Happy Housiversary To ME

I realized that today is exactly 6 years since I signed the closing papers on my first home. I can clearly remember that day and the events leading up to it...
I was 22 when I decided that I should invest in a home and stop paying rent on an apartment. One Friday I drove by a cute little house and thought, "oh, I need one of those!" I called the number on the sign and a real estate agent answered. He said he had an offer already but had plenty of other cute houses he could show me. He invited me to a home buyers seminar on Sunday. I attended the seminar and talked with a broker and the agent. We crunched some numbers around and decided how much I could afford to spend on a house.
That evening I started looking at properly online and found my house.
It was 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, carport, nice older subdivision, plenty of room for kids and pets. :)
The next morning I walked into the broker's office, filled out an application, and was preapproved for a mortgage. I took my approval letter, walked to the car and called my agent. I told him that I wanted to look at this house I had seen listed with another agency. I had already driven by twice that day and it felt right. That was on Monday.
My agent showed me the house on a Tuesday afternoon. I liked what I saw and scheduled a home inspection for Thursday. Everything looked good so I put the offer in that same day. On Sunday evening my agent called me and said, "Congrats! You got it!"
This is what my house looked like the day I bought it:


So in only 9 days I went from, "Hey, maybe I should buy a house." to "Oh my gravy, I just bought a house!"
I had to wait nearly 2 months to close on the home so I could count my second job as income and get a lower interest rate (a part time job must be held for at least two years in order to qualify that income for loan purposes).

Buying my home was the best financial decision I have made. I took out a 30 year mortgage, but by paying extra on my mortgage, I should be mortgage free in the next 9 years. And that, my friends, is priceless!
I will take a new picture of my house as soon as the snow melts away so you can see the progress.

Watching and Waiting

Simon cat has enjoyed the snowy view today. He spent an entire hour sitting motionless on the window sill watching my feathered friends gorging themselves on bird seed. I have been feeding the birds of Shady Grove subdivision since I bought my house 6 years ago. Simon has been terrorizing those same birds since he adopted me on March 19, 2005.
Seeing Simon and the birds has taught me a few lessons:

1 - Be prepared. Have the knowledge, skills, and tools in place. Study your goal.
2 - Patience is the key to success.

3 - But don't wait to long or your oppurtunity will fly away.

4 - When the time is right, strike hard and fast. Hesitation means failure.

5 - Take only what you can handle. Going for two birds at once means no bird at all.

6 - Celebrate your success. Simon does this by decapitating the bird. I prefer a good chocolate

7 - Share the bounty. Simon leaves the poor headless creature on the front mat for me. I like to treat my friends and family with my time and profit.