Changing out a light Fixture.

Anyone ever try to hire an electrician? Or a plumber? Or a carpenter? Or any skilled trade person?

It is expensive. This has led Brian and I to add several necessary skills to our repertoire, including, changing out light fixtures.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I have slowly been acquiring less antiquated lighting for my 1980's home.

I found a dome light fixture for $10 at a garage sale, normally $45 at Lowes. It is nothing astounding, but it is a far cry from its predecessor.

And here is the DIY via pictures.

First and foremost, flip the breaker that is associated with the light that you are switching out. I am all for up do's, but not in that fashion.

My first step is always to glare angrily at the offending light fixture and photograph it farewell.

Depending on your light fixture, there will either be two screws at the base, as with this one, or you will have to twist the base to reveal them, or with a dome, unscrew the middle know.

With this light fixture, there were two knobs at the base, I unscrewed these caps and it allowed the light to dangle down, revealing the wires:

And also revealing a spider catacomb. Ew. 

A glorious invention that makes this whole process so much easier are the wire nuts. They are the red plastic pieces in the picture. They twist the two sets of wires together for you by just inserting both ends in and twisting. It is fabulous. In this case however, you will just untwist the wire nuts and then pull the wires apart. (The ones from the ceiling and the ones from your light fixture) 

Next I needed to change out the bracket (the silver piece in this picture) that connected to the junction box in the ceiling. 

Also, as safety was not key in the eighties, it was necessary for me to add a ground screw to the box. There was already a space for it but no screw to wrap the ground wire around. Your ground wire on a light fixture will always be an uninsulated copper wire and is now required for legal code. 

It is just an ordinary screw, the one inside the junction box in the picture above. 

The next step was to connect the two white wires with the wire nut and the two black wires with the other wire nut to the new light. There was not a lot of space for me to maneuver while doing this, but once that was done, I mounted the base of the new light to the ceiling by placing it over the screws hanging from the bracket and securing with a nut. 

The next step is very easy, install your light bulbs, place the glass dome in place and screw the long screw into place, securing with decorative knob at the bottom of the light. 

Flip your breaker back on and enjoy the money you saved and the environment you enhanced. 

February 2013

As promised, here is my first set of 2013 Monthly Goals.

I decided to allow my New Year Solutions to be the January starter.

Things that I would like to accomplish this month:

=> Sand those cabinets, I want to finish sanding them. I won't overload myself and pretend that they will be complete this month, paint and all, but I would like to finish sanding them at the very least

=> Organize and maintain our file folders. Brian and I buy so many things for the house or projects, or cars, or whatever. I have a decent filing system, however, I also have a giant stack of things that should be filed...

=> Play racquetball at least once a week. I love this sport and it is motivating and exhilarating

=> Make time, one day a week where Brian and I can just enjoy one another. We have both come to agree that too often, our free time with one another ends up being a time to catch up on everything else and to do chores and what not...This stuff is important, but it takes some serious strain on our relationship

=> Read at least one book. This month I read "A Landlord's Troubleshooter: A survival guide for new landlords" by Robert Irwin, it was fantastic. He gave a lot of great basic knowledge and tips, and it was written in an incredibly engaging way. He has earned a reader in me.

=> Pay off my car and some other debt. This month will be a big one. I am excited to say the least

=> Find time to craft. So many projects, so little time.

Wish me luck.

The House.

But first....

James Ray Herring III

aka "Tripp" 

                                               Born: January 17th, 2013

                                               Time: 4:39 am

                                               Weight: 7lb 2oz

                                               Status: Heartbreaker

Courtney went into labor on Wednesday the 16th, so I made the trek to sit and wait (for 15 hours!) for this cutie to arrive. He is beautiful, I know not everyone appreciates when people make baby posts, but this little man is worth talking about. He is my beautiful best friend, Courtney's baby and I have loved him since from the moment his conception was confirmed. 

From here

To Here

And Finally Here.

Congratulations Courtney and James. This little boy is going to be spoiled by so many people. Particularly his Aunt Kasey. Love you guys!!

Another little announcement before I move onto regularly scheduled blogging....

I say this a lot, but my boyfriend is just the bee's knees. While I was away with Courtney in Kings Bay... He bought me a present... I really big, undeniably cool present. 

Some background.... Last February, Brian expanded our entrepreneurial ventures to include buying and selling a couple cars. In August we bought a 1987 300ZX that had seen much better days. I loved the car, despite its apparent "jank" status. While dissembling this once road worthy vehicle, we learned that it is the most jumbled mess in the world. You have to take off everything to get to anything! Nevertheless, it is a pretty cool car...

And it made us a lot of money.

While I was gone... Brian bought me my very own... 

It is a 1986 and it is a 5 speed (Woo, yeah for learning to drive a stick) and it needs some work, but I love it already. Brian is not particularly romantic, but this was such a hugely sweet and thoughtful thing... It is something that I would have never bought on my own. What makes it at least DOUBLY thoughtful is that he got it so that we could work on it together. We don't get a lot of quality time, and sometimes it is hard to sit back and enjoy ourselves, so this will be a great, if frustrating project. We DID manage to get it home by driving it, but that was an adventure in and of itself. Hopefully, we can find the time and patience to make this car something I am proud of. Thank you Brian, you are my favorite. 

Now that I have thoroughly digressed from the topic at hand, lets look at the last 8 months. 

Brian and I officially became home owners on May 24th, 2012. It was an incredibly exciting day and one that had been a long time in the making. Noteworthy: We could not have done this without the help of Kim and Frank Margittai. Thanks for the faith, you are helping draw our future road map.

Our official move in day was to be June 10th, that is when we were ending the lease on our apartment. So, we had just over two weeks to make the house move in ready. 

Most people would probably celebrate, or clean, or start packing. We are not conventional like that, the first thing that we did after taking over the keys...? Cut a nice big hole in the bay window walls with a reciprocating saw.

Why you ask? The first item on our agenda was to deal with.....Termites! Luckily for us, they were not that bad, although we will probably replace a couple beams when we {eventually} replace the siding on the house, as they will be fully exposed then. Brian got his first try at drywalling, and we added the first item of "what not to do" onto our list, and that would be, assume that the people at Lowes are correct when talking about standards for drywall on an outer wall... We realized too late that our dry wall was 5/8 inches and not 1/2 inch... We now have a caliper for these things. 

What next on day one? Rip out all of the flooring of course. There was vinyl in the kitchen and entry way and carpet everywhere else. The carpet was relatively new, but I am not a carpet person, stains, pets and smells. No thanks. 

The pictures look nice and neat, but this was work. I was literally installing the last of the kitchen flooring as the boys were bringing over the first load of furniture. It was hot and hard and a huge learning process. I scraped glue from the floors, for hours... We also ripped up carpet nail boards and had to grind down nails protruding from the concrete. We learned to hate door jambs and handymen..and floor layers...and vapor barrier and everything to do with the project. We became well learned in coping saws, circular saws, cut off tools and miter saws... we now own all of these tools. David helped a lot and Shane was great too. My flooring is laminate, but I love the pattern it makes and think it is beautiful, if less durable than I had hoped. We have since decided that hard wood will be the flooring of choice for our own home, and probably a more durable vinyl/wood substitute for any rentals. I still love my floors though.

 Looking back, we (I mostly mean me, but Brian was a great sport) may have been a little enthusiastic as to what we could take on in two weeks, but we managed and I love our decisions and the sweat (no ac! and in the middle of the summer!) and frustration that went into shaping our home. 

As much as Brian was dying to make the decision... {maybe not really}...he allowed me to pick out the paint colors...and paint the entire house..by myself... with little exception. This is one of the many projects in the house that is still underway, however, the downstairs is complete, with the exception of a couple of touch ups. My kitchen is a wonderful light sagey green and the living room is a rich toupe that is warm but not too dark, I did the entry way and stairway in a lighter shade of this same color. 

What else have we done? The floors, yes, but what about those stairs? 

I am totally into photo collages today, as I have so many to share. Brian and I debated for a LONG time about what to do with the stairs.... It was going to be incredibly expensive to buy premade stair caps ($500 +) and we would have still had to stain them. They make stair noses that we could have attached our laminate to, but that seemed kind of flimsy, and I didn't like the process. FINALLY, Brian found our solution. 

Hidden in the "Glutton for Punishment" section of Lowes (we seriously need a frequent shopper discount) were stairs treads and wood that we could turn into risers. We painstakingly measured, at least three times, each stair tread and riser and cut them to size... On that note... one would think that houses would be made in a square and orderly fashion. I can tell you from first hand experience, that at least in the 80's, that was not a priority. Our walls are not straight, our floors are not even, and our stairs are not all exactly the same. Anyways, next we painted the risers white and I stained and polyurethened the stairs. They do not match the floor perfectly, but they look great. Oh, and this project only cost us $230... A vast improvement over buying the premade kind.

I love details. I think that they can make a space look great. A detail in our home that immediately struck a sour note for me was the outlets and switches in our home. As per 80's fashion, they were all ALMOND. This works for some people, I do not like it... I think it looks dingy and dirty. So, although perfectly functional, we replaced all of the outlets and switches in our house with crisp white ones. I personally think it makes a big impact against my freshly painted walls. I am pretty sure Brian is just glad I am happy with it.

Remember those details? Well, in addition to lovely almond outlets, this house came with some pretty ghastly light fixtures too. However, I am all about thrift and the idea of dropping $100 or more on a light fixture just does not appeal to me. I have a rather large collection of light fixtures thanks to our weekly garage saling, but most of them are for the bathrooms. 

In the dining room, our lovely contractors installed this relic:

This might work some people. I am not those people. Luckily, good things come to those who wait. Brian and I went to a garage sale that we probably would have skipped if we had already been more successful that weekend. We struck light fixture gold. A woman was selling a piece of track lighting that was not only unopened, but also $10. We told her we wanted it, and she asked "How many".... and then produced two more from the house. That is $30 for $200 worth of lighting. 

This is a change that I can live with.

I do not have pictures at the moment, but we added a ton of shelving, to our laundry room, closet and David's room. 

The next item makes me cringe: The kitchen. This is a sore topic for me. I began my kitchen project in....AUGUST...it is now...January...it is still not complete. Lets take a look at the 80's veneer that was put over perfectly wonderful solid wood cabinets: 

Brian and David LIKED this. How did I convince Brian that it was ugly? I painted the Kitchen green, which definitely changed his mind. I think this is very farm-housy...and totally not my taste. So, what was my vision for this space? White cabinets with nickel hardware. Well. First, we took down all of the cabinets and removed the hardware... Mistake number one. We then primed OVER the veneer with a "can stick to anything primer" at the advice of a person at a paint store...That was mistake number two. We then used quality paint and painted all 33 cabinets. Mistake number three? We used rollers and I had never heard of floetrol. Mistake number 4? Attempting to install and hang cabinets back up with new hardware. The hinges LOOK identical, but they are slightly different. This is still a problem that we will need to fix down the road. However. I am now sanding all of my cabinets with a belt sander, because, to say the least, the finished product was pretty horrific. It would not be a big deal to sand the cabinets, except... Remember that primer I used? Well, it does not like being sanded off. I have been stalling on this project and I really need to get back to work on it. For now, here is a picture of my messy, unfinished kitchen. 

I think the vision is good, but the completion is a long ways off. I also intend to get a silver range hood, and do a back splash in glass tiles. More pictures when I have a better product. 

Moving away from my shameful kitchen....

I talked earlier about being appalled at the idea of spending hundreds of dollars of thing at retail stores. What that translates to: I am cheap and my house has been mismatched and unfurnished for months. Not so anymore. I furnished my entire living room and dining room second hand, with the exception of one piece. It took a LONG time because I wanted it to still look a certain way, without breaking the bank. 

Here it is: 

Wall Sconces: $6

Table: $70

Bar stools: Free

Lighting: $10

Bar: the ONLY retail thing, $150 (and I love it, I love that it is affixed to the wall and fills the space this way)

Pillars: $4 on clearance

Sectional (not a great picture): $350

Coffee Table: $25

Entertainment Center: $50 

T.V.: $125

DVD holder: $5

Everything is not finished yet, BUT, it is getting there. I need something for over my mantle, the wire piece is just a place holder. I also want to do some canvas panels for artwork and some floating shelves. The living room is shaping up nicely, and feels so much more like a HOME. And, I am proud of the budget for doing it. My coffee table, pictured without the metal insert, is actually an awesome handmade coffee table from Mexico that someone sold us. It has a metal firepit in the middle that I am {add to the project list} sanding down and repainting. 

Future projects.... I have envisioned a built in in this space since I saw the house: 

(only picture I have for a blank pallet!)

It took some convincing, but I have brought Brian into my plans and my way of thinking. I recently drew up the plans for said built in. It has several goals to accomplish: Hide a three foot wide tool bench, be a work space, provide shelving and storage, and to hide our filing cabinets and what not. I think that this space will be great for when we eventually rent out and sell this place. It gives our 2 bedroom home a designated office space without relinquishing much living space. 

Here are the plans:

It will either be in espresso or black and will be simplistic from the outside, but, mask our needs on the inside. I want two inch thick wood, so it is strong and bold and sturdy. Above the desk we will have a light bar with little pot lights and we intend to install the outlets at the top of the desk for easy access. This is a project I HOPE to under take this year. My drawings are to scale and Brian and I both like the design. {But I am definitely not opposed to input}

This year has not been as productive as we had hoped, but we have still come a long ways from what our home originally was. I am proud of it and I love to talk about it...obviously. Big things that I want to happen this year: My built in, replace all the remaining, oudated light fixtures, re-do the bathrooms, finish the kitchen, paint all of the trim in the house, (this has not been done because I will have to first sand down ALL the door jambs and moldings) re-do the siding and windows. 

Between the outlets and the light fixtures, I think we can add "electricians" to our list of amateur skills, as well as carpenters, painters, and bad cabinet hangers. And we have gained a vast knowledge of a LOT of different tools. It has been a fun, if challenging year, and I hope to have tons more to post in this next year. 

2012

So much for keeping up with a blog this year. I have not posted since April. A lot has changed since then. This is going to be a post about the last year, a reflection of 2012 and some insight into 2013.


Last December:

My resolutions were as follows:

> Drink more water

>Read at least one book a month

>Be more self motivated and proactive
>Keep up with Blog
>Do not shop at Wal-Mart, at all.

Lets see how I have done:


>Drink more water? I was doing well with that for the first half of the year and have not been as conscious of it recently.
>Read at least one book a month: Unfortunately not, but it is on my never ending to-do list. I have however, read several good books recently.
>Be more self motivated and proactive: I am a work in progress, and the progress for this one is slow
>Keep up with blog: .....No comment
>Do not shop at Walmart at all. CHECK! This one was definitely a success, and I am happier for it. Walmart has not received a dime of my money. To Brian's credit, he has also voluntarily adopted this resolution. I did not ask him to, but he not shopped there either, which I find to be a rather grand silent gesture.

Looking Forward:

I have found myself sporadically thinking about what I want to improve on this year. I think it is a little funny that once a year we resolve to change things in our lives, why just once? Anyone who knows me, will know that I LOVE lists. They make me feel more organized and accomplished when I get to check things off. They also provide a guideline of what I need to accomplish in what time frame. I have some big goals this year, but in addition to that, I want to make monthly goal lists. Not an overwhelming number of to-dos, just enough to remind me what to do with my "spare time".

Here's what I have:

>Make monthly lists

>Finish paying off credit cards and car
>Work out at least 3 days a week
>Run a 5k
>Finish the kitchen, paint and furnishing the house
>Read at least one book a month
>Be more proactive and self motivated
>Keep up with blog
>Try at least one new healthy recipe a month

>Take more pictures

A little longer and some of them look familiar no? As for the second one, this is a huge goal for me. I sometimes feel suffocated even though I am making more money than I ever have. However, I am so close to freeing myself of a lot of burdens, this year will be a big milestone for me.


Things that mattered to me this year:

There are two tragedies that are sad dots along this timeline, well three really. My cousin Marie committed suicide. My Grandma passed away. Heather's boyfriend was killed in a car accident.


I was not close with my cousin, in fact, I had not seen her in almost ten years. However, I was not able to go to her funeral, and that was pretty earth shaking for me. Suicide is a scary thing to me, I am sure it is for most people. My cousin was a beautiful, bright woman. She was 25, and an amazingly talented writer, like her brother, my cousin Scott. She ran marathons and bought her own house and, from what I knew, was a sparkle in many eyes. I have no idea why she killed herself, but the ache that it left for my entire family is still resonating.


My Grandma: Jean Gordon.

She was such a special person in my life. For those who don't know, my father adopted me. My Grandma was his mom, but for not a single second did I ever doubt that I was meant to be her grandchild. My Grandma was a quick witted, sassy woman who loved so deeply. She was not afraid to speak her mind, but was a wealth of human compassion when you needed it most. She traveled to over fifty countries and sparked that same desire in me. She loaned me book after book and told me stories of the depression and life and love and why it is so important. I think we took for granted all those long afternoons cleaning and talking and cooking at my Grandma's house. She let me see my dad as a kid, and witness through her eyes his life. She painted her room crimson red and was not afraid to be different. She loved animals. My parents still have her cat Abigail. The first thing I ever crocheted was an "afghan" in burgundy for her. It was terrible, but she kept it anyways. I love my Grandma so much and it literally hurts to miss her. I can hear her laugh in my head. I know that is a strange thing to say, but I can, and I pray that I will never lose that.

In truth, she has not been with us for some time. I went to visit her at the assisted living place where she lived last July. She did not know who I was. I couldn't stop crying. The last real memory I have of her is from about three years ago. Lemur and I visited her for an hour or two at a different place in Daytona. Most of the time she knew exactly what was going on, but on a couple of occasions, she called me Helen, her Uncle's daughter. That was very sad for me, but it was a good visit and I wish dearly that I had pictures of her from then. Wiley as ever. I still feel an incredible amount of guilt in not having seen her since July of last year, it was just such a hard thing to do. I am still not sure how to handle losing someone forever.

Kevin.

I met him one time, and I heard a lot of stories about him that I did not like. Heather loved this boy. Inside and out. He was killed by a car in Indiana in October. I have never hurt so deeply for another person. It wrecked Heather's world and I was not sure how to be there for her. I don't think it is a pain you can ever let go of, and I just hope that she knows how much I love her.


Losing my cousin and my Grandma was incredibly hard, but it brought Marie's and my family together again. There had been an ongoing feud between my mother and Regine, Marie's Mom (My dad's brother Jeff's wife), which is why I had not seen that part of my family for so long. I have a younger cousin, named David, who I had not seen since her was newborn. He is ten now. We all went to Tampa to their house for Thanksgiving and it was a welcome, if sad reunion.


I know this is really heavy, but it is incredibly important.


This time last year I was working as a nanny for a family that I love dearly. Now, I am a very established General Manager at a Subway. Sometimes I feel like people judge me because I am working at a fast food restaurant. Truth be told, I understand that stigma, but I actually enjoy my job. It is not luxurious, but I am paid well, my boss is fair and cares about me beyond work, and I have the luxury of pretty extreme job security. I do not intend to work at Subway for the rest of my life, but I am comfortable where I am at.


Adventures

Asides from my trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming last February, Brian and I have made a couple of get aways this year.

Brian's Birthday (21, woohoo!) was in May this year, so I took him on a weekend trip to Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios, as he had never been as an adult. It was a fun trip and we got to spend some time with his family as well.


Also in May, I was extended the invitation to be a godparent to my best friend's baby. Courtney, aka Kiki, is pregnant and due in less than a month. She and her husband James got married this past year and now have a little one that is almost here. His name is James Ray Herring III, also known as Tripp. All of us are excited to meet him next month, and I am sure Kiki is ready for him to take up residence in the bassinet, rather than her stomach.

I don't have pictures of it, but for our Anniversary in June, Brian took me to Destin and we went snorkeling. It was a very sweet, well conceived idea and we had a beautiful day on those crystalline beaches.

Last year, in the fall, Brian and I took a holiday to go to PCB, just to get away. This year, I semi-surprised him, or at least wouldn't tell him where we were going. We took a long weekend to Georgia. We went to Amicalola Falls, which was beautiful. We also went to a corn maze, picked apples, and visited down town Atlanta. Overall it was an adventuresome, weekend away from the crazy that is our lives.

The falls were beautiful, that is Brian, at the make out look out point.

Up at the tippy top, above the falls.

So many stairs, but well worth it.

View from the visitor center, who knew Georgia could be so scenic?

Apple picking!

The corn maze was a fun, if hot and sticky adventure, and more difficult than we thought!

Downtown Atlanta, can you tell? 

We went to the Georgia Aquarium, the world's largest aquarium, it was great, but I will spare you the myriad pictures of fish.

A great way to end the trip: Cheese Cake Factory!

We drove through the countryside on the way home rather than the main roads, it took an hour or two longer, but we came across this great little town that is literally two streets and three churches. We stopped in a cemetery it had people from the 1700's buried there! It blew me away, I cannot fathom that, it was a mostly derelict place but it was very neat nevertheless. We also stopped in a country store that had been intact and open since 1901, it was very neat place.


Relationships

This is an area of my life that I sometimes let fall to the wayside. I am terrible at keeping up with people and I let people drift away that I truly care about sometimes.

Allison moved up to Tallahassee with me this August, and it has been great to get to know my little sister, as we were not close growing up and I moved out when she was 12. It is trying to live in the same house with anyone, but particularly so when they are family, but for the most part, we get along quite well and I am glad to have her here.

Courtney moved away when she got married and I miss her so much. I used to see her pretty much everyday. I cannot wait to go out to see her and her baby. She is a special friend and I hope that she and I always stay in touch, they just need to move closer to home.

Brian. He is my soul mate. I don't show him how much I appreciate him sometimes. This year has quite honestly been really rough. Between buying a house, friction with his family, I work 50 hours a week, and the endless chores, we almost never have quality time together where we do not need to be doing something else. I have definitely questioned our relationship this year. Multiple times, but I always come back to, where would I be without him. We are a great team, and he is my best friend. I hope this year we can find our way back to a better place and make more time to enjoy one another, we are too young to let all the daily worries tear us down.

Enterprise and Kickbacks

As many people know, Brian and I garage sale and resale just about everything. It has been a statistically great year and we are proud of our know how and ability to gauge worth. It has put us in the black and allowed us to start saving towards our next big enterprise... Another house. Not yet, but hopefully in the nearish future. Even if it is not happening right this second, we are keeping our eyes on the MLS listings on the reg.

As far as kickbacks go, we have been letting ourselves buy things that make our house beautiful and comfortable. I have a very specific eye for decoration and my house is slowly coming together and it makes me quite happy.


My next post will be about the house, from the beginning, up to where we are now.

Until then.

-Kasey

30 Day Countdown

Four Month and Two Days ago, Brian and I made that fateful decision. We put in an offer at 3115 Pontiac Drive. It was for a short sale that was priced at $49,900. We put in a bid at $55,000. Four months later, we had been given every possible run around scenario. Last Friday, we kind of hit a ceiling. Not only had we been waiting an absurd amount of time for an answer, but when we received one, it was a COUNTER OFFER. They did not want to include closing costs, even though we went in $5000 above the list price in order to include them without them coming out of the seller's pocket. We had dreamed and hoped on this house.

Yesterday afternoon, Brian suggested that we at least ASK our real estate agent to send us other potential listings. We needed a back up plan. About 45 seconds after asking, we had a slew of houses to look at. We decided to look at another townhome, identical to ours, on the same street, priced $20,000 higher because it was not a short sale. For comparison, we also decided to look at a different town home on the other side of town. We went to that one first. We didn't make it to the first one because we were too busy putting in an offer on the town home on the other side of town. LESS than 24 hours later, we got a phone call... AND

OUR OFFER WAS ACCEPTED

Brian and I are 30 (almost 29) days from being home owners. 

I know you are anxious, so I will save the boring for the bottom and get to the juicy stuff.

The Specs

The list price was $75,000. We offered $77,500 and the seller pays $2500 closing. We only went over because there was another offer on the house. 

It is a three bedroom, three bathroom town home. It is a duplex and has a small backyard. 

Sq Footage: 1338

It was built in 2005, so it is pretty recent construction. 

Pictures? Gladly.

This is the front view of our little home. <3

Foyer

Living Room/Dining Room Combo

From the other side, there is adorable column detailing

Kitchen view one

Kitchen view two

Entry way to third bedroom and access to outside

Alternative skylight 

Vaulted Ceilings

Second Bedroom

Master Bedroom

Pros and Cons

I will start with the positive, because it far outweighs the negative.

I love the amount of windows and natural light that comes into our new home. It is fantastic and makes the space feel bigger. The vaulted ceilings heighten (I am so witty) this affect and are a great feature. I love the tall baseboards and that the place lends itself to student living. We plan to use the third bedroom as storage because it is small and is the only access to the backyard from inside. With our entrepreneurial enterprises, this is important, however, we always have the option to rent out this third bedroom for extra income, which is nice. There is a little nook, not pictured, that will be a great place for a custom built in desk. I also adore the three bedrooms and three bathrooms, as it lends itself to our uses as an investment property. 

Now to nitpick. I am so happy that Brian and I will be leaving this small apartment in the dust- truly. BUT, this is NOT my ideal home. Luckily, it does not have to be. This place screams student rental. Which is perfect, we want it to be a student rental. It is a little out of the way, but close to the highway. It is pretty much sitting on some train tracks, which could prove to be a nuisance, but we will see how often the trains run. The cost of this place is much higher, but the return is a sure thing, both with location and the home itself. These originally sold for 150,000 a piece when they were built. I am a little sad to let Pontiac go, only because I had all these visions of how I would DO things to it. With this place, we will need to--at some point-- put in new flooring and to paint, and put up a fence out back-- but that is pretty much it. I am a DYI-er and I love projects. That is why I was in love with Pontiac Dr. HOWEVER, as Brian wisely pointed out to me, this is much more suited to our more immediate goals of rental properties, the project houses can come down the road. He grounds me. =) 

The Important Stuff

Immediately following the news that our offer on this house had been accepted, I was ecstatic. Months of house hoping, and we finally have one- albeit, a different one than planned. Immediately afterwords, I was overwhelmed. Brian and I were suddenly like...OMG...we need $5000 dollars in 30 days... Granted, we KNOW we can meet this obligation. We went to the bank this afternoon to sign all of our paperwork and ask questions. I think we  both felt less side-armed after the fact. Between now and closing, we need to figure out who we want to use for insurance, and have a home inspection. Oh, and pack. =) 

We also asked questions about future endeavors. She seems to think that we will not have any problem obtaining financing within the next couple years for our next house. Which is perfect. Because, optimally, Brian and I will be buying our next house (probably a short sale- but this time, a six month to 10 year wait period will be expected) within the next two years. We also got some awesome news... We will be able to do taxes to make it appear as a no-gain investment... We can write off any additional income from that property as maintenance expenses...How cool is that. We locked in an interest rate of 3.75%.

All in all, I am incredibly excited. For all intents and purposes, I am a homeowner in the making before I turn 22. Brian and I will be successful in our ventures because we do them smartly. We did not want to initially spend this much money...however, in the long run, we would have spent the same money at Pontiac to get it up to par. This will be a much easier investment to turn around and rent out while we plow ahead in the real estate market. 

On a cheesy last note, Brian and I are perfect for one another.... 

God Blessed the broken road,  that led me straight to you.

Truly.