Ever since I was a little girl I have dreamed of having two vehicles in my lifetime: a Corvette and a BMW X5. Despite my measly teacher salary, I have always said that I would just save and save until I could have both. But lucky for me, I married an amazing guy that has the same taste I do and he already had a Corvette when we met (he has a Mustang too but don't get me started on a FORD!).
When we first got engaged I told Kevin my intention was to still buy a Corvette of my own one day but as my dad pointed out... that would be a very unwise decision. The fact is if I had a Corvette of my own, I would not drive it anymore than we drive Kevin's because the point is they are just for fun. They are most definitely not an everyday car. Plus, in the time span we would be paying it off, we'd hopefully have a baby on the way and then we would need another vehicle and trying to swing several car payments with a baby is not a wise choice. Due to this fact, I gave up the notion of having my own and Kevin and I decided we'd share his Corvette. But to compromise, we decided the next vehicle we purchased would be my BMW X5.
So when I got a "grown up" job back in July, Kevin and I made the decision to buy a new vehicle by the end of the year. Over the past four months we have been able to save up extra money, so Kevin decided we would get my BMW X5 for my Christmas present! Since he told me that in November I have been walking on Cloud Nine and have been so excited! However, that excitement quickly turned to disappointment tonight :(
When we first started looking at BMW's several people told us we did not want to get a BMW. They gave various reasons but in the end they all boiled down to the same thing... they cost a lot of money to maintain and they are expensive to fix. However, these two facts did not deter us from looking because the cost to maintain and fix a BMW is no more than what it costs to care for Kevin's Corvette. But then tonight I decided to do some research. As I read hundreds (literally!) of car reviews for the BMW X5's, I found more negatives than positives. It seemed that everyone had at least one complaint (even the people who gave it a 4 out of 5!). Unfortunately, most of these complaints were no minor thing! All of them were major and extremely costly. Still thinking that it is easier to complain than to praise, I decided to ask my friends who owned BMW's about their experiences. Sadly, after speaking with five of my friends who own BMW's and hearing that they all wish they would have gotten something else, I told Kevin I felt like we should look for something else. With planning on starting a family in the next two years, the last thing we need is major car problems!
So now the car shopping begins all over again. We have spent the last three hours looking online at every SUV made and I can't make any decisions on what I like. It is hard to find something you like when you have had your mind made up all your life of what you want. All I can say is shattered dreams are hard to fix in an hour. Here's to hoping and praying I'll have a new dream soon!
11.29.2011
11.25.2011
Our Home
Kevin and I ended up looking at 5 houses before we found this home. I'm sorry I don't have pictures of the other three houses! I know I have them somewhere but I can't find them. I'm guessing they are on my flash key that recently stopped working. Story of my life! But oh well!
When I first saw this home listed online, I wasn't even interested in it but Kevin wanted to check it out. I'm glad he was persistent despite my hesitancy because as soon as we walked in, we knew we were walking into our home.
Here's the pictures I took from the website the house was listed on!
When I first saw this home listed online, I wasn't even interested in it but Kevin wanted to check it out. I'm glad he was persistent despite my hesitancy because as soon as we walked in, we knew we were walking into our home.
Here's the pictures I took from the website the house was listed on!
The house didn't look as formal as the pictures made it out to be. The home was very cozy and casual. It was exactly what we were looking for in our first home. It was roughly 2400 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2 & a half baths, had a living room, family room, 2 car garage, large backyard, a huge porch perfect for cookouts, and lots and lots of walk in closets! In the end, we made an offer on the house the very next day. Two hours after our first offer, the house was ours!
I'll put up pictures soon to show you what it looks like now! I just need to take some good ones first!
House #2: The Wrap-Around Porch House
I have always wanted a wrap around front porch so when Kevin and I saw this house on the market, I gave Kevin no choice but to go look at it!!!
This house was in a great neighborhood (in fact, it was in the one we now live in!) but unfortunately, it sat in the center of a culdesac so there was absolutely no parking if we wanted to entertain (which we wanted to do!). This was a huge con in our book. I loved how open the house was and the kitchen, living room, and dining room were a huge hit for me. However, the bedrooms were pretty small and we needed space for future toddlers! So we decided to pass on this house despite how much I loved that amazing front porch!
This house was in a great neighborhood (in fact, it was in the one we now live in!) but unfortunately, it sat in the center of a culdesac so there was absolutely no parking if we wanted to entertain (which we wanted to do!). This was a huge con in our book. I loved how open the house was and the kitchen, living room, and dining room were a huge hit for me. However, the bedrooms were pretty small and we needed space for future toddlers! So we decided to pass on this house despite how much I loved that amazing front porch!
House #1: "THE" House
So today I was rummaging through old pictures on my computer and I came across pictures of all the houses we had looked at last year when we were house hunting. Which by the way, was one of the best times Kevin and I have ever had in our relationship! We had so much fun searching for our "perfect" home. I figured I'd share the houses we looked at and share the pics of the one we now call home!
Here's the first home we ever found! When this house was first built in the mid 2000's, I fell in love with it. Every time we passed it on the way to the lake, I always admired it! I loved its spacious front yard and cute front porch. So when the house was listed on the market at the time we began our housing search, I told Kevin we HAD to go look at it. So we did...3 times!
This was our DREAM home. It had everything you could ever want: 3500 square feet, four bedrooms with all walk-in-closets, 2 and a half baths, a family room, an office, a two car garage, a separate 4 car garage with a bonus room above, screened in back porch... I mean what else would you need!
We ended up making several offers on this house but at the last minute (Literally! We had like 20 minutes to decide), we decided to withdraw our offer and continue our house hunting. We decided this was the kind of house we wanted to spend the second part of our lives in (you know...the one with kids) so we wanted to start with something smaller for just the two of us... plus, we knew if we bought this house we would never move and we both wanted our final house to have sandstone brick. So we knew that in the end, we should keep looking.
Here is "THE" home though:
See how gorgeous this house was... Can you see why we'd want it? Some days I wish we would have went on and bought this house... especially for the huge walk in closet that was in the master bedroom.. It was massive!!!! It was an entire room!!!! I could have made it a nursery if I had wanted... Needless to say, thats my kind of heaven! But in the end, I am happy where we are and I know in the future, we'll have our dream home with all of the same amenities!
Here's the first home we ever found! When this house was first built in the mid 2000's, I fell in love with it. Every time we passed it on the way to the lake, I always admired it! I loved its spacious front yard and cute front porch. So when the house was listed on the market at the time we began our housing search, I told Kevin we HAD to go look at it. So we did...3 times!
This was our DREAM home. It had everything you could ever want: 3500 square feet, four bedrooms with all walk-in-closets, 2 and a half baths, a family room, an office, a two car garage, a separate 4 car garage with a bonus room above, screened in back porch... I mean what else would you need!
We ended up making several offers on this house but at the last minute (Literally! We had like 20 minutes to decide), we decided to withdraw our offer and continue our house hunting. We decided this was the kind of house we wanted to spend the second part of our lives in (you know...the one with kids) so we wanted to start with something smaller for just the two of us... plus, we knew if we bought this house we would never move and we both wanted our final house to have sandstone brick. So we knew that in the end, we should keep looking.
Here is "THE" home though:
See how gorgeous this house was... Can you see why we'd want it? Some days I wish we would have went on and bought this house... especially for the huge walk in closet that was in the master bedroom.. It was massive!!!! It was an entire room!!!! I could have made it a nursery if I had wanted... Needless to say, thats my kind of heaven! But in the end, I am happy where we are and I know in the future, we'll have our dream home with all of the same amenities!
