Overwhelmed with a chance of Oh My God what did i get myself into!?

Ever since I was in high school one of my biggest goals in life was to buy a house on my own. Never did I think that I would really ever reach that goal. I always assumed that by the time I was ready to buy a house and move out I would be engaged or married. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be buying a house, moving out, and living on my own with just my cat Levi at the age of 24. I have to admit it's been a bit of a stressful process looking at houses. I started about a year ago I would say but was not really all that serious about it at the time, I would just look up houses online and at the time I assumed I would only get approved for $100,000-$120,000 on my own so most of the houses I was looking at were located in Springfield. Now being such a country girl and living in such a small town my entire life... the thought of living in Springfield on my own was a pretty scary thought. So I put the looking on hold for a while. It wasn't until this July that I decided I wanted to go and get preapproved and find out what price range I could actually look in. Well to my surprise I was approved for more than $120,000 and I was told that for a person my age I have excellent credit... It really pays off when you pay your credit card bills on time and in full and I was also able to pay off my car loan 2 1/2 years early and my personal loan for the business was paid off in 5 months! :) I don't like being in debt so I aimed at paying those things off ASAP. Well anyway back to houses. I started seriously looking in August of this year and I seriously looked hard! I dragged my parents out with me to look at about 30 houses in a month and 1/2's time. I think we were all getting sick of looking at houses but I really wanted to get that $8000 tax credit! Huge help!

So in August I put in an offer on the 4th house I saw. I absolutely loved it. It had a great yard, was located in a nice town on a quiet street and was 10 min to work. It also was 3 min from my aunts house, 5 from my uncles, and 15 to my parents and on top of it... not much further out for my photo clients to travel to. Well to make a long story short, it was a forclosure and I got into a bidding war with about 30 other bidders and lost to a lower cash offer... even though my offer was over asking price. I was pretty bummed. The layout, location and age of that house did not even compare to the others I looked at!

So a couple weeks later I put an offer on a house in Chicopee near my moms cousins house... they were not willing to come down in price enough, and i was not so crazy about the layout of the house and the kitchen needed some major updates... however the location would have been worth it. So this house did not work out either.

Maybe a week after that I put in an offer on another house. This one was in Ludlow. Good size house... funky layout however but great yard and location... They were not willing to come down at all in price either. They were at a firm $175,000 and I can't afford that on my own... bummer on to the next one

There was another house in Chicopee near Comp but they would not come down in price either... was hoping that the fact that my family new them a bit would help but no. Oh well... still did not quite compare to the first house.

Then I put in an offer on a house in Aldenville Chicopee, great layout, nice yard, walking distance to my grandmothers and 4 big bedrooms with big closets. Well seeing I put in my offer 3 days after it went onto the market they weren't willing to come down in price either. :( huge bummer

By this time i was starting to get really discouraged and I know people say they've looked for over a year but I really didnt want to lose out on that $8000 tax credit. Well luckily my dad sort of became my new real estate agent in a way and contacted the listing agent of the first house I put an offer on. He was pretty persistant. But to make this really long story a little shorter, the original offer fell through, the house went back onto the market, I made my offer a second time, got into another bidding war with about 15 people this time, the bank countered my offer and I accepted! :) I am currently in the process of purchasing the house hoping to close the first week of November and hoping to move in before December. It's been quite a roller coaster of emotions. I'm really excited to be moving into my own place on my own for the first time ever but at the same time extremely nervous! Things may be a little tight for a while but I am excited to start this new journey.

I just started packing a bit this week and it is a very overwhelming process. I really dont even know where to start. I have sooooo much stuff! But while packing I became a little sad. I am excited to start this new journey but at the same time I'm a little sad to be leaving home and everything I am so used to. It will take a little getting used to but I think it will all work out just fine.

Once I close and progress starts I will be sure to post some photos of the house now and once i get settled. :) But for now... a picture of some packed boxes and an empty dusty bookshelf.