overachieving researcher that I am, starting reading articles and blogposts about all the steps that we needed to take. It took a while to figure everything out, but we have finally done it. We own a house! 

I'm no expert, but I've decided to start a blog series on the experience. I'll share my best tips for the entire process and I'll even keep you updated on all of the changes we make to our own home. 

If you're interested in seeing the new house, I've included some pictures below. If you don't want to see them, you can just scroll to then end for our last few notes!




We're thinking we're going to have to do some landscaping. The yard is mostly red clay and weeds. They also use pine needles instead of mulch in our town, so we'll be switching that out too.



I absolutely love the kitchen! These appliances are all new from 2012. There's a stone backsplash and tile floors, as well as granite countertops.


 We really like the wooden floors throughout the house. We also love how much natural light comes through the kitchen and living room. We're thinking about painting the two rooms a lighter color to help bounce the light through the house.














I absolutely love our master bathroom! It shares the same tile and fixtures as the guest bath, but it is much bigger. We each have our own vanities and there is extra shelving above the toilet. I was hoping to get a bathroom with both a shower and a tub, but the combo is great too!



We have an extra storage room outside and a little bit of patio space. We are planning on getting a little patio set for outside. We thought our yard was pretty small until our realtor explained that it goes beyond the tree line. Eventually we want to clear out the smaller trees and bushes and put a shed on the flat part of the land. We're also planning on adding a privacy fence as well as some landscaping.

I'm hoping to make this new blog series both educational and entertaining. I know how nervous we were in the beginning of the process and I'm sure this series will help calm the nerves of some of you that are considering buying your first house.