Raise the (New) Roof

The first project we tackled wasn’t much of a choice. May showers did not disappoint us in 2013 and as “luck” would have it there was a fresh leak in the living room on both the day of the inspection and the final walk through. We didn’t feel very lucky about our leaks at the time but we were able to negotiate some money back from the seller because of it.

By the time we got three estimates and the rain stopped long enough for a days worth of roofing our house looked like this:

After several weeks of lamenting every rain drop that fell, it was all done in a days worth of work:

The result was worth the wait and we no longer have to climb into our attic and strategically place pans and buckets every time it rains:

Sold!

John and I closed on our first home May 30th, 2013. We would like to share our journey in home ownership as well as any other family members we can convince to join in 😀

The healthy mutant real estate market in the suburbs of DC means that even deep pockets translate into small space. And because we only have the latter we have to work doubly hard to decorate on a budget. We are working with a lot of hand me downs and freecycle items at the moment as well as DIYing when we can.

In order to purchase a home in our desired neighborhood we had to take on a mortgage at the high end of our approved loan qualification, which just about anyone will tell you not to do. Including us! But from the very beginning we had a plan that would allow us to pay our mortgage, afford maintenance/repairs, save for retirement, AND eat dinner. This required us to give up a lot. Half the house to be exact. Ever since moving in we have rented the basement. Becoming first time homeowners and landlords all at once has had a steep learning curve but we are fortunate that we have had amazing family and friends living with us thus far. Of course the house didn’t come ready made for renters so we will spill all the details of how we got our house up to speed.