Wow! I can't believe how fast time flies!! I've been married for a little over 3 months now. CRAZY! Anyway, things have been awesome. Definitely some adjusting..but we really enjoy being together.
Recently, we went to Rochester, Minnesota to go house hunting. The best part was all of our expenses were paid!! Hotel, Car, and Food. Talk about a great vacation. Andy has a job at Mayo Clinic and the relocation benefits is awesome.
House hunting was quite the experience. We contacted a realter a few months back and he has been sending us the new listings that come up. His name was Rick Witt and he works for Envarian. Great guy and very helpful! While we were in Minnesota, he took us around to look at the houses. At first, we didn't have a whole lot of options. We were too conservative with our requirements. So, after that first day, we re-evaluated our requirements and made a few changes. Andy had also created a spreadsheet that would estimate what our monthly payments would be. By doing this, we were able to see what we could affor - we wanted to make sure we were living within our means and still be able to save money for retirement and for MBA school. This spreadsheet was very helpful in deciding what we could afford.
After changing our requirements, Rick took us house looking again..and we found a house! It's a 2 story townhome. It has 2 baths and 2 bedrooms! It was perfect! We made an offer on the house and they buyer accepted. Waiting was the worst part! In fact, we were at the Mall of America when Rick called and gave us the good news.
Now, we are waiting for the final approval on our mortgage loan and we will be moving to Minnesota around the 1st of May. I'm excited but nervous at the same time. Now, the only thing I need to do is find a job. Hopefully, it won't take me too long.
Anyway, for those of you who are looking at buying a home, we will be putting up the mortgage calculation we used on Andy's website. His site address is www.zerostudio.info. I hope you guys find it helpful!