It’s official: we’re homeowners!!! We closed on our first house last week!!! It was an anxiety-ridden whirlwind from the open house to the closing but we survived. I can’t overstress how elated I felt being handed the keys as we left the closing; I wanted to scream I was so euphoric. We couldn’t stop smiling.
We even got a sweet Disney keychain in the deal (score)
It was a long, hard road to home ownership for us but I can’t say I have any regrets because we benefitted from everything we learned. (It’s much easier to say that in hindsight!) All that heartache served a purpose: when we saw this house, we knew we had to move fast, submit a really strong offer since there was a lot of interest, and write a really good letter to the sellers. I have to thank my mom for this last tip actually.
Throughout the home-buying process, she frequently reminded me that “You never know the motivation of the seller” and to basically assume nothing about what they are willing to take as far as price. Selling a home can be completely emotional or not at all. You never know. And she also reminded me that you get the house your meant to have, which is exactly how I feel about our new place compared to the two others we nearly called home.
We’ve gotten a LOT done in the 5 days since the closing, but before I recap where we are, here are a few pictures from the closing, final walkthrough and celebrations last week:
Much more closing paperwork than I anticipated
Brian and Emilia walking the yard during the final walkthrough before the closing
Emilia making herself at home in her new home – no pants here!
Picked up some celebratory Prosecco (+ Cabot’s sundaes) to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary AND first full day as homeowners
First priority — get my plants to my new garden
We returned to the house immediately following the closing and started to slap paint samples up on the walls, unload the window boxes I planted weeks ago so they’d be ready to go up ASAP, and unpack the box of “Helper Supplies” we put together filled with things like:
bottled water and snacks
hand soap
paper plates and napkins
a First Aid kit
Tylenol and Ibuprophen
Hand towels and rags
Trash bags
Scissors
An iPhone charger
Here’s a quick recap of the past few days:
My family stopped by shortly after for a walkthrough with my brother Kevin who’d not yet been through the house, and there were celebratory Starbucks’ Smore Frappuccios at some point — heavenly! We net two neighbors — Eileen and Nancy and Emilia admired every single dog that was walked in our new neighborhood from her perch, peering out the front screened door. At some point, I found time to paint the front door a gorgeous shade of blue by Benjamin Moore called: Spectra Blue. (Love how it turned out!!!)
My mom and I started to remove the 10,000 hostas (really large, leafy plants) lining the garage to prepare the space for the garden that will be focal point for the coming summer. Brian and I met with one more floor guy who we loved, so we scrapped plans to have our families over to paint this past weekend, and had our oak floors refinished and stained. Don was nice enough to show we a few different stains since I could decide what I wanted and I absolutely love how they turned out.
Related to the floors: due to the timing of when we could be fit in for them, we ended up spending our first night in the new house a little sooner than we’d expected. We’d forgotten we had a Dave Matthew’s Band show on Friday night so it didn’t make sense to drive home to Watertown if we needed to be back at the house at 8 AM to let the floor crew in, so after a deep vacuuming session and some Swiffering, we just threw two twin mattresses on the dining room floor. It was fun to sleep over in the new place before we made any drastic changes to it.
And today (Sunday) my mom and I managed to get the “focal point” part of the garden completely planted in about only four hours. I’m wiped, so so thrilled. It’s coming together! More to come. Stay tuned!
