There’s no sense in burying the headline: Ian and I bought our first house! I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about this. I’ve dreamed about owning a home for years, and when we lived in the DC area that dream seemed completely out of reach. The housing market (and everything else) is just sooo expensive there. That’s why we made the decision to move to NC last fall. (I’m from the Charlotte area originally, and I still have friends and family here.)
It all happened more quickly than we imagined. We have a lot of student loan debt, and we honestly thought we were years away from being approved for a mortgage. But after touring some model homes we decided to meet with a mortgage loan officer just to see where we stand. To make a long story short, our credit scores are really good, and our monthly debt obligation matters more than the total amount. We were pre-approved!
We then started looking at model homes more seriously. The reason we focused on new construction is because it’s really important to me for our home to be move-in ready. I also wanted the opportunity to customize the details and not feel like we immediately have to renovate everything.
Our initial timeline had us signing a contract in late summer or early fall, but then we found Eastwood Homes. We absolutely fell in love with their Cyprus III model. (If you want to see it, there are some great video tours on YouTube.) We’ll be living in a neighborhood near the U.S. Whitewater Center, which I highly recommend visiting if you like whitewater rafting, standup paddleboarding, kayaking and other outdoor adventures.
I took a few photos of the model that sealed the deal for us.
There are so many things I love about this floor plan: the open floor concept, the guest suite on the first floor, the screened-in porch option, and the bedroom sizes. And just look at this kitchen!
We signed the contract a few days ago, and I can’t wait for construction to start! It’ll actually be a little while before it begins because the developer still needs to get a few permits. So even though we committed earlier than we expected, the delayed construction start actually puts us closer to our initial timeline. In the meantime, I’m all over Pinterest and YouTube for design ideas! We’re going to the design center next week, and I can’t wait to pick out all the details.
I’ll keep you updated as everything progresses. Also, if you have any tips for first-time homeowners by all means let me know!
Congratulations! And what a gorgeous kitchen!! I would love to build some day so that I could have my dream kitchen!
Thank you!!! I know, I’m so excited! I hope you get the opportunity to do that sometime. 🙂
Your first home!!!! So EXCITING!!! Congratulations to you both!
I’m loving the looks of this house. Both our homes have been renovation projects (we lovingly restored and remodeled a 1910 bungalow for our first home) and the idea of moving into a brand spanking new home is sooooo appealing. I’m not the most patient during the renovation process 😔, but I always love the result. Cannot wait to see how you end up customizing your home.♥️
Thank you, Tasia!! Ian would have loved to renovate a home but he understood why I didn’t want to do that and jumped on board the new construction. 🙂 Maybe we’ll try renovating someday!
[…] sidenote: My husband and I recently bought our first home. It’s new construction, so we got to pick out a lot of fun features, including a double […]