Gretel is Lost in the Woods.

Last week, i contacted a Realtor to start the prices of buying a house; through the insistence and push of a friend. The Realtor is his mom, but the push was more of a nudge out of the nest.
He was tired of me saying i wanted to get a house and said just do it already.

Monday afternoon i submitted the paperwork to be pre-qualified for a loan. I am currently waiting on the underwriters to give me the final word.

In the mean time, i am on the hunt.

I posed a question on Facebook and Google+ asking my friends for advice that they wish they would have known when buying their houses.
Fantastic advice was given, some i knew and some im glad to know.
The roommate gave me some good advice too, and offered to do a walk through once i found some houses i was interested in. As he has bought and sold multiple homes, i am very grateful for the offer.

Buying a home is a big deal for me for multiple reasons.
One, as long as i can remember my family has never owned a home. (I did later find out my mom owned one when i was a toddler for a brief moment). Being the first person to own a home in my family makes me feel very exploratory. Like i'm Columbus exploring new territory! And while i know my sisters will feel like i'm rubbing it in that i'm better than them. That is not the intent. I'm not better than them, i just made better choices and my choice was not to repeat the family cycle set forth before me.

The second reason this is a big deal is because all my life, until i was 24, i have moved around almost every year. When i was little, a new house every year and sometimes a new school district. My mom finally agreed to stay in one school district during our high school years. Grateful for that.
Then i was in my 18 and carefree, moving from roommate to boyfriend to roommate to boyfriend. It happens.

But over the past two years, i have been desperately searching for roots, for somewhere to belong.
Like most females, i thought this was a relationship. Turns out, i'm not great at those, so i am seeking my roots elsewhere; in a home.

Now, im on the hunt.
Last weekend i drove past 15 houses and only found one that i was even excited to see the inside of.
Someone already has a contract on it, so im still looking.

Gretel, desperately seeking her Gingerbread home