We're Moving!!!

Joel and I will be closing on our first home in early April. We have been thinking about whether to buy or continue renting for several months and we finally decided it was the right time.

This sign used to say for sale...

It is such a crazy process trying to analyze all of the pros and cons of renting vs. buying. But we are very happy with our decision in the end. We thought it would be fun to list all of the pros of buying a house that we came up with.

Pros of buying a house (for the Reichert's):

1. More space (we've lived in 2 apartments with less than 1000 sq. feet for almost 3 years)
2. Start building equity in our home - give us flexibility to start saving for other goals as well
3. Sense of stability - we want to feel more permanent and establish some roots
4. More rooms - I get a craft room. Joel gets an office. We'll have  a guest room for family!
5. 2 car garage
6. A pretty yard to play in
7. Lots of Storage - tons of cabinets, shelving, garage, other storage throughout
8. You can paint, decorate and do whatever you want to your house
9. Awesome pool, tennis court, fitness center, walking trails, play grounds, etc for the family
10. Home prices and interest rates are still very low - nowhere to go but up... hopefully...
11. Less noisy neighbors / more privacy
12. Less shady characters around
13. The trains won't be going by all day and in the middle of the night
14. Right next to some great shopping
15. Still a short commute for Joel - about 10-15 minutes
16. Great ward for church and great neighborhood - family friendly
17. Less speed bumps - we go over about 5 both ways coming and going in our complex

The list goes on and on, but these are a lot of the main reasons we are excited.

P.S. The house is really pretty, I can't wait to share the pictures. It's not fully finished yet, so we will post pictures once it's done (approximately 30 days or so).


Also, today we went to Monument Cafe and it was really tasty...

 Siena had her sunglasses on her head almost the whole time. Funny little thing...