Our First Home

September 3 we closed on our first home! We are so excited to finally have a house of our own that we can fix up and decorate any way we want.

It was a long process that started before we left Kentucky. We contacted a Bishop from one of the eight wards in Casper, WY to try and find out if they knew of any house rentals. He passed our contact information on to the other Bishops and leaders in the area. One of the people to contact us was a woman whose Mom was trying to sell her house. They were trying to sell it without a realtor first but were wanting to list it very soon if they couldn't find a buyer. We didn't think we should buy a house without knowing the area at all so we kept looking for rentals. Very soon in our search we realized that rentals were very hard to find and VERY expensive. Buying a house was not sounding so bad after all. They sent us pictures and we talked to quite a few people about the different neighborhoods in Casper.  Everything about it was starting to sound perfect for us: 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, finished basement, 2 car garage, fenced backyard, great neighborhood. We felt a little crazy buying a house without actually seeing it so one day Nate hopped in his car and drove to Wyoming (with a stop in Missouri on the way). Just to make sure we were making a good decision he went out with a realtor and saw about 20 other houses. After a full day of seeing what Casper had to offer he was certain this was the best house for our family. We had already started the process of figuring out if we would even qualify for a loan. We found out we would but they couldn't close on the sale until he started his new job and had his first pay check - at the very end of August. We were pretty crushed because we thought that meant we would have to pass on this house and start looking again after Nate started work. Thankfully the owner was willing to rent to us (for a much lower amount than standard rentals) until we could close. This meant we could move right in and get settled. We have lived in the house now for a little over two months and are very happy with it. There are quite a few things we'd like to change/fix (blue carpet and tons of wallpaper to name a couple) so we are looking forward to getting started!