Reflections After a Year of Home Ownership

Exactly a year ago, we moved into our first home. The story of getting this house in the first place seems somewhat surreal, even after all this time. I just know it feels like we were meant to be here.

Last April, we began the very, very beginning stages of home searching — meaning, we didn’t have a realtor lined up or any idea what we were doing (despite my working in the real estate industry for four years). It all started when we saw the “for sale” sign in the yard of (what we didn’t know would become) our home. We told our friends about the listing after walking by the house on our way to their house, which is on the same block. We were living in an apartment in the same neighborhood at the time.

Our friends told us about their realtors they highly recommended and we set up a meeting (AKA happy hour) with them later in the week. And of course, in that short time, the house went under contract, which we were expecting and not surprised by whatsoever. But regardless, I showed the pending listing to our realtors as an example of our dream home: it was in our neighborhood, it was the exact size we wanted, the perfect style, it had a fenced-in yard — just everything about it. And we told them we might buy a house within a few months or maybe even a year down the road.

But little did we know, we would have a quick turnaround process — and our newly found realtors wouldn’t have to take us to a single showing. The very next week, I continued to stalk this house in an unhealthy manner (all online — don’t worry). I looked at the listing longingly on a daily basis, scrolling through the photos over and over and over again, visualizing what it would be like to live in this house. Again, super unhealthy.

One fateful day, I noticed a status change on the Redfin listing I had basically memorized at this point. It was active. I panicked. I texted our realtor (before I texted Brandon, mind you) to confirm what I was seeing. He set up a showing for that day and said he would meet us there.

Let me backtrack a bit. At this point in the story, Brandon hadn’t fully caught up with my obsession and was trying to get on my level of excitement and accept the fact that — no big deal — we would be making the largest financial decision of our lives thus far. And moving way earlier than expected.

So we did the showing that afternoon it was listed, my feelings about the house were confirmed, Brandon was soon very much on board with this madness, and somehow, we began the process of putting in an offer around 9 p.m. And by 11:58 p.m. that night (please note: this was only 8 hours after we even knew the house was back on the market), we got a text from our realtor saying “YOU GOT THE HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!” which funnily enough, we didn’t see until the next morning at 6:30 a.m. after an extremely sleepless night.

This house is everything we could have ever dreamed of, so the easy buying process (thanks to our incredible realtors!) (and God!) makes it feel even more special and like I said, almost surreal that it all worked out the way it did.

The house was built in 1925, and it has a lot of historic elements still intact, like the three brick fireplaces, exposed wood beams in the living area, and if you do a little digging — you’ll find the original wood shingle roof in the attic. The previous owner completely renovated the interior and back patio, which means it didn’t need any work whatsoever when we moved in. It has two bedrooms and two bathrooms and a kitchen I would have designed the exact same way myself. But more importantly, it feels like home. It feels like the perfect place to start a garden, share meals, raise our kids, and make lots of memories.

One of my favorite memories here happened exactly 365 days ago — our very first night sleeping at the house. We hadn’t moved anything over from our apartment except a few clothes and our toothbrushes, but we picked up Chick-fil-A, watched a movie on a laptop, and slept on an air mattress in our empty bedroom with Olive. It was adventurous and strange, and we were giddy and sleep-deprived, and yet — it was the best night’s sleep I’ve had since.

And ever since that night, I’ve learned a whole lot about home ownership — but even more about life. Sure, I’ve learned how to spray for cockroaches and how to change an air filter. But I’ve also had to enter an entire new level of contentment, as I’ve fought the urgency to create a perfectly designed magazine-worthy home overnight. I’ve learned that it takes patience when it comes to putting together a space (and that furniture is expensive). I’ve learned to not compare our living room to the ones I see on the Internet — and to instead appreciate ours (despite it being filled with IKEA-quality knick knacks from two apartments ago) because it’s where we watch movies, sit by the fire, drink coffee, read books, visit with friends, pet the dog, eat dinner, and host two-person dance parties.

All in all, I’ve learned to understand the true feeling of “home” (all the country songs were right — it’s a feeling, not a place!), especially when we’ve had to stay home during the coronavirus pandemic for the last several months. Home is more than the functional roof over our heads and the walls all around us. It’s comfort, warmth, safety, and connection with the ones we love. It’s where you can truly be yourself, where you can process the events of the day or prepare for the next one. It’s where you find love and genuity all wrapped into one.

Cheers!

To all our “homes” — whether they are a shared apartment with a roommate, a rented home with a spouse, or a forever home with a family — and to one whole year spent in our home.