A Boydhouse of Our Own

Over the last couple years Nick and I have been working diligently to pay off our hefty student loans from the [private] grad school days. We have a set budget and several months' reserves in our savings account, and anything over that that comes in goes directly to our loans. Our long-term goals have always been to pay off our loans, then buy a house or duplex, do a bit of traveling (we'd love to see South America and definitely want to go back to Europe), and then start planning for a family. Well, after lots of thinking and plenty of calculations from Mr. Numbers Guy (aka Nick), we consulted our favorite lender and discovered that by going on "income-based repayment"with our student loans, we could qualify to buy a house! Now, the idea behind this new payment plan is that we will look better on paper to a lender-- we'd have lower mandatory outs per month and therefore a significantly lower debt-to-income ratio. However, that won't stop us from continuing to aggressively pay down our student loans whenever possible because our mortgage payments will be $5 less than our rent!

Once we were armed with this good news, Nick and I went into action mode and, for the first time, started seriously looking for ourselves. After doing the House Hunt with dozens of clients over the last few years, it was so fun to finally have our turn! Because we're in an average of 5-10 different homes per week (perks of being Realtors), we were already very aware of what we did and did not want in a home. Lo and behold, we found a house just 5 minutes from where we live now that matches all of our criteria! Granted, this house still needs some work to bring it to where we want it, but its bones are perfect.

Our Baby Blue Beauty

Again, because of our jobs, we were already very familiar with the market in that area. We were actually actively looking for a couple clients in that area too (and are so glad we found it first! haha). Nick and I agreed to offer slightly less than market value and asked that they help us with closing costs. We also asked for their brand new HE washer and dryer because, why not? And because we were representing ourselves, that 3% buyer's agent commission went right back to us. Boom! To boot, I wrote a sweet little letter to the sellers, letting them know that we're looking forward to making this house a long-term home and promise to take good care of it (true story).

Well, the letter worked! Not even the other agent (who also works with ReMax) could believe the deal we are getting. Since then our inspection came back very clean and our appraisal came in sparkling. Our lender and his team have been pounding the pavement to get this done for us, and will have completed this deal from start-to-finish in 25 days! We get our keys in just a few days and are SO EXCITED to be HOMEOWNERS! We'll have projects a plenty in the first few months, so stay tuned!

Hello Again!

I recently pulled up this ol' blog just for kicks and found myself sucked into it for hours. I am so glad we documented all of our excitement during our first couple years in Oregon. Reading through it again has been such fun. I'm glad that we made the best of our lives as we transitioned from California to Oregon, from Portland to Eugene, from first real jobs to our now for-real jobs, and from scraping by to making a good living. What an adventure this has been!

As always with us, there's been a lot of change lately! First and foremost, you can now call me Mrs. Boyd. :) Nick and I tied the knot in April last year at Mt. Pisgah Arboretum in Eugene. We were spoiled with unusually good weather and lots of friends and family who traveled from all over for our special day. It was a big do-it-ourselves event that took months of planning, but we wouldn't have changed anything about it (except for the fake rose petals/plastic diamonds mysteriously sprinkled on all the tables, haha). Our favorite part was the big Oak tree under which we were married-- our family hung lace embroidery hoops from the branches and walking down the aisle was absolutely magical!

For our Honeymoon we traveled first to Tiel, the Netherlands and stayed with my cousins for a few nights. They took us to all of the sights around Holland and really spoiled us with good food, great company and lots of laughter. We even went to another cousin's Greek-style wedding in Rotterdam! It was quite fancy and again, we felt so fortunate to be there. After spending time with family, Nick and I moved on to our next adventure: Amsterdam. What a beautiful, friendly city! We stayed in a modern apartment in De Pijp, just a few minutes from several museums and the popular Vondelpark. We already want to go back! After a few days in Amsterdam we took the train to Paris and spent the remaining days enjoying some of the best food and wine we've ever had! In case you'd like a recommendation, La Place Royale was an incredibly romantic dining experience. And even the 3-Euro bottles of Bordeaux were delicious!

Zaanse Schans

Rewind: About six months before we got married, Nick convinced me to join him in Real Estate with ReMax. Unfortunately the jobs out there for educators were incredibly slim and I was having no luck finding work that paid more than I earned as a Nanny. It took a big leap of faith, but I took the jump and have not looked back. Nick and I have been working together as Real Estate Partners since I passed the exam in September 2012. We've been having a lot of fun working together, being our own bosses (not each other's, haha), and finding our niches within our biz. Despite the unpredictable schedule that comes with being relatively new agents, it's been SO nice to make our own hours! Yay for mid-week vacations and working in PJs from the couch on a Thursday morning!