Homeowners!

What's that photo? Why, it's my hand holding the keys to a house the wife and I just bought. We had our closing yesterday and all went well. We gave huge amounts of money to many people - most of whom we'd never seen before. Apparently that's how buying a home works.

In any case, we are property owners. Word up. We don't move in until June as the sellers are renting the house back from us until the end of May. Then we're tearing out their beautiful purple carpet that they have in every room of the house. Thankfully there are hardwood floors beneath the purple madness.

It's nice to have this part of the process all over. We'd been looking for a house since last fall because we're tired of flushing apartment rent money down the toilet. Plus, our apartment complex keeps upping our rent while lowering the amenities they offer.

Searching for a house was sometimes fun and sometimes a pain. Believe me, we saw some real crapholes. Baltimore has many a craphole house to offer. I also learned what the phrases use to decribe a home really mean. We saw a house full of mold We saw many houses with their front porches closed in using totally non-safe and against code methods. We saw a home where a "newly built extra bathroom!!!" was actually a toilet in the basement with some blankets hung up around it as "walls." We saw a house where the previous owners smoked so much that we could see where they had all their pictures and paintings hanging on the walls. And so much more. It was quite a ride. We also tried buying three homes before this fourth one finally came through for us.

The house does need some work, but it's nothing major. We're going to paint and tear up carpet, refinish floors, etc... We're also going to tear off the amazingly beautifully rusty green corrugated metal awnings the sellers thought would look nice over the porch and windows.

And there's a photo of the front of our house - complete with the awesome awnings and astroturf front porch. Amber said we should play putt-putt on the porch. I like that idea.

Other property details: A rowhouse, two bedrooms, 1.5 bath, very tiny yard, parking pad in the backyard (Halle-fricking-llujah!!), a partially finished basement. It's maybe about the same size as our current apartment - only on three floors. And that's fine, we don't need tons of space. The neighborhood is nice, all the neighbors look like they take care of their property and lawns. I also love the back alley behind the place - it's clean and has a nice city feel to it.

There's also a park down the street with basketball courts and a baseball field and grass. Plus, now we're so much closer to the city - which is excellent.

And there it is - we're homeowners. Now starts the battle of us and renovations. In the back of my head floats the horror of the movie "The Money Pit," but I think we'll be fine.

Hooray for first-time homeowners!