Independence as Homeowners

Independence Day seems like a good day to announce our independence from renting. My husband and I are officially homeowners!

Homeownership is a big step in life; it's part of the age-old American Dream, and it's a part of my dream, which is why I shall call it the AMBERican Dream.  (I always accidentally type  "Amberica" all the time anyway).

After one year of living in Durham, North Carolina we made the decision to buy our first home.  We made the move here last summer from Massachusetts because my husband was offered a new job. Durham is the perfect balance for us...it's a city that's not too big or too small, it has great food, friendly people, and it's affordable.  We could not get a good 3 bed / 2.5 bath house for under 200K in our home state of Massachusetts, or in San Diego where we lived for a few years.

We chose this house mostly because of its location: close to work, close to downtown, and close to our favorite Mexican restaurant (seriously).  We also chose it because it has almost everything on our "must-have" list: number of rooms, square footage, a fenced in yard, and even bonuses like a separate laundry room and it's two-stories (we thought we'd end up with a ranch in our price range but we like two-stories because they remind us of the houses we grew up with).

Of course, it's not all sunshine and roses in here.  The house was built in 1986.  The quality of the materials used to build homes in this era was typically cheap with a capital "C."  We're talking masonite siding, laminate floors, oak cabinets, popcorn ceilings, flimsy windows, carpeted floors, and gold-colored fixtures.  Nothing has been changed since the 80's in here, including appliances, vanities, lights, colors, etc.  We have our work cut out for us.

This is what we wanted (I think).  The house is a blank slate (literally, with so many white walls) and we are free to do whatever we want, but in the words of Spiderman's uncle, "With great power comes great responsibility."  I would be lying if I said Tommie and I weren't scared by all of the responsibility ahead.  We are not handy; we are not rich; we are not great with decisions.  What we do have is a creative eye, thrifty habits, determination and diligence, and a sense of pride in our home.  For years, we have lived in other people's houses and have not been able to make them our own.  We wanted our independence.

We are bursting with ideas for updating this outdated house (I blame Pinterest), but we have a long way to go and a tiny budget to do it on.  I welcome you to join the journey.