We bought a house!!

Words I sincerely never thought I'd say. I was a happy and content renter for fifteen years, gave the best years of my life to Chicago. The city will always be home, no matter how far away I move.

But the world is very different now, and if we're going to be cooped up indoors - we need more space to roam free. We went on vacation last Halloween and found a lil' slice of paradise on the other side of Lake Michigan we never knew existed. It's the perfect combination of forests, waterways and pedestrian-friendly living. So we quit our jobs for permanently remote positions based in EST and essentially rearranged the entire trajectory of our lives to accommodate this monumental move. It's the most spontaneous thing we've ever done and we're impressing ourselves every step of the way with how adaptable we're becoming.

In case anyone is wondering how fast the timeline on this decision can move:
MON Feb 13th - Saw the house on Zillow after it was only posted for 5 hours and screamed "OMG I FOUND OUR HOUSE!" while my partner was making dinner (after not looking for over a month because we weren't pre-approved yet, after monitoring the site hourly for weeks to learn what kind of inventory there is out of state)
TUES Feb 14th - Scheduled a walk through and signed the paperwork to officially become pre-approved
WED Feb 15th - Left after work to drive to our new hometown, outrunning a blizzard that spanned half the country east of the Mississippi
THURS Feb 16th - Saw the house, knew immediately it was The One™, tried to schedule another walk through for my parents and sister but the sellers declined, stating that they already started to receive offers and would not be showing the house to anyone who wasn't already booked for a showing.
FRI Feb 17th - Submitted our offer
SAT Feb 18th - Offer accepted

If there's any advice I can offer, it's this:

• Search locally for a first-time homebuyers class - they are a lifesaver and worth every penny. If you are moving out of state, make sure to read up on the first time home buyers process as it differs state to state. Ex: in IL you receive your keys as close and in MI you have to wait an entire month after closing to receive the keys.
• Interview multiple realtors, have a really thorough list of questions and grill them hard. These people hold so much power in the process and you want to make sure you can trust this person wholeheartedly before committing. 
• Demand transparency every step of the way, never feel like you're asking too many questions. You can never ask enough!
• Try getting your mortgage through a locally-owned bank, preferably a credit union. More than likely they'll be able to offer you a better deal with greater flexibility than a national chain. Ex: there's a strict window of 60-90 days your pre-approval is good for. If you work with a big bank, you'll need to re-apply after that and every time you apply they ding your credit. If you work with a credit union, they can extend your first pre-approval without negative impact to your credit score. 
• Invest in a VPN and turn it on before completing any paperwork. There's so much of it, you want to make sure your transmitting all of your documents as securely as possible. Password protect all financial documents, never send a password in the same email as your documents.
• Prepare for the most stress you may have ever faced. While it sounds like a no-brainer, lots of friends warned me about how the home buying process makes you question every decision you've ever made in your entire life up until now and I was like "sure dawg, of course!" No fur real tho, the existential dread is real and it's heavy. Be really kind to yourself throughout the process and have stress-relieving tools and methods on hand and ready to deploy.
• Evaluate and analyze how much the types of houses you're after are selling for/have sold in your desired area within the last 2 or 3 months. This will help you figure out how much to offer. Your realtor should also provide you this info, that will give you something to tie out your numbers against. Knowledge is power!
• Just because you've been a renter your entire adult life, doesn't mean you're incapable of being a homeowner. Mowing your own grass might be scary, but it's not impossible. Things will break, you'll learn how to fix them - or you won't and you'll hire someone. People have done more with less.
  
• Lastly, Everyone's going to have an opinion, some of them might be prickly. don't let them harsh your mellow! Ultimately you need to trust your gut and follow the numbers - it's your house, not theirs. The more research you do up front, the more secure you'll feel about your decision.