On House-Buying vs. Homeownership

As I've mentioned here before, DH and I are in the process of buying a house. We're in the lull right now between the acceptance of the offer and closing, which is in about three and a half weeks.

When we first walked through "our" house, and we both started to know that this was where we wanted to live, I felt such excitement. But that excitement was rightfully restrained. This is where I want to live, but that has little to do with actually living in this house. There are a thousand steps in between those two things, and a thousand chances for something to go wrong, something to send us back on the search at square one. But after passing a few big hurdles, the chances for disaster go way down.

On our way home from this our last round of house-hunting, we made plans to go back that night and bring my parents and get their blessing. Back at home, Erich and I talked excitedly about all we could do with the house and why it was so right for us. But we knew not to get ahead of ourselves--NOTHING was written in stone. That's when I realized that deciding to buy a house is a lot like finding out you're pregnant.

Knowing this is the house you want to live in as as much like homeownership as two little lines on a pregnancy test is like a baby. One leads to another, but they aren't really anything alike.

Putting in an offer is making your first prenatal appointment. You want a response on the offer, and you want to hang onto the baby long enough to make it to that appointment. Getting a counteroffer is not having spotting or significant cramping in the first few weeks. Getting acceptance of the contract from the seller is seeing the heartbeat for the first time.

Getting a mortgage is making it to the second trimester. Closing is making it to the third. Moving is giving birth. (Not looking forward to that part!) And then that's it, right? Nope, homeownership is parenthood. And then I can't really continue the analogy, but there you have it.

I'm excited to be just about to the "second trimester" on the road to homeownership. Now if only I can ever make it to the second trimester of pregnancy, I'd be even happier to have passed the major hurdles!