What?!?!?!? I have a mortgage?!?!?!?!?

Yes ladies and gents, after much searching and drama, I am (almost) the owner of a new house. Escrow has opened, and unless there is some major malfunction, I should be moving in the next two weeks or so.

This "stunning single level" (real-estate speak for, "no major holes in the walls") is located in Oceanside, a mere 7 miles from my office. 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a dynamite place for parties. So if you are traveling between San Diego and parts north, and want a place to crash, my house is always open. :)

Like any place, there are lots of chores that need to be done to make it your own, but after the home inspection, we found very little in need of true repair.

This is the view from the kitchen into the family room. The thing I like best about this house is that there is no designated "living room." So many of the houses we went into had a small living room, a kitchen, and a slightly larger family room. What a waste of space. What winds up happening is that everyone crowds into the family room while the living room goes unused. This house simply has one "great room." Which will be used for TV, the piano, and either a dining or pool table.

I also like the fact that the kitchen is open and has direct access to the family room. I think I'm going to go with a similar color scheme to the one I have now. I'm going to stain the cabinets a dark color, and the walls will be a deep red in the kitchen. The family room will have a tan color similar to the one I have in my current house.

I love the arches. This leads off the entry hall to the bedrooms.

2 car garage with direct access to the house.

This is the laundry room, which is in a pass-through from the hallway to the garage. Washer/dryer will be replaced eventually.

The patio and back-yard of this house is truly lovely, with all kinds of plants. As most of you know, however, I have very little luck with plants. We'll see how this goes. A table and chairs will come to the patio, as well as a spa in the distant future.

The two guest rooms are decently sized. One room is going to be a home gym/office, and the other is going to be a designated guest room so that people won't have to share sleeping quarters with my gym equipment. :)

Both the guest and master bathrooms have carpet, which Dad is going to help me replace with tile.

The master bedroom is a little bigger than the one I have now, and has a full view of the back yard. The valances throughout the house will be torn down immediately on move in. :)

I love, love, LOVE the master bathroom. There is a separate shower and tub. Yes, the tub has jets. No, you will not be able to get me out of it once it is functioning. The toilet is in a separate room to the right.

There is also a master walk-in closet that is just a few feet short of the size of my dorm at UNC. :)

So while there is a *ton* of painting, tiling, and other sorts of things to be done, it's basically ready to be moved in. The soonest this can happen will be the 21st of January. I doubt we are going to be ready for Superbowl (Feb 4th) but that's our goal. If you don't mind drinking out of plastic cups and sitting on the floor, we can make this happen. :)

This is all exciting and terrifying at the same time. I'll keep you posted on our progress.

K