I’m a Homeowner!

As of November 7, 2014, my husband and I are homeowners!

It’s a brick Cape Cod with a detached garage. And a driveway! Do you have any idea how many years I’ve had to parallel park on public streets? Too many. Having our own private driveway will be a delightful and welcome change.

We’re pretty darn excited. Neither of us has owned a house before.

The previous owner renovated the kitchen and 1.5 bathrooms just in the past few years – most of the other potential houses we looked at needed upgrades in those areas, so to have them already done is fantastic.

(Note: All of the photos in this post were taken from the original real estate listing; we haven’t moved our belongings in yet.)

Here is the kitchen:

This is the dining area off the kitchen. (We don’t currently own a dining set so I’ll be searching for a nice option to fit the space.)

The living room:

Here are the bathrooms (one full, one half).

There are also three bedrooms (two upstairs, and one downstairs that we’ll use as an office). Here are two of the three.

The only downside to buying this house is the increased commute time to work. When I started my job in January, one of the things I raved about was only being half a mile from home, which I’ve really enjoyed these past nine months (I even walk home for lunch most days).

My new commute options are 1) drive a car, and either pay to park in a lot or attempt to find free street parking; or 2) take a bus. The bus route is a straight shot from my house to my workplace (no transfers) but would take a little longer due to all the stops. On the bright side, I wouldn’t have to search for parking and I could read on the commute, rather than paying attention to the road. I’m not quite sure what I’ll end up doing – it might be a combination of both, like if I need my car after work to go grocery shopping. And the bus would be a preferable option when it’s snowing outside.

(The increased commute is only for me; my husband’s will actually go down. He works more hours than I do – and stays later in the evening – so I am happy about his soon-to-be shorter drive.)

We move in this weekend!