All my bags are packed and... well not quite

I am happy to announce Ben and I are moving!

In mid January, we were at a gathering of friends one Saturday, when I started talking mortgages with a friend, when he told me about a different kind of mortgage that appealed to us (Manulife One).  So the next day Ben and I did a little research, and the mortgage looked pretty awesome.  So on the Monday Ben called Manulife, and talked to one of their advisors just to see if we were even qualified, which is when our future plan changed drastically.

Ben and I had a plan, as most couples do.  Move in, buy Condo, Engagement, New Car, Marriage, Trip, House, Dogs, Kids...  (that's as far as we got).   So we had achieved the first 5 items on our list, and were currently in the process of saving for the last 4.  And as much as we had outgrown our little one bedroom Condo a year ago, we had some more saving to do before we could make the leap to the house, which meant toughing it out for another year or two.

And then Ben called Manulife.  For a little back story, in order to be eligable for a Manulife One Mortgage you must have at least 20% of your mortgage paid off -and we wanted to inquire as to how it worked when we bought a bigger, more expensive house in the future.  Ben was told, that instead of waiting to buy a house in 2 years, with the current value of our Condo, (assessment), and the current housing prices, it would be a better financial plan to buy now, instead of later.  So Ben called both his good friend who helped us with our mortgage before, as well as our own Mortgage Advisor, and they both said the same thing! 

So Huzzah!  We are moving!  I'm so excited, I can't even tell you!  Ben and I have been ready to buy a house since we bought the condo!  We often go for drives or walks in neighborhoods we like, or look up current mls listings and check out the place, and dream about the day that we live there - which is what brought us to our ideal neighborhood.  About 10 minutes away from downtown we found the area we want to live in, and this last fall we found the house we wanted too.  It was posted on mls, and contained everything we wanted in a house - Huge yard, big deck, over sized garage, central air - the list went on - it was even on the exact street we fell in love with in our dream neighborhood!  But alas, we weren't ready to buy then - so it never went any further than a dream.  And after 3 months of being listed, it vanished just before Christmas.

Now we are secretly hoping that they just decided to take down the listing for Christmas, and will re-list again in the Spring, when we are ready to buy - but we're not holding our breaths.  It would be a nice dream that's for sure :)

As of right now though - we are packing up our condo, painting walls, fixing minor issues (our cat re-designed our screen door, so that needs replacing), and getting ready to move - somewhere?

It's kind of a strange feeling, to pack up and get ready to move - without having a place to go...  actually, it's not a strange feeling, it's terrifying!

But Ben and I have been smiled upon in much of what we have done in our lives - we ended up with the exact condo we wanted, paying much less than what we had budgeted for.  Bought a great car 9 months earlier than planned, but ended up paying half the price we would have paid had we waited...   over all, someone is looking out for us, so I know we will be just fine - but until we get to that point - our nerves are going crazy!