$24,000

So $24,000 is a good chunk of money, isn't it?  At our stage in life - it's  A LOT.  But why is it relevant?  We didn't win it, although it would be nice.... this money is an amount we have spent over the last 4 1/2 years we have been married, in one particular category.

Can you guess?....

Keep Trying......

RENT.  Ugh.  $24,000 in rent.  That will no longer be the case at the end of this week!  We bought our first home!   We are moving out to Eagle Mountain which is about 15 minutes from where we are at now.  We bought a 3 bed, 2 bath townhome that is 1750 square feet.  I'm elated that it has a tiny back yard, we will finally have storage space, and a place to call home for more than a year or two.  It is a huge stepping stone for us, and a big investment, as it appraised for $15,000 more than what we got it for.  I guess not all bad things come from a rotten economy.  

We made an offer that last part of October and have had a nightmarish (is that a word?) time with our loan process.  We waited for interest rates to come down a little, and got locked in at a great rate.  But it's been a paper chase to the very end.  Marsh and I have been very stressed about the whole thing and I don't know how much I've complained to my family and couple friends about the whole process.  I don't think it's quite as simple to get a loan now as it was a few years ago.  I have been leery to post anything about it as I didn't want to tell everyone and then have something happen.  We started applying 5 weeks ago....yes 5 weeks - and finally heard from our mortgage man today that we have a close date.  So we will be closing on Thursday or Friday.  We will know for sure tomorrow.  So it looks like we will be moving right before Christmas.   And my Christmas tree will be the first thing to go up, right in the front window.