Why dictionary.com tells me to put "home" and "owner" together as one word baffles me, but whatever.

My house deal went through and I just picked up the keys. This weekend I'll be moving in... meh.

I'll post pictures later when I can get them off my girlfriend's digital camera.

It's a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom home with a large ground floor (which has a bathroom and a large area I will be using as my home office - yes I work from home), a one-car garage, upstairs is a living room, dining room, smallish kitchen, 3 bedrooms, and one bathroom. It's on 2.15 acres about 15 minutes to the nearest real town - so lots of privacy.

The house is in decent shape although I'm having new carpet put in on Friday. I also got a new stove, new refridgerator, and a new dishwasher. My girlfriend has a pretty new washer and dryer set so we are okay in that department.

The yard, however, isn't in great shape, so that will be my first project. I'm going to plant a bunch of trees around the house (I don't know why they cut them down - people move to WA where there are tons of trees, then clear-cut their entire freaking lot, it's crazy). I guess they will be large enough to make a difference in about 5 years. I'm also going to build a small (about 4 foot) retaining wall out of those cool gray landscaping bricks along the bottom of the hill in the back of the property, and I'm going to redo the back lawn. My girlfriend can mess with the front

Anyway, I guess I am officially old now

Congrats.

Congratulations.. i'm hoping to buy a house myself in the next year to two years.

yay for brian

A house of that caliber would cost around 500k around here. Especially with all that land.

Anyways, people cut down trees because trees KILL yards. Trust me, my dad cut down one of ours because it killed our yard, left patches (o'hoolihan) of dead grass and/or NO grass.

Fun stuff :\

Best part.

I don't want grass, I want trees! If I wanted grass I would have moved to the great plains or something Seriously though, I really did move to WA because I love trees - and they are evergreens like douglas fir, hemlock, and cedar, not deciduous trees like maple and oak.

Housing prices around here are insane, too. I ended up paying 185,000 for it, but 3 years ago this same house would have sold for about 150,000. Closer to town the same house on no land goes for about 225,000.

My monthly payment is a little under 1300 but my girlfriend will be paying some of it.

yay! Go Go Gadget Brian!

Congrats.

Awesome, dude!

You should do your house designing and landscape planning with JED.

Good times.

If you're planning on planting trees, I suggest you stay away from pines. At my last house, we had a gigantic 40 feet tall pine in our back yard. God I loved that tree... but it attracted huge colonies of insects every summer, so much that we couldn't leave the house after sundown. :p

Congrats!

Housing prices in Gainesville have exploded...$309,000 for a 2730sqft block home w/garage..

My mom bought a 4 bedroom/1 bathroom house with a garage, on about an acre of land with the Fox River running right through the backyard, beautiful place. Ended up paying about $80,000 for it

Oh, and congratulations Brian, I hope you enjoy it

Congrats! Thats a nice house for that price.

Must be in WI or something.

I wish I owned a house.
This thread makes Stinkywrix sad
Otherwise, congrats!

Congrats, Brian! Now, all that is left is to invite Massassi over for a housewarming party!! :p You know you want to...

...
A house like Brian's would easily go for over a million here.

Awesome! Now all that remains to be done it to paint it black and green and call it "Teh LUUUUVE shack"

Hey Brian, can I come over sometime and maybe get my soul back? <.<

Correct!

I wanna be a homeowner!

*realizes that he lives in Southern California*

Well crap.

Sure.
REQUEST DENIED

Come on up to the Bay Area then go back. It'll make you feel better about the price of homes.

Congrats Brian!
I too hope someday soon to purchase a house.

Sounds like a great and solid plan to me!

Congratulations!

Nice!

Can't wait till me and Izzy have moved in together: we'll be renting for at least a year while I'm working and she's doing her teaching qualification, but then it's property ladder time!

I'd also like to own a home. But housing prices around here are a little worse than what Brian got. Its looking like any house I might be able to raise a family in is going to be 200,000 unless I want to live really far from work. Condo's are within my price range...but I have a hard time getting excited about having all the responsibilities of a house, plus still having to share an area with neighbors and pay a fee to the association.

My friend just bought a small three bedroom for 150,000 though thats a ways outside of town. It is by the railroad tracks however.

PARTY AT BRIAN'S

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

here in so cal, the average lot size is measured in square feet, not in acres, and it's a lot smaller. The average house (yards included) is on about 1/3 acre.

You should pour a pool and then charge people a bit 'o money to skate it. Revenue is always good!

Or since he lives in washington, he could fill said pool with water, and people would look in amazement, since pools are rare in this area.

Okay here are some pictures I promised (the rest can be found here: http://www.massassi.com/etc/house/).

Front View:


Back View: (sliding door leads into my new office)


My office View:

nice boiler.

sweet house, good luck in all your future endeavours.

yay! awesome. now the bank will start throwing money at you.

The house looks very nice Brian. A belated congratulations. Though the kitchen looks like it could use an island.

Congratulations Brian. Living the American dream.