• Wait, so that monthly payment DOESN’T already included property taxes and insurance?
• Property taxes and insurance are going to add FIVE-HUNDRED DOLLARS to my monthly payment?!
• I love this house.
• I can’t afford this house.
• But I looooooove it.
• I have to pay $10,000 in bank fees?!
• No one ever told me about bank fees!
• So, bank fees are the same as closing costs?
• Okay, I totally knew about closing costs.
• Buutttt, I don’t really want to pay them.
• How do I get the seller to pay my closing costs?
• How do I get the lender to waive my closing costs?
• I can’t negotiate.
• I can’t concentrate on anything else.
• Do you want to drive by the house?
• Do you want to drive by?
• Let’s do a drive by.
• Their furniture is awful.
• Wallpaper?!
• I could TOTALLY see myself in this houseeeeeee!!!
• I can’t do it.  It’s too much money.
• Let’s do a mock budget.
• Okay, I feel better about our finances now.
• Wait, no, I don’t.
• But Dave Ramsey says…
• It’s our dream house.
• It’s just a little bit out of our price range.
• Do you really think there is another interested buyer?
• Is my real estate agent lying to me?
• Is the lender lying to me?
• Is the seller’s agent lying?!
• WHO ISN’T LYING TO ME?!
• I can’t do this.
• Let’s rent forever.

Today I submitted the paper work to get pre-approved for a loan on a home.

Crazy, right!?  I know people do this all the time, but it still felt monumental for me.

We reached our minimum savings goal in late December and we’re still adding to our house down payment savings account every week.  So, we’re totally ready.  We’re beyond ready.  I’m ready to get this party started and get OUT of this apartment!

I also just happened to find the house that we’re going to buy today.

Yep.  I found our house.

I mean, we haven’t even been in it yet, but I’ve looked at easily 500 houses over the past 6 months online and there have only been two that I’ve seriously considered.

One of those was taken off the market.  The other one is the one that we’re going to buy that I just mentioned. 

We drove by it tonight and we’re even more obsessed with it now.

It has everything we want.  It meets all of our MAJOR requirements:

• Convenient location (near our church, gym, and the highway that we use to commute to work)
• Private but not-so-private location (we wanted a house with a somewhat private backyard but one that was still in the city)
• Huge island in the middle of the kitchen (Below is an example from a MUCH nicer kitchen than the one in our potential first-home, but it gives you an idea of the big, flat island I’m looking for.)

• Fabulous outdoor area (this house has a fantastic deck, a HUGE yard – 1/3 of an acre to be exact – and it’s fenced to boot, which means we could buy a dog ASAP)
• Bada$$ master suite – ‘nuff said
• Four bedrooms plus an office
• Open concept –  the kitchen flows through the breakfast nook to the living room

The one thing it doesn’t have (I’m assuming, anyway, since it avoids this topic on the home description) is a finished basement.  Not a big deal since we’re planning to be in this house for many years, so we can always finish the basement at our leisure.

But, like I said, I haven’t even been inside the house yet.

After we get pre-approved, I’m going to talk to our realtor to see if we can get an appointment to take a looksie.

We went to four open houses this past weekend and I’m so happy we did because seeing other houses will give us an idea of how this house stacks up to others.  I’d also like to see a couple more houses this weekend just so I don’t jump in too fast.

But I totes love the house.  (Don’t tell my realtor I said that.)

When we got home after stalking the house/neighborhood for a good half hour tonight, I started to freak out because it’s starting to get real.

First, it started with paying off student loans and car loans.  After that, we began saving like a bunch of crazy people for a down payment (like, we saved more than half of all of our paychecks and a good chunk of my freelance income).  Now, some three or four years later, we’re FINALLY here! 

Since I was having a little mini freak-out session about spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a house, my husband and I talked about what our biggest fears were of actually taking the leap:

• My fear: Being locked into payments for 20-30 years.
• His fear: Buying a lemon, or just finding out something is wrong with it after we buy it.

Luckily, we have saved so much that our mortgage payment will be way under our budget.  One of us could even get fired or quit our jobs and we’d still be able to pay our mortgage payment.  And, when I told my mom what my husband’s fear was tonight, she said the seller has to sign something to say there isn’t anything wrong with the house that they know about and, of course, we’ll have an inspection. 

So, our fears are just silly.

Next step:  Get our pre-approval finalized (hopefully tomorrow or the next day) and then go visit the dream house!  I’d also like to visit 5-10 other houses this weekend just to see what else is out there.