For the last week I have been on the fast track to buying my own house in the 80205 zip code (the place in downtown Denver to which my heart has strongly been tied). This has been an incredible journey for me already.
Day 1: Talk to a Mortgage consultant and get pre-approval on a massive loan
Day 2: Convince yourself that financial you just aren't ready
Day 3: Sit down with the numbers to prove that you aren't ready and walk away with the reality that you very well CAN afford it
Day 4: Arrange to go see houses with Realtor
Day 5: Try not to think about it. Stress is building
Day 6: On the way to go see houses, extenuating circumstances cause you to cancel the appointment
Day 7: Wake up thinking you've made up your mind
unsettled=bad so that's it. Try not to give it another thought
Day 7 1/2: Start thinking about the ministry with your (at this point) imaginary neighbors and decide that you should indeed give it another thought
Which brings us to today.
Day 8: I'm thinking wait.
I wrote this in an email to my sister today.
"I don't know if I want to continue with the search right now.
I don't know if I'm ready to be so responsible.
I'm learning that the adverbial form of the word responsible must exist in relation to my choices before the adjectival form can be used to describe me...I feel like the responsible choice would be to wait- to save for another year and take out a car loan during that time to build on my debt history (of which I currently have none- which is a silly thing to be punished for). The other side of the argument says, "what better way to be responsible than to make a large purchase for which you ARE responsible?"
Following?
I have grammatical arguments like this all the time in my head. Confusing. I know."
But the grammatical argument holds no weight in the decision that faces me still.
“The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps” -Proverbs 16:9
Day 8 1/2: I'm thinking I want to buy a house...
The big thing is making sure you're ready to put down roots, at least for the next five years (and things can change a lot in five years). Odds are you're going to have some financial strain during the course of a 30-year mortgage, so don't sweat that part too much. Finally, visit the house you're interested in often and at different times. Ask the neighbors what they like/don't like about the neighborhood and research the HOA. A bad HOA will ruin even the nicest place.
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