Home Buying- Why We're Doing It

I've mentioned a few times that we're looking to buy our first home. This has little to do with the current housing marking and more to do with our long term plans. Honestly we had planned on buying a little sooner but our job situations prevented it from happening. The main reasons we want to buy are:

*We've decided to stay in our current city for the foreseeable future
*We want to have some time to settle into the house while before expanding our family
*We're tired of apartment living, especially the things we can't do because of it
*I want us to have some equity in a house before I stop working

We understand the greater responsibility of a house, but also look forward to the greater freedom. The little things I'm personally looking forward to the most space to plant a garden, room to store things (from food to family mementos), and having a place to hang try clothing that isn't beside our TV.

On a more serious note building equity while we're both working full time is important to me. Somewhere between 1-1.5 years I'll stop working. In the mean time I want to get used to the bills that will be larger. Before I leave my job I want to make sure we'll be able to pay the bills and/or make alternate plans.

There will probably be a few more house related posts this week because I have house on the brain. We put an offer in this morning on THE house. Our last few offers got into a competitive blind bidding system and so far we're the only ones. Cross your fingers for us!