Day 23: A very, very, very fine house

When Paul and I had been married a couple of months, we decided that it would be fun to start looking at model homes. We'd not really talked about it but had an unspoken agreement that our first anniversary was a good goal date to be in a house. The apartment we lived in are just down the street from our house and 8 1/2 years ago, there was tons of construction going on in this area. I think we did everything realtors tell you not to do when looking for a new house--we weren't preapproved, we had no wishlist, we didn't know how much we should spen, we had no idea of what we even wanted. We just thought it would be a fun way to pass a few Sunday afternoons for the next 6-12 months.

We wandered down to a few homes in the area that looked like we could possibly afford them and we could have at the time although it would have left cash a bit tight. We met one realtor who didn't seem to find that idea unappealing and couldn't understand why we did. Needless to say, we didn't use him in our search. After about three weeks, we wandered down the street and into the model for what would become the floorplan for our house. In just a moment, I knew that this could be our house. I don't know if Paul was as convinced but he did like the house. We looked at the other three floorplans and agreed that this one was the best for a variety of reasons, the fact that we could afford it being the big one. We asked Paul's parents to come walk through the house with us--afterwards, we got a note from Paul's dad that I wish I'd kept in which he talked about how he wouldn't offer us much advice since we had to figure this out on our own but he was proud of us taking this step and would support whatever our decision would be.

We broke ground on March 2, 2000, five months after our wedding and closed on the house June 29, 2000. We upgraded a few things in the house but were mostly just overwhelmed with the prospect of being homeowners. We were 25 and 27 and well over our heads when we signed those closing documents. Over the past eight years, we've done two remodels to make the house a little more ours and make better use of the 1600 sq. ft. we've got. We continue to slowly upgrade the contractor grade finishings that were first put in, mostly just because I get a whim and Paul indulges me. It's a good little house--I've always wished the living room were just a smidge bigger--but really, it's big enough for the two of us and a wee one, if/when we add one of those. There are plenty of happy memories in this little house--parties, holidays, birthdays, friends, each other--and I think those happy memories well outweigh any others.

We've often commented how fortunate we were to buy our house when we did. This was one time of being in the right place at the right time. We closed with what was to quickly become a ridiculously high interest rate (30-year, 8.675% and that was changed at the 11th hour from 8.75%) but we bought before the housing boom so the price was still affordable. We refinanced down to 7% about eight months after we moved in and refinanced again about a year after that to an even more significantly lower rate (5% on a 15 year mortgage--I'm probably not supposed to say that in polite company but even six years later, we're pretty impressed with those numbers). We'll definitely be staying put for a few years anyway--I'd hate to have to sell the house right now--and just continue to do little things to make it home. I think Paul has a little dream to actually pay off the mortgage. Give us about 8 more years and we'll have it done.

There's really no reason for my musing on my house tonight except the fact that I just finished cleaning my house and was thinking that maybe I don't dislike a 2-story house. I've always thought I'd like a nice little brick ranch, just like what I grew up in, but there are some definite advantages to more than one floor. One of the specific reasons I liked this house was the ability to have a guest bedroom on the first floor and add a shower to the bathroom. We have two more bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs. And because they are upstairs, people rarely wander up to use the bathrooms up there. Guests all stay on the first floor. My bedroom and bathroom could look pretty scrungy and no one is any the wiser. Not that I did--the entire house is now shiny clean--but it is nice to have that ability to be just a little lazier should I ever desire (not that I have in the past 8 1/2 years. I figure if I'm cleaning, I might as well get it all).

My favorite picture of the house from the New Year's Eve 2006 snowstorm. When Paul's grandmother first saw a picture of our house, she commented that it wasn't a real house. We don't know if that was because of the flat roof (very common in this part of NM), the stucco (about all you can buy here), or that it is a townhouse.