First Time Home-Buyer...

I'm well into my 30s & for years, I've simply put-off buying a home of my own for various reasons - chiefly, I just didn't want to deal with the painstaking process of securing financing & then of course, there's finding that perfect home. But one day I woke-up this past February & for no reason at all, decided this would be the year I finally put myself on-track toward homeownership.

Since that time, I've taken several home buying & competitive market courses, selected a real estate agent, secured pre-approval from a lender, set aside money for estimated closing costs & have recently been touring properties that have grabbed my attention. I don't have a whole lot of amenities or features on my must-have list, but the few I've come-up with have significantly lowered the number of viable properties available to me.

Still, I've indeed been seeing the types of homes I'm looking for hit the market over the spring & summer, so I'm fairly confident I'll get an offer accepted & be able to close by the fall or early winter, when the market is a little less competitive. Early on, I was discouraged by what I saw out there, but things have definitely picked-up in terms of inventory, so I'm certainly gonna hold-out for the perfect home, not just settle for something with an attractive list price.

I'd be a liar if I said this entire process hasn't been entirely consuming though... no matter what I'm doing, home shopping never seems to be far from my mind. Quite frequently, I find myself immersed in online home listings at work, watching house hunting shows on HGTV at home & driving through desirable neighborhoods while out & about.

One thing's for certain, I'm gonna breathe SUCH a sigh of relief once I'm done with the forthcoming inspections, appraisals & document signings - just put the house keys in my hand already & be done with it, lol.

Mem'l Day Shenanigans...

On Saturday, I replaced what would have been my 5th annual MCVET 5k race with the Color Run in Baltimore, MD. It was a fun event – race participants ranged from the little ones to senior citizens… some running, some walking & some just flat-out in the way, lol.

The cluttered field indeed turned what should have been a race into more of an obstacle course, but I wasn’t out there to break any personal records, I simply needed to complete my annual Memorial Day weekend race tradition & that, I accomplished!

After running through the many color stations, I definitely finished the race in vibrant style. Even got myself a medal :-) I didn’t stay for any of the post-race activities (& there were plenty of them), but the duration of my holiday weekend was fun as well.

On Sunday, I hit the beach in Ocean City, MD, along with my girlfriend & others. We enjoyed the day on the beach. A tad windy & cool for our collective liking, but the drive to & from the beach was traffic-free, scenic & relaxing. Perhaps next time I’ll stay a night on the beach, versus driving back the same day, as I always do.

Hello, Who's This?

It's Friday!!! But a pretty long one for me - so I've been sitting here at work, impatiently awaiting the start of the weekend.

To help kill some time, I decided to audit my phone contacts & weed-out all those who haven't contacted me in well over a year & visa versa. 

In doing so, I was rather amazed to discover just how many people I've fallen completely out of touch with over the past year or so. My list of contacts, once an endless trove of email addresses, telephone numbers, birth dates & such, has been on the steady decline.

After this official audit, I fear it'll soon be reduced to a mere list of emergency contacts, lol. But I guess that's to be expected... I've come to learn that as we grow, our circle of trust shrinks, rather than expand, but I'm completely ok with that.

Besides, I've become somewhat of a minimalist in recent years, so the more clutter I'm able to eliminate from my life (both literally & figuratively speaking), the better I tend to feel. But I do miss those I'm no longer in contact with on a regular basis.

I have many great memories of wonderful (& admittedly, not so wonderful) people, so I'm happy to access archived files whenever I find time to reflect. I may not recognize the number the next time you call, but know you're not far from mind.