Perks

So there are definitely perks that come with home ownership -- deductions on taxes, ability to make an investment, being able to paint or change things to our liking...

But another perk to home ownership that we have personally discovered is that we got a unit facing Lake Julian in Arden. Which means that we have an excellent view of the fireworks display from our bedroom windows.

And that is just awesome.

Happy 4th of July everyone!!

This is home...

Closing on the condo was quick and painless (no hand cramps or anything)! We are still in the process of unpacking boxes, but we took some pictures so you can get a general idea about what it looks like. Click here to see the pictures.

It's About Time

We've had a bunch of crazy real estate ventures this year. Lucky for you, we haven't posted about every single one of them or you would have nearly a dozen posts to read. Ha.

We finally found a condo we like and could afford and that all of the paperwork/bank/realtor/seller stuff all worked out on.

We are closing on it Friday, May 16th at 9 am. We hope to be all moved in that weekend and out of our apartment.Hooray! We're finally done house-hunting for a while!!!

Looking for the perfect casa

So we didn't end up getting the house from the previous post. We considered putting in an offer on the house across the street, but decided against that as well. We've talked about just renting for another year since the kind of house we're looking for is just right outside our price range but will hopefully be more doable soon.

Searching for a house is so stressful and time consuming, we look forward to the break.

House # 2? 3? 4?... we've lost count

Ah, the joys of house hunting. Since the real estate market is in disarray, it's actually been a wonderful advantage to us. It seems there are many homes on the market and not a lot of competition. Unfortunately, it's been hard to find a home that's 1. big enough 2. in good enough shape to live in and 3. in our price range. We've found three prospective houses in the past several months. We did not put an offer on the first one, but we did put an offer on the second one but did not go through with the purchase. Which brings us to house #3 (we think).

It's a newer modular home in Hendersonville right next to an apple orchard. It's in a little cal-de-sac that is still being developed and a few more homes will be added to it in the next few years. It's also elevated on a small hill, so it has one of the best views in the neighborhood. So we put in an offer on it and now we're waiting to see if the seller will accept the offer or counter. But MAYBE we'll own a house very soon. :) Yay.

Top 5 reasons we don't like driving through Alabama

We recently took a vacation to Panama City Beach, FL. For those of you who are not familiar with the area, there is no easy interstate leading straight from Asheville to Panama City. All directions lead to highways through Alabama. Here are some interesting things we saw on the way:

1. A sign that said "Historical Marker 1500 ft ahead". After driving said 1500 ft, another sign that said "Historical Marker -->" pointing to the Historical Marker.

2. A large sign saying "Boys & Girls Club -->" pointing straight to an empty field.

3. A large sign saying "National Guard Armory -->" pointing straight at a little hut selling clay vases.

4. Several signs advertising the National Peanut Festival. Apparently, it's a very big deal.

5. Large sign saying merely: "BJ's 5 miles ahead". After driving 5 miles, we saw another sign saying "BJ's - you missed us! Turn around!" Eventually we figured out that "BJ's" is a fireworks place. But that wasn't made clear in the sign.

We also heard a variety of bizarre commercials on several different radio stations but they were too obscure to try to describe. Although, we did write down a jingle that repeated "We love our biscuits, they're out of sight". I'm not sure if we ever did figure out whose biscuits were out of sight, but we were decidedly not interested.

We would definitely be in support of someone (ANYONE) petitioning to get an INTERSTATE that goes from Interstate I-85 south into Florida. Alabama highways are a bit too peculiar for us.

Too bad we didn't feel safe enough to get out and take pictures. :)

Anniversary

So we made it to year two. Hooray. :) We went out for a nice dinner and got all dressed up. We took photographic evidence for those of you who place bets on how many times a year Amber will wear a dress. This counts as #1 for the year. Sorry we didn't get the full body pic for proof - but you'll just have to take our word for it.