| Yes, ladies and gentlemen. It has officially come to pass. I'm now a homeowner.
Escrow closed November 4th on a 3-story townhome (yes I said 3 stories, woo-hoo!), I've got 2 bedrooms and a den, 2.5 bathrooms, with an attached 2-car garage. It's only 3 years old and measures 1,555 square feet, which for me is plenty of room. All appliances (except for the washer/dryer) are included.
When this home first went on the market in early 2007, the asking price was $570,000. So you can imagine how nice it was to score this place for only $425,000. (That may still sound like a lot to most of the world but for this location it's below today's median average for the county.) The sellers originally wanted $435,000 but I was able to entice them lower with a 25% downpayment.
The move-in date is more questionable. The sellers are moving out of state at the end of the year so they're renting back to me until then. There are also some other personal obstacles I need to deal with, which means I may not move in right away. The main point is however, that I have a house, and the 4.0% interest rate on my 30-year fixed was too good to pass up. I can start taking advantage of the tax breaks and add some more weight to my paycheck.
That's the biggest change for the month, although my net worth doesn't look like it changed much. I'm sure it's going to rise a lot slower than in the past with the extra expenses, but we'll see how it plays out this year. |