Since we've last spoke

We got a dog, had a baby, and have done some cosmetic improvements on our house. That house with the nasty roof (I remember it having a blue tarp for a roof)...well, we bought it. We asked that they put a new roof on it. Done. We've had the exterior painted. With the generous help of family and friends, the interior painting is nearly finished and that little sunroom off of the master is a nice nursery. More pictures to come.2`

Our crash course in mortgages

This evening we spent over an hour with our mortgage guy. We tried to absorb every bit of information he gave us.
We came with many questions of our own questions and one big concern. I quit my job. It was horribly stressful and I don't want to go into the garbagy details, but I'm done. BUT, but, but, since I had asked him to run the numbers to make the mortgage, insurance, and taxes equal the same amount we pay towards rent each month, it is actually quite a deal less than what we could be lent. So hallelujah! It is still a go.
Here is a picture from House #2 (this one is a better location, but we have to sacrifice charater a bit)

Per our visit

We went to the house today. It needs a new roof. We're torn, though, because we are in love with the house (well, most of it, the kitchen isnt so hot). It has a flipping three car garage. Who can argue with that? It is a new garage and has a lot of built-in organization.
The master bedroom is amazing. It has a separate sitting-room/sun room off of it. There really is no way to describe it, so when I get the pictures, I'll post them.

Lowes and Lo Mein

After a nasty blizzard that has trapped us in our apartment for a day and a half (killer, huh?), getting out this morning was so much fun. We spent the morning at Lowe's home improvement store and indoor lumber yard then for Chinese afterwards (yum). Since, in our price range, we'll probably have to do some pretty serious work on our kitchen and bathrooms, we spent a lot of time in those areas discussing what we like, didn't like, and absolutely hated. We both have modern-ish tastes (don't expect MoMA, but it definitely isn't Little House on the Prairie.
Tomorrow we'll be checking out the house. It will be our first time inside. Here is just another picture to show you just why I'm so in love with this house:

I think we'll do something with the mantle on that fireplace...but look at those windows! Do you see wht I'm so in love?
More pictures after our walkthrough tomorrow!

Pre-approval

I had spent hours upon hours on the Internet using those mortgage calculator to figure out how much we could afford. Silly me, I never thought to just call the bank....of course until I did think of calling the bank.
I said that we are planning on spending (in house payments, insurance, and property taxes) what we spend on rent. Based on that, he gave us a number to work with and now I feel like I'm house-searching with a purpose.
Even more perfect is the fact that the house I liked the most, is on the lower end of our range.
Check out the woodwork and then tell me it's not gorgeous!

Like I said, the woodwork is nice, right? That's the dining room. It also has two bedrooms, two baths, a small(ish) kitchen and a living room with a fireplace. I'm not a huge fan of the landscaping, but I can take care of that. We have not actually been inside the house, but hopefully we can go check it out next week.