Well we officially signed the purchase agreement this week, so starting Jan 5th, I take ownership of my first ever home. While I won't actually be taking pocession of the home at that time, I'm getting pretty excited. The guy selling the home will be renting in back from me at a pretty decent rate, and after a month the rent increases 50% so I'm hoping that by the end of January/early February, I should be moving. I went through the home with a home inspector yesterday, and while nothing major was found, its amazing how many little things that need done on an older home. My mind is already starting to race thinking of all the little things I'd like to do, and all the things I'm going to have to buy. I don't own any lawn maintenence items, heck I don't even own a stepladder! I'm also debating on how much furniture I'd like to pick up right away and how much can wait for later. I currently own enough stuff to pretty much fill up a living room and bedroom, so there might be some extra floor space for a while. Here are some photos of the place:

The upstairs bedroom which will I will probably make the main bedroom. It even has a small walk in closet. Not too bad for a bungalow. A lot of these have side walls so short you can't put a bed against the wall.

















Here is the main floor living room, which I think I might try to keep just as a sitting area, without a TV.
This room in the basement I am heavily considering turning into my TV/Entertainment area. Not too sure about it being downstairs though.

A nice office type room in the basement. I'm sure some serious boardroom decisions will be made here.The basement bathroom (might need some more color) and laundry room.
















The 2 main floor bedrooms.


















The main floor bathroom (this definetly will be one of my first main projects). Notice the nice window in the shower and yes the bottom is frosted.



















The kitchen. I'm sure some glorius feast will take place here. I actually see myself cooking more with my own home, but we'll see.
















A couple more outside pictures, the garage needs a little something to jazz it up and maybe a little more landscaping in the rear of the house.

This whole homebuying process has been quite the hassle, but a little fun at the same time. I think I may have found a place already, although nothing is official yet. After looking at hundreds of homes online, and around 15 in person, house number 11 seems to have come out a winner. I wasn't real impressed with many of the homes I looked at and my main downfall through this whole process was I was trying to get in an area of town that is a bit more "trendy" and thus homes are slightly inflated. So last Sunday I made my first offer on the home I'm interested in. I underbid the guys asking price by 22k, which I didn't expect him to accept but thought was a good staring price. He comes back 7k lower and I come up 10k, so we are now 5 apart, and I'm set in my mind that I'm not going to budge a bit. He says hes not budging either, so I make it known I'm done with negotiations. A day later he comes down another 2.5k and I'm still sticking to my guns. So what happens late on Saturday night? The guy comes down the rest of the way. We have a winner!! Nothing official yet, but we are supposed to get everything down on paper early this week. So if everything goes according to plan, I should be the owner of a 1952 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1100 sq. ft. bungalow, in Berkley, MI. The only thing I have against the house is that its a corner lot, but that wasn't a deal killer. The 1100 sq ft. doesn't include the finished basement or from what I can calculate the third bedroom located on the second floor, so the place is bigger than it sounds.

Last weekend was the annual Noel Night, in downtown Detroit, where they open up all the museums for free and the whole town gathers in the streets to sing carols. It was quite the experience. I also got to catch dinner with my friends Debbie, and Dan (who was on his way back from Amsterdam). One of the local Episcopal churches was open, and was absolutely stunning. I keep thinking that its a shame they don't build churches like this anymore, but at the same time, its a bit of a waste to put so much money into something, when so many other needy causes are out there. I also learned what cappuccino semifreddo was this evening after being very unsuccesful in trying to drink what turned out to be a frozen beverage. Boy did I look like an idiot. I wondered why the cup was so cold, but thought oh well, its just regular cappaccino. Incorrect.

Hey look, its one of the wisemen with his camel!
Nothing says Christmas like a mariachi band in a public library.