Our House

The last four months must be hanging out with the socks in my house. I have no idea where they went, although time seemed to disappear more quickly when we bought our DVR. Big Bang Theory repeats aside, we really have been busy.

A lot of our spare time over the last few months was spent looking for, and now buying, a home. One blurry Saturday, we looked at six houses. We bought none of them. Instead, we bought the house that kept drawing us back to it.

We first liked it for its setting across from cow-filled fields. Then for the tiny village it was located in, for its 13th-century church and 17th century pub, for its friendly and inviting residents. So why, we wondered, could we afford this house in the country with plenty of space? It must be, we thought, because of its proximity to Gatwick airport. So we went back at different times of day and different days of the week. We asked the locals how they felt about aircraft noise. We event spent the night at a local B&B to find out for ourselves.

The result was our entry into the long and stressful process of buying a house in England, where the buyer spends a fortune on surveys and solicitors before the seller is legally committed to sell you their house (and you to buy). In the end, we will be homeowners again this Friday, the 15th of June 2012.