It’s true…we are homeowners! I still can’t really believe it.  Our house hunting adventures began back in January.  We had been talking about buying a house for a while but just weren’t ready to take the plunge.  I would look on realtor.com for the last few years just to see what was out there. The first thing we had to figure out was where we wanted to live.  This was no easy task.  We wanted land (Steve had to be able to throw a football in the yard to his brothers or our future children…no joke this is what he told the realtor), it had to be close enough to the city for Steve’s commute, and I really, really, really wanted to live near the beach.  So I started looking at different towns that fit the profile.  We narrowed it down and started casually looking at open houses on the weekends.  We weren’t in any rush and it was fun to go house hunting.  After seeing a few houses, we realized that Steve and I had very different tastes (not that we didn’t know that already) and requirements for what we wanted.  After a couple of months we decided to get a realtor and get a little more serious.  I would go with the realtor during the week after work and if I saw anything I liked, I would bring Steve back to see it.  I also would jam pack our weekends with as many open houses as we could fit in…usually 10 a day.  By the beginning of May we thought we may never find “the one”.  It’s true what they say, “When you find the right one, you will just know.”  On paper, many of the houses we looked at seemed perfect, but they just didn’t feel right.  We became frustrated after seeing close to 75 houses and thought we would never find the house that was just right for us.  Finally, one Saturday in the middle of May we went to another open house.  As we were driving up the block I didn’t feel anything special.  Even as we first saw the house, I wasn’t all that impressed.  But then I saw all of these beautiful bird houses on the property (turns out they were made by the former owner which I’ll talk about in another post) and saw how big the property was.  When we started walking through the house I had a big smile on my face and when I looked at Steve, I realized he had one too.  We continued walking through the house and we both had “that” feeling…the punch you in the stomach, take your breathe away feeling.  We had finally found it…our home!

The house is a farm ranch that was built in 1945 on a 1.25 acre lot and surrounded by 27 acres of nature preserve.  We only have one neighbor, who you can’t really see from our house.  There is wildlife everywhere, which I absolutely love because I am a huge animal lover.  The beach is less than a mile down the road (score!) and a golf course across the street. The house has endless potential and I couldn’t have asked for more!

Here it is…Home Sweet Home!  We better get some really good lawn equipment!

 Welcome Angel: This had to be a sign from the universe!

 Right side of the house…fire pit and hot tub.

 Back of the house:

 Outside the sunroom:

 Reminds me of The Secret Garden:

 Entrance to the Koi Pond:

Our Koi Pond:

 This is the frog that lives in our koi pond.  I see him hanging out there almost every day. I named him Jeremiah because…well… you know why.  Now I bet you can’t get the song out of your head. 😉

So there you have it.   It’s very overgrown so we have a lot of work cut out for us.  Next time I’ll post all of the interior photos.  We have already started making some changes so I’ll definitely  show some before and after shots.

XOXO,

Geralyn