new steps.....purchasing a home:

a little background on the owens family..............

josh and i met in nj in 2006, got married the fall of 2007, and spent a year in new jersey before moving to north carolina for seminary.  we then found a better program in virginia, so we moved (again) after being in north carolina for only 6 months.  we've been in va since then, where we've lived in 2 different apartments.  we had planned the whole time to return north, but we have decided to stay in lynchburg, va.  we didn't come to this decision lightly - it took a ton of time, prayer, and tears (both happy and sad).  there was the struggle of wondering whether or not we want to live near family.  i would love to be near them, but when you think about how much it costs to live in nj or ny, we just couldn't wrap our minds (or our wallets) around it.  the cost of living in virginia is soooooo much less, and we really fell at home here.  we both have good paying, ful time jobs, we love our church, and we've made wonderful friends here.  when we finally came to the realization that va was the place for us, we decided to start the search for a house - why rent when you don't have to right? 

my recommendations..........

know what you are willing to compromise on, and what you're not:

do you have to have hard wood floors a fenced in yard or a jacuzzi?  we had a few specifics ourselves - we wanted at least 3 bedrooms and at least 2 full baths.  i'm not one to share my bathroom (its my space, you know?), so i wanted to have a least one extra full bath for guests.  we needed a little space in the yard for the dogs and were hoping that it would be fenced in, but we figured we could do this on our own if we needed to.  we did not want a well.  we had to have a/c and a dishwasher.  and by far, our biggest request was that it was move-in ready.

get a good realtor:

we used the most wonderful realtor! she understood what we were looking for, and she didn't "push" anything on us that we didn't like.  she gave recommendations even if they were a little out of context, but if she hadn't, we never would have found our house!  thank you jannie!  (if anyone is looking for a realtor in the lynchburg area, let me know!)

know your price range:

if you know you can't afford something, don't bother looking.  you don't want to get your hopes up or live outside your means.  be willing to look in a lower range, only if you're up for the repairs.  personally, we don't have the time, so we didn't bother.

so we started our search and found our dream house in less than 2 weeks-  i know, it doesn't normally happen that quickly, but we got lucky!  it's 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, it has a living room with an open kitchen and dining room, as well as a den, a basement and an attic.  the yard is a great size (and can easily be fenced in).

here it is!!!  more pics coming soon!!!

we're beyond excited!!!  this will be the 5th place we've lived in since we got married (and we're only celebrating out 4th anniversary this year), so moving was an experience, as usual, but it went extremely well.  we had friends, co-workers, and people from church (thank you Gospel Community Church!) - about 17 total, and the move went pretty quickly.  now josh and i started at 6am - ugh - but everyone else showed up around 10 and we were mostly moved by 2pm.  only the dvd racks broke, and we were prepared for that - how many times can you move walmart particle-board furniture and NOT expect it to fall apart.  nothing a staple gun and some wood glue can't fix!

we're starting to settle in, the dogs are both getting used to the change, and after we unpack, and stop tripping over boxes, the fun part will start!  painting, rearranging furniture (although i don't think josh is particularly excited about this idea), and redecorating.

keep reading.........fun times are upon us!

heather