Okay, so I finally have some news! I've been holding out on everyone until I could see where things were going (no, I'm not pregnant). Anyway, Erik and I are looking to purchase a condo! Now, I'm sure you are currently starring at the computer screen, thinking you may need to get glasses or a new prescription, but yes, you did read that correctly. You are also probably thinking wait, aren't these the same people who owe $2,000 in taxes (if you don't know that story, send me an email). But yes, both are correct, and it's actually the whole taxes thing that got the ball rolling. I mentioned our tax crisis to the bookkeeper at Old York because I had thought they were the culprit (it's actually looking more and more like it's Erik's job's fault) and she said to me well, you need to buy property for the tax deduction. It wasn't oh, you should THINK about buying property, it was you NEED to buy property. I of course laughed since she has no clue where we are coming from, but she assured me that as long as you have stellar credit, you can get a mortgage for no or very little money down (she's also a realtor in her spare time). I wasn't even positive about the state of our credit. She told me the worst that could happen is that the mortgage person tells us to hold off, and she assured me that there would be no laughing on the part of the mortgage person (which is what I had always assumed would happen).
So anyway, long story short (ha ha), we got pre-approved for more than we can even afford! Apparently our credit is excellent which, believe me, was a total surprise! After hearing that, Erik decided to look into the VA loan through the Coast Guard (he's still working on that) and we found a realtor in Portland who seems really nice and is not car salesman pushy. I mean, I wouldn't say get out your addressbooks anytime soon, but with the pre-approval, we are well on our way. It'll of course most likely mean not living in Portland, which if it means owning something, I'm all for it, but we will have to see what happens. In the next week or so we are planning on looking at places in South Portland and Old Orchard, so we'll see how that goes.
Given what we know we can afford, we are obviously going the condo route. And yes, as some of you will point out, I use to make fun of condos, but now that I see the buying potential and had the whole condo fee explained to me by someone a hell of a lot more knowledgeable than myself, I see it as a good investment. We will obviously keep everyone posted. As we both have said, at least we love our apartment and where we live so if there isn't anything exciting out there, we still have a very enjoyable living situation.
But truth be told - I'm already picking out paint colors in my head! ;-)
So I'm going to this workshop in May and I'm very excited about it! It's a three-day workshop in Concord, NH on how to preserve and archive photographs. Granted, I'm sure, to quote Erik's coworker when he found out I was going to the Antiques Roadshow, that you'd rather watch paint dry, but it is totally up my alley! And get this - three-day workshop from 9am to 4pm PLUS lunch is included...for only $150! There was no way I was going to pass it up. And yes, I'm doing this on my own, independent from either one of my jobs, so I guess that truly does make me a geek. And I have a free place to stay, so I'm psyched. If you are interested in learning more, visit http://www.nedcc.org/wwwtp/wklog.htm.
