We really did it, it's hard to believe!
The closing went really well this morning and was much less painful than we had imagined. Most of that is attributed to the great work from our Realtor and Lender who truly were a blessing through all of this. They made us feel that they really wanted to help us and I don't think we could have had a better team behind us.
We were a little disappointed that we didn't get to meet the sellers as they were able to get in an hour earlier than we could to sign their portion. Much like the rest of the DC area they were insistent on getting back to work asap. While I can understand and appreciate the concept, if I were selling my house I would like to wait (less than an hour in this case) to meet and shake the hand of the buyer. But maybe that's just me.
We became very casual with our Realtor, Erika, who is from MI so naturally the process was less formal with her which carried through to closing. Of course the closing couldn't be complete without Nate explaining to the settlement attorney that he is a "celebrity". So needless to say, if it weren't for signing our lives away it would have been a very fun morning. The poor guy didn't know what to think and you could tell he was torn with trying to figure out if he should join in on the antics or remain professional. At the end of it Nate asked the attorney if this was how normal people behaved at closings and his response was, "Well, no. I would say this was unconventional but not unacceptable." We wouldn't want it any other way :)
Getting handed over the key caused quite the rush of emotions. I wanted to cry and hug the guy but he seemed already overwhelmed by us so I refrained. We were so excited and utterly shocked all at the same time and it was strange to know just a single key was causing all of it. We left, still in shock, and kept repeating "OMG we own a house." We figured we needed some food so we stopped at Jimmy John's before heading to the house. We told the guy at the counter that we just bought a house about 5 minutes ago and even though he looked at us like we had 5 heads, we couldn't stop smiling.
With the rest of the afternoon off, we headed to the house, popped a bottle of champagne and kept walking in circles still in shock. It looked much like the scene from Step Brothers where they're in the bedroom walking in circles saying "we have so much room for so many activities".
The big move of furniture is planned for this upcoming Saturday, but we decided to start bringing over some items. We started with the tv we just purchased and with the help of the Jacksons letting us borrow their SUV we picked up our new grill (priorities, right?). We dropped off the big ticket items in the garage along with a few other valuables in the house and went to run a few errands.
We came back to realize we're horrible homeowners already. We left the garage door wide open, inviting anyone to just come on in and take our stuff. We felt so stupid and a little worried to walk in to see if anything was missing. Nate decided to be silly and pound on the door as a warning to any "possible intruders". We were giggling and laughing at ourselves... until I realized his pounding had dented the door. There we were, homeowners for less than a few hours and we already left the place wide open and dented a door. This should be a fun adventure!
With a new grill we decided to have a cookout with the Jacksons and their girls. I would add pictures now but I honestly have no clue where the camera cord is. I'm quite impressed I could even locate a camera. So we'll add those later. But it was a great time and we were very excited to celebrate with them!
Such an exhausting and exciting day. Now to try to get some sleep so we're ready to move all the way in this weekend :)
