This post was originally written two days after we got the keys to our new house. With the amount of work involved in moving to our new house, as well as the impact of finding out Lena’s pregnant, I did not find the time to perform a final edit. You may see this as my “I Never missed a month of I Never”. You won’t have to miss anything though, because I’ll run an October version of I Never as well.

Well over a year ago, I posted my first I Never entry. A lot has happened since then.

Back then, I just started living on my own, having only recently been a student living in a shared apartment and at my mother’s house for a few months. In terms of furniture, I had just a bed, a desk, an office chair and a television. My mode of transport was my trusty bike and public transport for anything outside of the city, with occasional access to my mother’s car. My house was my own house, for the first time ever.

Months passed, and my life expanded. It started with no longer living just by myself. Public transport got replaced. I Never became We Never. And earlier this year, the love of my life moved in with me.

But that’s not where it ends.

Our home had some downsides. A few neighbors had frequent, loud quarrels. One of the neighbors across the street modified a bicycle to hold a huge stereo installation and did not hesitate to play his awful music at maximum volume at any time of the day (or night). Two cars have been set ablaze just this year. Our living room becomes a sauna throughout Summer. The list goes on and on.

For me, these issues were not a big concern. During the day, I was at work. In the evenings, I was mainly gaming with my headset on. And on my free days, I was away to events all over the country.

But when Lena moved in with me, things had to change.

So around June, we started looking for a new place to live. Our first step was to apply for rental houses, but waiting lists for Deventer are around two years. Though we cannot remember how we decided to try for it, we started looking at buying a house.

We fell in love with the first house we visited. But, being careful, we decided we would visit some other houses first, so we can compare. After a few weeks, we had visited a whole lot of places, including a full day of visiting 10 different houses.

Our conclusion: the first one was the best.

After checking on our financial options with mortgage advisers, we scheduled a second visit, where we would make a bid.

But someone beat us to it. The house was sold. We had to start looking again. It was rough, because none of the places we visited were as good as that first house.

But then, near the end of a Friday in the middle of July, we got a call from the sales broker. The buyer was unable to get the funding they needed. The house was once again for sale.

There was no hesitation. We scheduled a visit for the very first possible moment: Monday morning at 9 o’clock. We placed a bid and the very same day, we had an agreement with the selling party.

We went through all the paperwork: requesting the mortgage, signing contracts, forms and documents going everywhere, eventually reaching its peak on September 2nd, 14:00.

At that moment, we signed the final agreements and got our keys. At that moment, we officially became home owners.

After the final documents, we finally were able to go to our new house. We already had some people lined up for that day to help us move in. Our goal was to sleep in the new house the same day. We moved in three beds, two couches, Lena’s television, a washing machine, a furnace and small fridge. In the evening we moved Kira, Jolie and Levi over.

Basically, from day one, we lived there.

The start was a bit rough. Both Lena and I were pretty stressed with moving , so we were also a bit on edge. Our new house, though much better than our old one, still has a few short-comings, such as the top floor walls being very thin. It won’t be a problem for most of the time, but we’ll have to get used to the sounds and being quieter when guests are over. And when there’s light on in the room next to ours, we can’t sleep, as both doors have glass above them.

But the important thing here is that this is our own house, and if we want to do something about it, we can do so.

And it’s not like it’s a bad place. We’re very glad to be there. Both floors are extremely spacious, with enough room for ourselves and our cats. The neighborhood is a lot better than the one we come from. And we’re also more easily reachable by public transport, living only a 5 minute walk from Deventer Colmschate train station.

In the end, moving is not a great time, but I look forward to our years in this house.