Earlier today (2:34PM, to be exact), Rachel made the first signature on a document which made us homeowners.

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We're definitely not pros, but we certainly have learned more than a few things about shopping for houses. Here's a few:

Figure out what you can afford early.

I think it's safe to say we learned this one the hard way. Talking to a financial planner (or someone who really really knows their stuff, like my pop) to see what's a comfortable price range is a good place to start, since you'll know from the get-go what you should be looking at. There can be a heck of a lot of properties, and it's not hard to assume you can afford more of them than you actual may be able to.

Browse, browse, browse. Browse.

Check out MLS.ca. Check out the Real Estate Guide (here on PEI, the guides come out ever second Thursday in the Guardian, or are available in front of agency offices in those yellow bins). Have a look at what's available, and get an idea of what homes are listed for in different areas. Drive around and see some of them (or just check them out on Google Street View). Educating yourself on what properties are available and what they typically go for is important.

Go to open houses.

They typically run from 2-4 (sometimes 1-3) on Saturday or Sunday. Sunday's the busier day. On a good day, we can hit four in the Charlottetown area.  I'll be honest, I had no idea what to expect the first time we went to an open house. I was sure some sleezy real estate agent was going to push us around the house and then try to deal with us right there. Not so (usually). Most times the agent greets you at the door, gives you a listing sheet, and sends you on your way. It's one of the best ways to educate yourself. We've probably been to about 30 or 40 so far, and it's helped give us a pretty good idea of what houses go for and are worth.

There's a lot more, but it's late and I'm tired. So we'll write them up another time.

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A little over 18 months ago, Rachel peed on a stick, and our lives changed forever. We were parents, and after Baby (as Claire was then known) would arrive, our downtown studio apartment was going to be a little more cramped. 

It was time to buy a house.

We started the search for a home. We weren't entirely sure what we could afford, or where exactly we wanted to live. We looked around on MLS.ca, checked out our biweekly real estate guide, hit some open houses, etc. Eventually, with eyes wide and with our hearts excited about several properties, we chatted with my dad (who also happens to be the manager of our credit union) about what we might be able to afford.

He looked at our numbers: what we had, and what we owed. He talked about mortgages and debt service ratios and a myriad of other financial metrics we should consider. He showed us what kind of financial situation we'd be in, and what we'd be able to afford, if we were to buy at that time, wait six months, and wait a year.

After that, it was fairly obvious: waiting a year to buy would allow us to pay off about 75% of our debt, and allow us to carry a 25 - 30% greater mortgage. While buying a house at the time would have been nice, we knew then that we'd be so much happier waiting in the long run.

So now, it's a year later. More than 75% of that debt has been paid off (yay us), and after talking to my pop, we can certainly handle more of a mortgage (not that we necessarily will). We've spent some time looking into what we'd like for us and for our growing family, and we're officially on the hunt. 

We also want to keep track and blog about the experience of buying a house. It's complicated and frustrating and exciting and fun, and we like the idea of being able to look back on this in years to come and reminisce about buying our first house. On top of that, we know there's other people out there in a similiar situation as ourselves, and perhaps some of what we're learning during this process could be valuable to them as well. 

So, we hope you don't mind, but this constant stream of photos and videos of Claire will be periodically interupted with posts about open houses and mortgages and buying a home. Sorry, mom.

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