How it all started: April 22-April 27, 2011
We, (Brennan and I) had been searching for the perfect home for what seems like forever. We looked at places before we were married, we looked at places shortly after we were married and we've continued to look for the last 6 years. Have we been determined house hunters? No. It seemed to happen in spurts. Two summers ago we were really, finally serious about buying our first home, but just could not find the perfect one. We of course had limits and requirements. It had to be in the Lisbon fire district for starters. And this would become our biggest obstacle. So, during the summer of 2009, I had pretty much given up that we would ever find our first home. The loss of jobs, houses for sale in the right location, and the affordability of it just was not cooperating. I began to think we would be renters forever. Not that renting is a bad thing, but we were at a point where we wanted to be able to paint and decorate. We wanted the place we were living to be ours. A place where we could get a dog if we wanted. But I didn't think that was ever going to happen. At least not for a few years.
But like everything else, things change. The loss of a job became a career that was gained, houses became available in the right location and they were affordable. Yet, we seemed to have a problem finding the right one still. January 2011 came with a resolution that we would begin the process of purchasing our first home and this time we were serious. We shopped around to find the right mortgage and get a pre-approval. Much to my surprise, we did get pre-approved and it was not as nerve wrecking as I thought it would be. Then came the hard part; looking for a house. You should never judge a book by its cover and the same applies for houses. We would look for homes for sale on-line and they would look fantastic, then we would see them in person and ugh.. what were we thinking. We spent the last part of February and first part of March looking at homes and being disappointed. Frustration set in and it seemed that although we were ready to find our first home, it wasn't ready for us to find it. Our search seemed to come to a stand still. I'd make a point of checking online for new listings, only to find that there weren't any or that they were way out of our price range.
Then it happened. Good Friday really became a good Friday for us. I had the day off from school and Brennan was home. We were discussing what we were going to do that day and surfing the Internet. I was looking county real estate website for any new listings and there it was! The first new listing in over a week and it fit our requirements. An excited look at this and an email later we were scheduled for a showing on Tuesday. We saw, we discussed, after 2 hours in the car talking, thinking, dreaming, and a good nights sleep the decision was made. We needed to make an offer. The rest is pretty much history.
I had heard that like other important moments in your life you would just know when you found your first home. And that's how it happened. In fact it wasn't us who picked the house, the house picked us. Not that I'm trying to turn this into some creepy scenario or anything. So on April 27, 2011 at 7pm we signed the first set of papers that would begin one of the most important journeys in our lives. The purchase agreement was signed, the deposit given and thus began the next step to owning our first home.
