My wife and I have been searching for our first ever home since January.  See, I've moved all over the country, some 25 times or so, and have never settled anywhere long enough to buy a house.  That's changed.  

We found a great one in February.  Got into a bidder's war.  Lost out on it, even though we offered more.  The other party could close sooner than we could.  Found another one, move-in ready, in early March.  Asshole seller.  We walked.  Buyer's market my ass!  (At least here in Chattanooga....)

But, oh, yeah!  We are finally, finally, finally first time homeowners, as of May 1, a little after 4:30 PM.  The dreaded closing was actually a breeze.  Sure, a lot of paperwork, but it went well.  The sellers were nice, and things went smoothly.  Then, we drove all the way out to our new townhouse in heavy rush hour traffic and got all of the locks changed.  For $226.  Small price to pay for peace of mind.  Celebratory drink and dinner afterwords.  YAY!!!

Since so many people have been asking for pics, I'm going to post one, and just one, for the time being.  It's a frontal shot of the townhouse.  My wife is actually the photographer of the family, and I believe she wants to wait to take interior shots until after we've painted the entire thing, replaced some carpet with hardwood floors and other carpets with Berber carpet, replace some lighting, etc.  We should actually take some before and after shots, I think.  Anyway, here it is:

Now, I admit, it's not necessarily as "pretty" as that last house on which we put an offer.  The one with the jerk who wouldn't budge an inch off the list price.  But this place is ROOMY!  Three absolutely HUGE bedrooms and three full bathrooms, a monster-sized living room with an open dining room and kitchen.  Granite counter tops there.  Two bay windows.  Full homeowner warranty.  Sweet!  And it's ours, all ours.  (Actually, it's the bank's, since we're going to be paying on it for the next 30 years, but we got locked into a very sweet interest rate!)

I know this is a non-literary post, but I wanted to share this great news with anyone who cares to read about it.  It was wonderful to buy a lawn mower and mow our new yard for the first time.  My wife has picked out paint colors and we'll be doing that soon.  Etc., etc.  Thanks very much to anyone who reads this.  Cheers!