House Hunting...

A few months back, John and I embarked on the adventure of house hunting. At first, we would drive around looking at houses for sell and learning more about the different areas we would like to live. Now we have gotten more serious on our search, we have a wonderful realtor that John's friend recommended and have even talked to a builder. We are torn now on whether we want to build our house or buy one on the market. They both have pro's and con's like anything in life. I guess it's a matter of personal preference.

If you know me well, you probably know that when I was little my Dad and I would go out on Saturdays looking at houses. I love those memories and cherish them to this day! My dad could literally find a way into any empty house, whether it was through a door or open window, so we could look inside. This is when my love for house hunting began. I have literally thought about becoming a realtor more times than not. It's something I have such an interest in and truly enjoy. So never say never, I guess :) Now that John and I are looking for houses I think that already having some experience with my dad and him pointing things out to me about houses when we would go look has helped me for this next journey. So on that note, thanks Dad for the knowledge and love for houses that you passed down to me, I'm very grateful!

When I think of the possibility of having our own house it still seems so far fetched! I still can't believe I'm not 10 years old and I'm actually old enough to be looking for my very own house! It's exciting and I really see it as another BIG step in our journey as a married couple. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks it is crazy that I'm looking at a house to purchase, but I think it is a huge deal. I think that's a good thing though, I know how honored I will be to have a home and how much I will appreciate this next step! John and I combined our savings once we got married and have been very religious about setting out a certain amount every month to go into our "house fund." Luckily, we are almost there!!! When we do get a house we will know it is all of ours, we worked hard for it and gave up things and made sacrifices for it. I think that's when something in life has true meaning and value to you, when you have to work hard at achieving a goal and finally seeing all the hard work pay off. We didn't have help from anyone, we did this on our own and that's really the way it should be! We only eat out once or twice a week. We have a certain amount of "fun" money per month that we use on things we enjoy together, like going to the movies, etc. This plan has worked so well for us so far and I'm so blessed to have a husband who I'm on the same page with when it comes to finances because this is a big problem for a lot of couples.

Since our life and place we would be settling down has been in limbo for the past few months we have been afraid to get serious about house hunting until we knew where we would be living. Recently, a few things happened and it looks like we will be in Chattanooga for a while. It still could change but we think we will be here for a while. So this is our plan...and we are sticking to it...for now at least! :)

The more we look the more we realize what a long process this is. We will see one house and like several things about it and see another with other things we like. It's a shame you can't combine the best things of several different house to make the "perfect house." We have waited to buy one and we will wait some more to find the best one for us and I know when we find one it will be the one made for us! I'm excited to announce this next step in the Denniston Journey! The search for our dream home!