We Got a Place!

Steve and I looked all over Casper trying to find a place to make a new Home in. It was rough at first. We are not ready to buy a house yet so we decided to rent a house instead.

Most of the houses in our budget were over 20 years old. It's fine -- but the carpet was old, paint was bad, Bathrooms were small and usually only one per house. The kitchens usually didn't include a dishwasher or a whole ton of counter or table space.

I could live with these things, but it would be hard to have guests over and cook and enjoy alone time in the bathroom with these conditions. Especially when Steve's dad and brother will be staying with us on a frequent basis. I wanted so badly for Steve and I have a very open place with room to move around comfortably. I wanted to be able to cook for him and our guest.

After looking all day at rental properties and getting slightly discouraged, we came to a house that was cute. It had two small bedrooms, one master bedroom, and two bathrooms. It had fairly new appliances, but lacked a dishwasher or a good spot for a clothes dryer. The master bedroom was good sized--but really dark and had very little closet space unfortunately. Both of the bathrooms were good-- but kind of like off of a scary movie. The carpet was shag too. Hahaha-even after those silly ailments, this house was still our best bet and I was feeling a lot more optimistic!

The realtor who was helping us find a place said she had a few more properties to show us so we left the house we liked to look at a few more places. She wanted to show us a condo even though we really wanted our own space/place! We decided to go look at it because it was close to the house we liked. The condo is set up more like a big apartment rather than townhouse style. It didn't offer covered parking or a pool. I mean it's a condo---you gotta have a pool. :) Oh well, but when we walked into the apartment I was speechless! It was new! New paint, new clean nonshag carpet, two big bathrooms, big closet, open areas, lots of natural light, and a fabulous kitchen with a gas range! LOVE!!! Steve and I were torn. We didn't know if we would like living in a condo. The neighbors are really close, you have to pay HOA fees, and you didn't have covered parking.

It was a huge decision. A house vs. a condo. We struggled with it for a few days but decided to get the condo and we are loving it. It has been really nice. It is out of the wind and overlooks a hill and a cute playground. The upstairs neighbor is awesome and way nice. The downstairs neighbors haven't complained. . . yet :)

I have pretty much got it all put together and I get to decorate it now! I am so excited. It's been fun. I wish Casper was a super cool tourist destination so people will want to come out often!