We bought a house!

Yes, indeed, we bought a house! It's still a little hard for me to believe, but I am so excited and I can't wait to pick up the keys in about a month!

Eduardo and I moved to Illinois last August, planning to rent for about a year and then buy a home. However, life was of course busy as always, and by Christmas we were second guessing our plan. Would we have the time, energy, and money next summer to do this? We decided to put our plan on hold. 

In March, we finished paying off my student loans and became debt free! Let me take this opportunity to plug Dave Ramsey and his Financial Peace University. We took the course at our church while we were engaged and it really helped us get on the same page before getting married. We recommend it for any life stage! Anyway, becoming debt free not only made us feel awesome, but it also allowed us to save up for a down payment pretty quickly. By April, our plans to buy a home late in the summer were back on the table!

Once we started the process, it went a lot faster than I would have expected. In May we met with a real estate agent to learn more about the process and the local market. Our first house hunting appointment was over Memorial Day weekend. The whole house hunting experience was challenging but really fun - especially once we saw a house we loved. We saw it for the first time after just one month of house hunting and put our offer in about a week later - today! The negotiation process took just a few short hours and by the afternoon, we had a signed contract. 

Now we will be frantically getting every document about our entire lives together for the bank. We're closing on August 13, which just cannot come soon enough!! Until then, I'm going crazy on Pinterest : )

PS - Ugly picture. Can't wait to replace the stained roof and paint some contrasting colors onto that door or the shutters! But of course I still have to share.