Wake Me Up When December Ends

I have fallen in love with a condo that is out of my price range. The worst part is, it's not that far out of my price range, yet still far enough that I could see a bank not approving a loan. Or, if I got it, the down payment would eat up my savings and the monthly mortgage plus expenses would eat up my paychecks.

To be honest, I haven't seen it in person yet. But from what I've seen in pictures, it's so cute! It's got two bedrooms and two bathrooms. It has the cutest little fireplace with built-in shelves on either side. It's on the top floor, which I want. It's got a deck with really great views. The kitchen is a little small for me but it's workable. There's lots of cupboards and counterspace plus a dishwasher and all other appliances. There are gorgeous wood floors throughout, except in the kitchen and bathrooms. There's a closet with washer and dryer plus lots of other closets for storage. There is a garage space and an outdoor parking space. There's even an elevator.

However, it's not perfect, not that I expect a starter home to be perfect. It's up in the hills, which could be hard to get up and down in the winter. One of the bedroom windows might look out onto a shared space, which seems kind of weird. It's far on the other side of town from most of the places I shop, as well as far away from family. And since I haven't seen it in person, for all I know it could reek of cigarette smoke, which is such a horrible smell to try to remove from a place. Or the neighbors could be bad. Or it could look far worse in person. Or the condo fee could be outrageous. Also, it needs a little updating, but from what I can see in the pictures I think I could live with it, as is, until I could afford to make improvements.

Despite the imperfections, I haven't felt this way about any of the other places I've looked at in person or seen online. I keep coming back to this place and comparing all others to this one. I'm just torn on what to do. I feel very pressured right now, both because interest rates rose recently and will keep rising, and because I really like this place and want to do everything I can to see if I can get it.

In the interest of doing everything possible I tried emailing my parents' recommended realtor over a week ago. I got an automated response that she was on vacation until the next day. I waited for a real response and so far none has been forthcoming. I'm not sure if I should call her, email her again, or try to find a different realtor. But I would really like to see the place in person before I get in touch with the bank and see if they would be willing to up my pre-approval amount. (Did I mention my pre-approval expires in mid-January?)

In other news, I had a meeting with an insurance agent to help me get signed up for health insurance for next year. She was extremely nice and helpful, she even wrote down what I needed to say to the insurance company so that things would get switched correctly. Of course the person at the insurance company didn't follow the script! However, I think I made myself clear. I should just have to call sometime, probably this week, and pay my first premium for next year.

Of course all this real estate & health insurance stuff is coming together just in time for the busiest week at work. Ugh.

What did I say in my last post about spending December relaxing?

Eight

Did anyone else feel like November lasted far too long, while also flying by as quickly as time seems to go these days? That's how it felt for me - as though it existed in a weird time warp.

I have no real TTC prep goal for December except practicing meditation and relaxation. Maybe a little at-home pampering as well. This is the most stressful month for my job so I need all the relaxation I can get.

As for my goals from the previous two months - they are all still works-in-progress. However, I do have an appointment later this month to get signed up for new health insurance. At least that task will get crossed off my list.

Nine

My task for this month is to pick new health insurance. My current insurance, which I pay entirely out of pocket, has decided to go up by 43% next year.
Now that it is open season I am going to look into new plans and see what is available. Any tips on what I should be looking for, considering this is what I'll have for TTC and (hopefully) pregnancy/delivery/baby, etc.?
I don't like to get overly political, but I really, really hope the next president doesn't make things worse healthcare-wise. That's another thing I'll be doing this November - voting, and hoping the rest of America isn't really as stupid as it sometimes seems to be.

This month I also plan to implement an exercise routine. The only exercise I seem to get is walking up and down stairs at work, which really doesn't help much. I need to work on strengthening my back, my knees, and my core, plus work on my posture and general endurance. Most of all, I need to get rid of my muffin top!
I no longer have a gym membership, so this will all have to be done at home. I'm hoping the motivation of watching TV or listening to music while I work out will be enough to get me through because I really want to be in shape before I even attempt TTC.

As for my October to-do (Work on getting my own place): I still have not gotten in touch with a realtor, so I've only seen the one condo I talked about last time. (It was in the basement and too dungeon-y for me).
I have the information for the realtor my parents used and I hope to, at least, email her soon. I just keep delaying it out of fear. Fear of the unknown, since I've never bought a house before. Fear of regret if I buy a place I end up hating. And fear of depleting my savings, then really needing that money down the road. As you can see, lots of fear to work through, hence my procrastination. Plus, there aren't a lot of houses currently available in my price range.

P.S. I'm slowly catching up on everyone's blogs. I took a break from reading them when I went on hiatus so there's a lot of posts to read through.

Ten

I stopped blogging because I was tired of only having bad news to share. I thought blogging might help as a place I could vent my frustrations but I started feeling as though I was dwelling on them too much, both in and out of the blog. I took some time over the last few months to concentrate on myself and I feel a lot better now.

I’m back and I’m ready to get some things done!

The important things right now are:

The trip to Australia & New Zealand is planned, set, and mostly paid for, and this is the reason I have pushed my TTC start date to August of 2017. That means I’ve got 10 months to get ready for TTC!

My October task on the "Get ready for TTC" list is to concentrate on getting my own place. A few weeks ago I got pre-approval from the bank, though my budget is low. I need to speak to a real estate agent but, in the meantime, I’m going to an open house tomorrow. Fingers crossed I can find something I like!

The Universe Giveth, the Universe Taketh Away

The apartments that I've watched being built since sometime last summer finally put a sign up saying they were ready to start leasing, along with an email address to contact for information. Prior to that, there was no way to get information on these places as there is no website for the complex (yet).

So I emailed them and received a very nice reply listing details for the complex, along with a rental application.

Since these apartments have so many more amenities than any other place in town I anticipated that they would be more expensive, and I set my rent budget at a level that was high, yet still doable for me.
Unfortunately, the rental prices for these apartments far outstrip my budget and are, frankly, exceedingly high for my town. You basically need two incomes to afford a one-bedroom or a single income that is so high you'd be better off buying a house or a condo.

Back to square one on the living situation.