Home Buying Tips
Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: The Best Parts of Homeownership So Far
Being a homeowner certainly has some pros and cons. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, I explored some of the downsides I’ve discovered since becoming a homeowner. With that, it’s only fair that I also highlight some of the best aspects as well.
Top 5 Things I’m Loving as a New Homeowner
Being able to decorate
Having lived in apartments for the past 20 years or so of my life, I’ve gotten very used to being careful of the walls. While I might be able to tack up a poster or two with Command strips, I’d never want to put any holes in the walls lest it come out of my security deposit. Because of this, being able to do whatever we want with our home really does feel freeing.
So what have we done so far? Well, before we even moved in, we decided to paint a couple of walls. More recently, we’ve added some floating shelves to display our various pop culture items and also hung one of the many puzzles my wife has completed and glued together. But, our favorite addition so far is in the kitchen where we’ve put up a dry-erase board. This has now become the hub for our bill reminders, grocery lists, and whatever else we want to jot down.
None of these things are hugely impactful, but it’s still nice to have the freedom to do what we want without worrying about angry landlords or apartment managers.
Having an attached garage
Let me tell you this: having a garage is a gamechanger. There are numerous reasons why I love being able to park in a garage and then walk right into my kitchen, but I’ll share just a few.
First, with showers quick to pop up in Springfield, not having to worry about running to my apartment building is a big perk. Second, whether I’m purchasing groceries or other items, the ability to carry whatever I want and make multiple small trips rather than loading up my arms with as much as I can carry makes life so much easier. Lastly (and somewhat similarly), having a garage is hugely helpful when preparing for/returning from road trips.
For all of those reasons, I absolutely love having an attached garage and can never go back to the ways of the past.
The beauty of a finished basement
Growing up in Arizona and then only living in apartments, this is the first time I’ve ever had a basement. What’s more, rather than the spooky and industrial basements you normally find, ours is finished. Like with the attached garage, there are several things we’re enjoying about this part of the house.
For one, as we’ve discovered on warmer days, the basement is significantly cooler than the upper levels. This will surely make it the prime hang-out spot this summer. Also, speaking of weather, it is good to know that we have a safer place to retreat should severe storms make their way through our area.
Another big benefit is that our basement is equipped with a full bathroom. This will make it a perfect space for guests and we can stay out of their hair.
In the meantime, seeing as we don’t have a ton of stuff in our basement, it’s been a perfect place to play with our dog as she has lots of room to run around. Even when we do eventually add a couch or whatever guest accommodations we need, I foresee this aspect remaining.
All in all, while it’s perhaps underutilized at the moment, having this finished basement will surely benefit us greatly going forward.
Multiple bathrooms
This is a small one, but I’ll mention it anyway. Having a bathroom on each of the three levels of the house is just convenient — unnecessary, sure, but convenient. As I already mentioned, this will be great for overnight guests in the basement but will also be nice for other visitors as there’s a half-bath on the main level.
The ability to make noise
Lastly, as someone who does his best to be considerate of others, I’d strive to keep my noise output to a minimum while living in an apartment. Well, that’s not as necessary now that we have a house.
Granted, this doesn’t mean that I’m blasting music or screaming my head off for no reason. Instead, the largest change has (once again) related to our dog. At our last place, we’d always feel bad for our neighbors when we’d leave the dog alone as she’s known to howl and bark when that happens. This also limited the time of day that we’d feel comfortable going out without her. Now, we can go out whenever while leaving her in her crate. She doesn’t like this very much, but we do.
Again, this perk really just speaks to the overarching freedom that comes with being a homeowner. So, as silly as it may sound, it’s something I’m happily adjusting to.
As I mentioned in my last article, while there are a few annoyances that have come with homeownership, it’s been quite an upgrade overall. Finally, we have a space that’s all our own and has several of the conveniences we’ve sacrificed previously. Therefore, at least for now, we’re still quite happy with our decision to buy.
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