Well, yesterday we closed on our first house. It was a pretty eventful day – a lot of moving parts all coming together at the same time. Building our house has been a fun and occasionally stressful task, but we can now say that it is behind us and get started living in it! We successfully beat the November 30th deadline for the $8000 tax credit for first-time home buyers (unless it is extended), so after filing our taxes next year, we should get a nice bonus.
I want to thank all the readers for your help in this process. I have gotten some great suggestions from many of you and lots of great ideas as well. I will try to consolidate some of the lessons I learned over the last few months into an article soon.
By the way, the double window is where my office will be located, so if you stop by to visit you will see my smiling mug up there!
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
Congratulations! What a great beginning to a new adventure . Looks like a really nice house and way to snag the tax credit. Congrats again!
Congratulations Bob!
I’ll be over for dinner and great Christian PF conversation as soon as I can.
Cheers
Great looking house Bob, congratulations! Love the battens combined with the shingles above your office.
Wow, congrats!
What part of St Louis did you settle on? (I grew up in the Creve Coueur/Maryland Heights area.)
Congrats, Bob! Finally, something to call your own…your stormdoor looks cool too!
Congratulations.
Congratulations..Bob..
That is so cool and I know You worked hard to get it. Enjoy!
Congrats on the new house and squeezing in before the deadline…(maybe?)
We are renting right now and paying down debt so we can can purchase a house in the next couple of years…I can’t wait to read the article about what you learned through the whole home-buying process.
That’s awesome, I recently closed on my first house as well, so I know how exciting that is.
I can’t image building your own house, that must have been pretty awesome from the design standpoint as well as selecting materials and all of that, how cool and personalized.
I know trying to find a house with the features you want can be hard and full of compromises, so building your own house from scratch must have been a whole different story with different sacrifices I imagine.
Great picture as well, it looks like a happy home, good luck to you both.
Bob,
Congrats on the new place. Looks great.
I wanted to mention one thing from your post. As far as the tax credit, I don’t think you need to wait until April to file for your $8,000 check. It is my understanding that you can amend your 2008 return. It might not be worth the extra hassle for you, but something to think about.
Great lookin’ house! Congratulations!! It’s a good feeling to be done – now to the unpacking, which seems to never end. =)
Congratulations, may you have many years of happiness in your home! And the $8K tax credit is nothing to sneeze at, either — we’ve also qualified for it, but will wait until we file our 2009 tax return to claim it.
Thanks all!! I appreciate all the comments! We are really excited – God has been good to us!
Congrats, Bob. May God Bless your family and home.
congratulations man. i hope that new house gets filled with lovely memories and experiences
Congratulations! How exciting, and a beautiful home! Be careful with that $8000 tax credit. I’m sure you know more about it than I do being that you do a lot in this field but I’ve heard that you do have to repay that over a period of some years or so. It’s something to look into/prepare for at least.
Sarah, the first one did need to be repaid, the $8000 one that we fell under is a full tax credit that doesn’t need to be repaid back. But we will be careful with it either way – don’t want to waste it on stupid stuff!
Welcome to the world of home ownership! Don’t worry – yours doesn’t look like a ‘fixer-upper’ like ours!
Congrats
Congrats on the new house! It looks beautiful!
Congratulations!!! We can’t wait to come out and see it!
Congratulations to you. My wife and I closed in July on our new built home. It is great. Your home looks great. I enjoy your blog and like you am planning to use that tax credit in the most wise way possible.
Congrats on your new home. This is encouraging to see. God blessed you to purchase a house during a time where our country is having a recession. May God bless you and give you favor in Jesus name.
Congrats Bob!
Very Beautiful House and Family.
So great, Bob. You guys look very happy. I’m jealous of your home office.