Our house

OH HI WE HAVE A HOUSE. It's ours--officially! We have handed over nearly the entire contents of our savings account and in exchange, we have a lovely, beautiful house. We closed yesterday afternoon.

Actually, it was kind of awesome. We aren't really looking at this as an investment property--obviously it would be nice if there were a good return on it if and when we sell, but the point is that we want a lovely home we can raise our family in, for a price we can afford, and that's exactly what we've found.

So, at the closing we met the seller, and that was really interesting. He was a nice guy, retired from working in the technology sector and now buying affordable real estate and fixing it up to sell. It was really interesting to hear his perspective on the real estate market in Denver. He concurred with what we've heard from our real estate agent, his real estate agent, and our mortgage broker--that this is the perfect time to buy in Denver because the market is bottoming out.

I have no idea if that's true, and honestly, I don't care. It would be nice if we made a profit someday, as I said, but we weren't looking to get the absolute best deal we possibly could. We aren't trying to play some kind of game. We were lucky to be ready to buy during a time when the market was slow. The market definitely affected our game plan--it's the reason why we didn't look for a starter home. But since we plan to stay in this house until well after the mortgage is paid off, it doesn't matter to us if it gains value.

Even if the estimated value drops to below what we paid, it doesn't matter--because the house is worth what we paid to us. It has everything we were looking for at a price we can afford. If we do end up selling at a loss--and I don't think that will happen because by the time we plan to sell the economy and market will have gone through several ups and downs and, if nothing else, inflation will have caused the value to rise--then so it goes. It was still a worthwhile investment for us. Especially once we have our mortgage paid off and then we can live rent free and only pay tax and insurance. And maintenance.

Still, it was definitely interesting to see the seller's attitude--that he makes a profit on most of his houses but this one was purchased at the exact wrong time from his perspective, and the exact right time from ours. He was sort of grimly resigned to the fact that he had to write this property off as a loss, but he was very nice about it and said multiple times that he was really glad he was selling to a couple that really loved the house and that his hope had always been for a nice family to move into that house. He was definitely classy about the whole thing, and I think he was relieved to have the empty property off his hands.

Also, I don't think he took a loss. I mean, he bought the house about a year ago, but he bought it in foreclosure and got a great deal on it. He did extensive renovations but even still, I don't think the cost adds up to what we paid for the house. Of course, that's not factoring in the time he spent and the money he had sunk into the house and the interest he was paying on his own mortgage. So, definitely not the profit-making machine that some of his property investments have been, but not a total loss, either. Most likely somewhere near a wash.

So, let's call that a win-win! We move in TWO DAYS.