And so it begins...

Over a month ago, my wife and I decided to look for a new home in Northern Virginia.  We have been renting since I went back to Graduate school in 2006.  I had decided that I didn't want to continue to pay rent and we began to look for a place to buy.  The high prices in the D.C. area meant that to find something to fit our six person family, we would need to look away from the city.  Despite some hesitance from my better half to look too far away, we quickly realized that we weren't going to get something that fit us near to where we currently lived.  We put a bid on a house in Bealeton that seemed to fit us just right.  However, it wasn't to be and the house went to someone else.  It was at that time that she spoke to a friend who lived in Culpeper, VA.  After learning that someone from the same Church/boy scout troop/American heritage girl troop lived and loved it there... she was finally convinced to look at what was in that area.  They had houses that were the right size and the small town looked like a perfect fit for us.  We looked at the Ryan Homes development that our friend lived in and that led us to another smaller development that fit us better a few minutes away called Magnolia Green. 

We sat down with a representative and began to look at a Palermo model.  We immediately wanted the extra space that the morning room provided.  They had a "deal" being offered in which we could get the luxury kitchen (larger island) and the kitchen appliances.  The morning room made for a nice, open, and beautiful kitchen/dining area.  We home school, so the office being right off of the Great room was also a plus as it kept everything on the main floor during the days schooling (from meals to homework).  I had to add the fireplace as I've always loved them and we hadn't had one since we left Burnsville, MN.  We put in some extra hard wood in and the wife gets the mud room she always wanted (with four kids, it's a blessing).  It wasn't until we saw a model of the Palermo in Fredricksburg that we decided we had to have the bonus room upstairs.  It will become a craft/scrapbooking/sewing room.

We signed our agreement on 3/16 and submitted our loan application on 3/17.  We have already had our 14 day meeting and our flooring (in which we added a backsplash to the kitchen) meeting on 4/2.  Our next big date is the wiring meeting on 4/8.  We are trying to make it seem like the time is going faster by having big countdowns to each event (in an attempt to make the long time till completion not be thought about too much).  My wife is mostly concerned with what the colors will be in the new place while I'm mostly concerned with getting the financing taken care of smoothly.

I plan to keep a running track of key dates and plenty of pictures as we move through this.  I'm looking forward to moving into a brand new home and I only have to wait how many days again... nope... not gonna think about that!