Steve and I signed our mortgage papers last night and then I couldn’t breathe properly for entire hour afterwards!!
I have been very calm and collected about this entire process for nearly eight months now but, as I signed my name on the dotted line, I was reminded of the emotions I felt on my first day of high school. For the better part of two years, my friends and I couldn’t wait to start high school and then, finally, on that first day in September of 1992, I quickly realized that I was no longer a big fish in a small pond…I was now a very small fish in a much bigger pond…and I was terrified!!!
To be frank, the likes of Steve and I are a hot commodity in the renting world. We are a young married couple with good, steady jobs, making very respectable incomes and we don’t have any kids or pets…we are a landlord’s dream!!! And in a university town like Ottawa…we are highly outnumbered by student slobs with no money!! With this being said, the world of renting is much like shopping in the market…everything is negotiable. Of course, there are guidelines and a certain “understanding” but, for the most part, the vendors need you as much as you need them and this makes renting more of a game than a business deal.
However, as I sat across the desk from our banker and listened to her discuss lawyers and interest rates, I suddenly felt like I was no longer shopping in the market, but instead, I was suddenly doing business with the local drug dealers!! They don’t care who you are, what you are like or what your circumstances are…these are the rules, this is the bottom line and if you don’t follow the rules, they will hunt you down, bust your knee caps and then take your house away!!! Banks mean business and this new pond is full of them!!
So, there you have it…we are small fish in a big pond again (manically protecting our knee caps!)!! Oh, the misery of being a small fish!! But, while I get used to being the new kid on the block again…I will have at least one fine thing that couldn’t be found in the small pond…equity and big soaker tub in my bathroom!!!
CHA-CHING!!
I have been very calm and collected about this entire process for nearly eight months now but, as I signed my name on the dotted line, I was reminded of the emotions I felt on my first day of high school. For the better part of two years, my friends and I couldn’t wait to start high school and then, finally, on that first day in September of 1992, I quickly realized that I was no longer a big fish in a small pond…I was now a very small fish in a much bigger pond…and I was terrified!!!
To be frank, the likes of Steve and I are a hot commodity in the renting world. We are a young married couple with good, steady jobs, making very respectable incomes and we don’t have any kids or pets…we are a landlord’s dream!!! And in a university town like Ottawa…we are highly outnumbered by student slobs with no money!! With this being said, the world of renting is much like shopping in the market…everything is negotiable. Of course, there are guidelines and a certain “understanding” but, for the most part, the vendors need you as much as you need them and this makes renting more of a game than a business deal.
However, as I sat across the desk from our banker and listened to her discuss lawyers and interest rates, I suddenly felt like I was no longer shopping in the market, but instead, I was suddenly doing business with the local drug dealers!! They don’t care who you are, what you are like or what your circumstances are…these are the rules, this is the bottom line and if you don’t follow the rules, they will hunt you down, bust your knee caps and then take your house away!!! Banks mean business and this new pond is full of them!!
So, there you have it…we are small fish in a big pond again (manically protecting our knee caps!)!! Oh, the misery of being a small fish!! But, while I get used to being the new kid on the block again…I will have at least one fine thing that couldn’t be found in the small pond…equity and big soaker tub in my bathroom!!!
CHA-CHING!!
6 comments:
thanks for sharing this. anxiety when buying houses is something people don't really talk about, but it happens all the time. when i was looking to buy i was alarmed and overwhelmed by my anxiety. it was weird how when i was experiencing that everyone was telling me "oh ya, i felt that way too..." and i thought "why didn't anyone tell me before!?!?"
everything worth doing is scary at first :)
steve and I actually bought a different place about eighteen months ago and after handing them our down payment, we wanted nothing more than to be violently ill!! After pacing around our apartment for about thirty-six hours, we changed our mind and backed out of the purchase (thank God for "cooling off periods".
I think that mild anxiety is normal, but pure terror...??? Not so much!
Congratulations to the both of you!!! Although it is scary to be adding more debt to your life it is so worth knowing that your monthly payments will be going towards your own mortgage and not someone elses!!!
Good-Bye Landlord, Hello Home Owner!
Hooray for first homes!!
:) Kelly
Thanks Kelly!
I guess that this also means "Good-Bye-snow-plow-paid-for-by-the-landlord" and Hello to shoveling the driveway ourselves!!!!
Geez...small fish have to do a lot!!
Congrats! Buying a new home is VERY nerve wracking! I am sure that it was all I thought of for a month or more until I moved, but it is such a great feeling once you've settled in! ENJOY!!!!
Thanks Maureen!
I hope that our place will be even half as nice as yours is!
FABULOUS!
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