We've been renters since we got married, ten and a half years now. We've wanted to buy a house -- it's kind of the American dream, after all -- but it always seemed out of our reach. Well, we told ourselves that would be our goal for 2005.

So, on January 1, we started browsing the real estate listings online. I got in touch with a local Realtor almost by accident when I filled out a form asking for more information on a particular listing. The Realtor put me in touch with a mortgage lender, and we got an idea of the price range we could look in. This was all done by January 4, and we still figured it would be at least six months before we were ready to seriously consider buying.

After three weeks of poring over listings, checking out community information, and driving through neighborhoods by day and by night, we had a list of seven houses we asked the Realtor to take us to see. So on January 28 we headed to Baltimore to see three of them. The first one we hated, and the third one was scary. But the second one... we loved it. Stately, well cared for, on a quiet dead-end street with a large yard and a view of the Baltimore skyline, it fit the bill.

On January 31 we made the sellers an offer, and they accepted on February 1. Just one month after beginning the search, we'd agreed to buy a house!

Here are some photos of our house taken on February 5. We had the home inspection on February 7, a very informative nearly four hour crash course in home ownership, and took some more pictures of the interior.

Closing is scheduled for March 17!