the day that we became homeowners!!

you guys, i’ve been keeping a secret.

you know how i ranted and raved a few weeks ago that my love + i had to suddenly move out of our apartment (that we are subletting)? well, we still do have to move. and it’s been a hell of a time trying to solve that problem.

however, i can say, that as of right now… problem solved!

here’s how we solved it:

since we are subletting, we immediately began looking for a new place to sublet – a near impossible task in uppsala where renting is uncommon and unavailable due to high demand. if you want to rent an apartment, you have to get on a waiting list about 8-10 years before you want to rent. uhhh… impossible for us. if you want to sublet, then you have to compete with the thousands of others who want to sublet in uppsala. we were only 1 of about 25 couples who, within one hour of it being put out on the internet, applied to get this apartment that we’ve been living in. lucky us, huh?

in any case, getting back into the searching mode was not something we looked forward to at all. plus, we knew that we’d just have to move again within a year (if we are lucky).

well, we looked for a few days, and then we realized that we had an opportunity to actually BUY an apartment. that’s right… to own our own place! this is a much more common way to live, but a ridiculously competitive process as well.

so, we set out, with a strict budget in mind, and began looking for apartments. we went to some showings, and soon realized that we hated this process so much.

it should be fun to go to open houses, but instead, it was stressful…. especially once we found THE apartment. one that we fell in love with immediately. the stressful part was that there were other people at the open house, and all of them seemed interested. i could barely focus, and i was dying because i was so in love with the place. we both were.

lina me home

we decided to put in an offer, and then the super craziness began. another guy competed against us, and a bidding war was on. in the end, after about 36 hours of back + forth bidding and a roller coaster of emotions, we won the final bid. the seller chose us!!

we signed a contract and then got down to bank business. a few snafus with my stupid swedish id card, which was holding up the process, and finally everything was done… less than 24 hours before our closing date.

and today is that day! closing!

as you read this, we will have just left the real estate office, signed the contracts, and gotten the keys to our new apartment! our very own home!

the past month has been insane. truly. something like i have never experienced. and i am exhausted. nothing has gone easily. we’ve had to fight every step of the way. and just as we got one issue fixed, another issue/challenge popped up. it’s been an insane lesson in letting go of control and knowing that all we can do is focus on the moment that we were in. our entire future continually ended up being in other persons’ hands.

but, i am so very grateful, even for this crazy ass process. i am grateful more than words could ever express. what started out as an incredible inconvenience has turned into one of the biggest, most amazing blessings ever.

now we have our own home. and our marriage is stronger than ever. and i am blown away at how life unfolds.

stay tuned… because we have much more to tell. much to show. the adventures continue! but, for now… we celebrate!

xoxo. liz

25 thoughts on “the day that we became homeowners!!

  1. Congrats! I’m so excited for this amazing step for the two of you! Lots of love and good wishes! Happy house-warming!

    1. Thank you so much, Paige! We are incredible grateful and excited! Sending lots of love right back at you! xoxo

  2. I am so SO happy for you two!!! Something told me that something even better than your old place was going to show up. I felt this even when you first blogged about having to move. I really can feel how overjoyed you are! xo

  3. Yay!!! I’m so happy you got the place you loved! When we were looking we fell in love with a house but there was another couple interested that came before us, just because they were first, they got it when they decided they wanted it. It was fair but disappointing. A few days later we found a nice apartment which we are now in but we did a lease of only 6 months as we would eventually want to rent a house. We are very happy though. I’m so happy for you guys and those floor really are beautiful!

    1. So excited for you two as well! How fun is it that we’ve been going through this process at the same time?!

      1. Yeah! It’s so weird! I’m pretty sure we also heard the news on the exact same day. Or maybe it was the same day you posted about it and I read about it. Either way, it was basically the same time haha.

  4. Huge congrats to both of you gorgeous ladies! Xxx the Swedish market sounds crazy, but I guess here it is too!

  5. Congrats, that’s such a great step in forward in your life!
    Sounds like the market is competitive everywhere, just like here.

  6. CONGRATS. By the way Chris’ words when I told him you got the keys: What?? Already?? Sure what was all the complaining about – that was like no time at all!!
    I guess we did see our house in November and closed in May. Which – according to friends – was apparently extremely fast. Enjoy your new home. Can’t wait to see it. PS. Tell Lina she’s only allowed to buy 10 interior magazines 😛

    1. Thanks, dear Nicole! It did go super super fast, bit it was super super intense and stressful! But, now it’s all bliss and fun! Thinking of you!! Love. Xoxo

    1. We’ve been having the most fun decoration, Meg! Can’t wait to share a few more snippets! Hope you are well!

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