Last year, after being disappointed by several offers that fell through, we decided to give up on buying a home and deal with renting until the right opportunity came up. Apparently that right opportunity was this weekend and definitely out of the blue. Saturday started like any regular Saturday with my morning power yoga class followed by running errands. While in Target (surprise!) Josh calls asking if I got a message from his mom because he thought she was spamming him. As it turns out, his mom had visited the grand opening for a new development literally right next to her neighborhood in Queen Creek and thought we might be interested. They offer the USDA loan program so we thought it might be worth checking it out. FYI, the USDA loan does not require any money down as an incentive for home buyers to purchase in agricultural areas. Since we gave up on buying a home, we put our savings toward our wedding which made this loan that much more enticing.
We walked the models, looked at the spec houses which are scheduled to be completed next month, and designed a new build to compare pricing. Walking away, we pretty much decided that this was our opportunity to be homeowners, all we needed was to wait until the next morning to get more definitive numbers from the lender. Sunday morning we woke up to good news so we decided to grab brunch then head back to the builder's office and review everything just to be sure this really was the right decision for us and not just a hasty move. As it turns out, we hadn't taken into account a potential change for me (more on that another day) that could hinder us if we went with the option to build entirely from scratch. Because of this timing, we reviewed the spec house again that was nearly identical to what we would have chosen, minus a few more fancy details. This home would be completed next month, would allow for us to cash in on the USDA loan, and would only increase our payment minimally. After more number crunching and a couple nervous hours later, we were officially first time homeowners!
I remember when my parents built a house in Tucson when I was little and we would take family pictures in front to document the progress. I'm so excited to do this with my (our) first home! Since Josh's mom literally lives the next neighborhood over (we can see her house from ours!), she has been updating us with pictures daily. In our excitement, we forgot to take pictures of our house, save a selfie, so I'm glad we have her to back us up. We're hoping to sneak over when they pave the drive so we can carve our initials before it sets!
The excitement over our new purchase is coupled with a whole lot of anxiety over the to-do list for the next couple months! There is so much to do in what feels like so little time. On top of the usual moving tasks, we also need blinds and appliances. Oh, and we need to continue planning our wedding all the while! Not to mention my phone is on the fritz, my dress fitting is today, I have to travel to Tucson this weekend for my niece's birthday, and the list goes on and on! I thrive in organized chaos so let's just hope this is no exception.
