Welcome!

Today's the day. It's Valentine's Day and we've bitten deep enough into the bullet to assume that this house thing is 100% go.

Some background:
We bought a wonderful house in 2004 at 129 NW 50th St, Seattle WA 98107. When we bought the house, the lot next door was still owned by the guy who sold us the house. The lot comes between us and the great view of the Olympics and Puget Sound. When the lot came up for sale about a year after we moved in, we jumped at the chance to buy it. We jumped so far and fast, in fact, we didn't take into account that it might be a financial commitment that would bite our butts down the line.

Less than a year later, we're changing our plans. We can't afford the mortgage on the house and the payments on the lot. It's more than my take-home salary every month, which is crazy. Our plan, then, is to build a house on the neighboring lot, at 131 NW 50th St.

So far, our plans consist of:

• fix up our current house
• sell our current house
• move into an apartment or house (rental)
• oversee the design and construction of the new house
• move in to the new house

And, so far we've:

• updated the furnace in the current house
• started on the new house designs
  

What's the big deal, you ask? Well, we have a baby on the way too. Needless to say, this is going to be quite an adventure. Look for much more from us in the coming 18 months. Me, Elissa, and little David Lee.