The house blog

"Buyers Market" "New home owner credit" "Record foreclosures" "Perfect time to buy" "Record pricing lows on houses"

All of these phrases seem like a wonderful thing to a newlywed couple who are looking to purchase their first house and start a family. Could it be more perfect timing that an $8000 tax credit was established for first time home buyers at the exact time that we started trying to buy a house? Surely it's fate that the deadline for the credit is the exact same day that our current apartment lease is up!

I walked into the house buying adventure with stars in my eyes and my heart brimming with excitement. This was it! We had grand dreams of beautiful kitchens where we could entertain friends, a big yard for the dog to run and play, and a place to really call our own. We could finally start saving money and put our money towards something that was ours, instead of watching everything we earn go into our rent payment. This was our perfect time to get a house for our animals and start a family. Everyone told us that we would be in a new house by Christmas and soon we would be surrounded by the pitter patter of little feet.

Everyone could not have been more wrong.

We began our house hunting adventure back in March. We were mostly testing the waters as we didn't want to purchase before we were married in May. We went out a few times to see what was out there, and quite frankly, we weren't impressed. After the May 1st wedding and following honeymoon, we started house hunting in earnest.

It's now March, one year later. We are still house hunting, still living in our old apartment (now on a month to month lease for more money each month), and to say the excitement of house hunting has worn off would be a gross understatement.

I don't write this blog to depress, turn people away from home-buying, or give me a place to vent (ok maybe a little) but to share my experience with the world. This process is certainly not all butterflies and rainbows, but instead has exposed some very deep fears and worries about security, mortality, and the future.

These are the stories of a first time home buyer's experience, when everything seems to be going wrong.