The hunt begins

Maybe the downstairs neighbors, in all their crazy loudness and chaos, were just what we needed. Or maybe, our enthusiasm for property shopping, which we’ve been covertly practicing for years, has finally blossomed into the real thing.

Yes, we have decided that our time as renters is over, instead of throwing money into someone else’s mortgage we are getting one of our own.

Yesterday we met with our realtor and our loan specialist for the first time. Beforehand I had done some reading here and SB had read a book with tips for the first time home buyer.

We did well getting through the financial terminology and even better at barraging our realtor with wants, needs, wishes and desires. She handled them like a pro and doesn’t seem to be afraid to tell us when we have a bad idea, like buying a house next to active railroad tracks.

You can’t turn around here, without bumping into a realtor and every 5th house is for sale. Our realtor is the wife of a friend of SB’s. We thought she would understand our quirkiness, because she lives with a guy who makes wooden pens in their garage. I think she’s going to work out great!

Supposedly, Atlanta is one of those places where it is better, financially to own than to rent. Property is relatively cheap and plentiful. Happily for us, the city is also going through an urban renewal and infilling, which means more city living options and less emphasis on suburbia.

While this feels a little scary and is all moving a little too fast, the fear is tempered by excitement. Soon we are going to be home owners. Wow!

I’ve started a new category called “House”. I’m going to do my best to photo-blog our House Hunt, so check the side bar for new photos. (Did you know, you can subscribe to RSS feeds of Flickr streams, which is really handy. Here is my feed.)