Well it looks like I'm finally gonna have a place of my own and getting out of this duplex we've been living in the last few years. It's not my dream house, but it's nice with a big master bedroom/bath, and giant kitchen with hardwood floors though the living room isn't exactly as large as I wanted. My favorite part is that there is a detached building on the property that has been converted from a shop/garage that is completely brand new. New walls, new carpet, phone/cable and it is all [b]mine[/b]. It was supposed to be a gameroom, but I'm moving in all of my reloading gear, a computer, both of my safes and I'm going to build shelves so that all of my stuff can go in there. It will be my own little paradise [:)]

I've got everything together for the loan and the house price is pretty much settled, now we are haggling on the closing costs. It has been a complete pain in the ass, but it's gonna be well worth it in the end.

Wish me luck guys!

Good luck Ponyboy!  I'm moving myself, and I know what a pain it is.  Only this time, we found a place to buy but then had to sell our current townhouse, in time to close on the next house, and the market has been kinda crappy.  I have been majorly stressed out.  But, it looks like we'll close on both (selling our place and purchasing the new place) on the same day - if all goes well!  Hopefully everything doesn't go to crap and we end up in a cardboard box for a bit hehe.

Congratulations, Ponyboy! Home ownership is the stuff of dreams. Don't forget to change the locks the first thing you do. Gonna try to hide those safes or not? I think a hidden safe is better but thats just my opinion. Good luck with your new digs!

Oh yeah, now you have to do all that crap that the landlord used to do for you!

Yep, the first thing I'm planning on doing is changing the locks. Before I move all of my stuff into [b]my[/b] room I'm going to install some type of security system. It's really just one big room, so there isn't much of a place to hide anything, no closets or anything like that. There is only one door going into it and two windows, so I'll probably wire them and then put in some type of motion detectors and have it all running through a UPS.

Any security experts out there know the best way to secure something like this? There is probably a better way since I really don't know anything about it. Any suggestions?

You can bet that on this site, there ARE some experts, you may want to start another thread with a different title. I'm sure you'll get some great ideas from other members of our "family". Congratulations on the purchase Pony, AND on your own "guy" room!! Love to see some pics....

Congratultaons. Me and the wife jut bought our first house a few weeks ago. It's a pretty awesome feeling.

Be prepared though, Home Depot will be your second home. Pretty soon you'll be a master carpenter, plumber, electrician, landscaper.....

Good idea! I'll try to get yall some pics as soon as I get moved in. It's gonna look kind of bare though, cause I don't have enough stuff to fill it up. It's pretty big, like 20x15 or so.

Congratulations Ponyboy.
Now the fun begins, it's a lot of work but owning a home is the way to go.

That is unless you possess the talent and desire for home repair that I possess.

Early on I found it far faster and less expensive to call a plumber to unstop the sink !
[:D]

Congratulations on your new home.

Yeah, but it's just for my and my gun/hunting stuff. Right now I've got everything crammed into a little walk in closet that is about 6x10 or so, not counting my reloading bench that I can barely get to. This is going to be a HUGE step up for me.

If it's an older place, I'd suggest getting a video inspection of your sewar. They have this rig with a video camera on the end of a snake. Costs a couple hundred to have it done, but it can show problems that could significantly affect the value of the property.


When I bought a fixer upper five years ago, I knew the roof leaked, the wiring was unsafe, the heating didn't work, and the plumbing was on its last legs. City records indicated that the house had been connected to the sewar system in the late '70s, so I figured it was ok.

I discovered about 18 months ago that the city records were incorrect, and I had a very old septic tank, and it didn't work any more. Cost me about $20k to connect to the city sewar.

I converted some space into a gun room last fall, it's great not having the kichen cluttered with gun cleaning stuff all the time!

Congrads! Ahhhhh welcome to the world of home ownership. You finally did it. Don't worry you will survive, just as I, and millions of other people before you did!

You will have to trim the hedges/vegitation, mow the lawn, pay the prop taxes, painting etc. BUT I have spent endless hours bouncing the basketball, and shooting at tin cans with an air powered pellet gun in the yard with my kids.