The Exciting Purchase of Our First Home

I am sure you have enjoyed all of the wonderful stories Jess and Peter have shared with you about the purchasing and updates they have made to their first home. I know I enjoyed reading them! I loved reading their stories so much that I wanted to share with you my own personal story about purchasing my first home with my husband, Keith.

We have spent the past 6 months with major ups and downs trying to buy a house. We had no idea what we were in for—quite the roller coaster ride! Although it was a long journey, I must say the house was completely worth it.

It all started with a simple evening browsing of Realtor.com. I came across my dream home and discovered it was within our price range. What a wonderful thing! With every great thing, it seems there is always a catch—and there was one. The house was a short sale. Many confuse a short sale with being a quick transaction. It is quite the contrary. In fact, an average short sale takes about 3 to 6 months to close. It took six long months of patience and determination to get our dream home at a great value.

Although it was a very long six months, we had to do most of our preparation for moving in a very short period of time—a week. We literally didn’t have a definitive closing date until a day prior to closing. We scrambled on Thursday night to get all of our last minute possessions in boxes so as to not hold up the movers, who arrived shortly after we closed on the house Friday afternoon.  Fortunately, I was very prepared for this last minute closing date and had packed about a month in advance—even the kitchen was packed! We survived off of paper plates and plastic utensils, but it was worth it.

I have a few packing tips in case you have to move sometime soon. 

• Organization is key. 
  • Always remember, a Sharpie marker is your best friend. 
  • Pack things in sections and one room at a time
• Label, label, label!
  • Be sure to always label ever box you pack prior to taping it shut
  • You want to not only label which room, but also basic bullet points of what’s inside the box

For example, with labeling, I not only labeled master bedroom, but I also said shoes. If I said master bath, I would specify what was in that master bath box, because if it contained something important like my tooth brush or contact case, I wanted to be sure to open it first thing.

• One you move in, unpack one box at a time
  • Never open up multiple boxes all at once for the kitchen. You’ll become too overwhelmed and it will take you forever
  • However, if you unpack one box at a time, you will be done in no time and it won’t be nearly as stressful!

Although moving can be stressful, just keep in mind, the more organized you remain, the smoother everything will go.  And remember, this is a special time so have fun!

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