Ok, so I've got the go-ahead to release details on the big news.

We bought a house.

As can be expected, there's quite a story behind it...

What happened

About two weeks ago, Kirsten and I started looking at lofts around Edmonton. We've both really liked the idea of having a loft in the city, and we were tired of paying rent.

At the same time, we figured we'd look at prices of houses around this area, since we really like this neighborhood. We looked at a few places, some too small, some too crappy and a couple that seemed just right.

I'd set an upper limit of what I wanted to spend, but I was worried about how we were going to afford the down payment... I knew that realistically we needed to stick around $xxx,xxx - especially if we were going to put down 10% as a down payment. I honestly thought that we'd look around now, get a feel for the area's pricing, and maybe look seriously at getting a place in the new year - once I'd had a chance to save like crazy. Kirsten assured me repeatedly that we could do it, and that we'd find a way to afford a house.

So yup, that was the plan. Of course, there were several things of which I was not aware.

First, I wasn't aware that we were going to find a place that we both really liked within a week of starting to look. It needs a little fixing up, and definitely a new paint job on the walls (as you'll see), but it was larger than most of the houses we looked at and felt really comfortable.

Second, I didn't know that Kirsten has been saving furiously for the last 5 years. And this is where things got really interesting for me.

I'm sure you guys remember "recap" - the entry in which I call Kirsten the "Bestest girl in the whole wide world".

In the midst of looking for housing, Kirsten told me that she had to talk to me about her finances. Of course, she'd said it in a somewhat sombre tone that immediately sent warning sirens off in my head. I knew that she had been saving for awhile, but I also knew that the times of unemployment over the last 2 years had probably chipped away at that.

The day we were going to take a look at our house, she told me she'd got a consolidated list of her holdings, and she needed to talk to me about it that night. *DANGER!*

I got home a half hour before we were scheduled to go see the house, and asked her what was going on with the financing. After a couple of false starts, she said, "Let's just talk about it when we get back."

*worry*

We saw the house and all was well, and a couple hours after returning, I brought finances up again. She was obviously having a hard time telling me what was up, so I simply said, "Are we in trouble? You don't have to tell me how much money you have -- just if we have enough for the down payment."

Eventually, she mustered up the courage and told me exactly how much she'd managed to save. It was well over the amount of the down payment. Well over. I was gobsmacked. Awestruck. Insert flabbergasty expression here.

We decided the next day that we were seriously doing this, and called her mom up for moral support.

Over the next few days, we made repeated trips to the house that interested us the most, got chummy with the realtor, and started talking about how low the current owner was willing to go.

I'll be open here - the house does need work, and we have to put a bunch of money into it pretty quickly. The basement has a small leak, which we're taking the high road on, and installing full weeping tile and a new sump. We also have to put roofing on. Because of this, we managed to lower the already-reduced-by-$20,000 asking price by $18,400.

We removed all conditions on the house two nights ago, and we're in a bit of a tizzy right now, thinking that surely there's something house-related we're supposed to be doing.

Kirsten's version of the story...

Ok, so Darren's story is pretty close to mine. I have wanted to own my own house as long as I can remember. I was going crazy with it all summer. D and Mom kept telling me that we should wait. I was tired of waiting. Darren maintained the no one would give us a mortgage anyway -- so i figured I'd call him on it. I called the bank one day and within 5 mins we were pre-approved for a loan over 200,000 dollars. I peed myself. Ok not literally, but I was so stunned I called my brother and told him. What kind of crazy people would give us that much money! Turns out a bank would. (note the actual house costs no where near that much). So after that I was the terminator of house shopping. We looked around and saw a few cute houses, a few awful ones and a few in between. Well all the while, Darren was wondering how we were going to pay for said house. All the time I knew and all the time just wouldn't/couldn't tell him. It wasn't until we seemed to be looking seriously that I had to fess up.

I have had a super-secret bank account I have been keeping a secret from everyone but my mom. It started after my divorce and I'd been adding to it with every penny I could. Despite the moments Darren was out of work, through his move up, I kept saving away. It was hard, but I kept saving. Finally, I saved up enough that I could put down the down payment on the house myself. I could have never done it without Darren. It was his wonderful care of our liitle family that enabled me to sock it all away. Go DARREN!

But still, who knew if we'd really get a mortgage? So we waited on telling anyone.

We hired a mortgage broker. He checked our credit ratings. (Darren's note: I was terrified that the employment-related events of the past 2 years would do us in...) *gulp* It turns out that D and I have perfect credit. Yup. The house-thing was getting real-er as the moments passed.

Mom and Dad came up to give it a look over. The home inspector came to look. The foundation guy came to look. We put in a low bid (one we could afford). He countered. We countered. We settled on a price. Based on the cost of repairs, we asked for another 3000 off. He countered. We split the differnce. It was real. We were buying the house.

We got the best mortgage rate on the market. And signed the mortgage papers yesterday and the buyers papers the day before. We are going into home ownership with eyes wide open (and home inspection in hand) and we are ecstatic, scared, breathless, content and terrified.

The Details...

So here's some details on the house.

It's 55 years old, and just under 2000 square feet (so far as we can reckon. It's 1400 square feet on the main and upper floors, not including the full basement). It's a semi-bungalow, with two dormered rooms and a full ensuite bathroom upstairs.

The main floor consists of a kitchen, a dining room and two sitting rooms. The kitchen is somewhat small, but features upgraded cabinets, and 3 newish appliances. We're not entirely sure how we're going to lay out the other three rooms - the "dining room" could easily go in one of two places, and we're likely to put it in the sunnier part of the house.

The basement has one bedroom and a laundry room with a newish washer and dryer. We're going to refinish it in a year or so, and put in a geek nexus for me.

There's a really large deck outside, which we sadly have to partially disassemble for the foundation guys to work. The yard is relatively big for the area, and we even have an apple tree!

We take possession of the house on October 15th. Two weeks from today exactly. Eek.

So, without further ado..... here's some pictures we took on our first visit. You can count on more pictures coming as soon as we move in.

This would be it! Yes, we know we need to trim the hedge

And our backyard... We love that path. In the background you can see our little shed (left) and our garage (right).

The Master bedroom

And the full ensuite bathroom

The master bedroom has a little enclosure that could easily be turned into a walk-in closet (and it will!)

And the dining room....