house hunting

Today, we took the first step to being serious about possibly getting pre-approved for a loan to buy a house. This is going to be such a difficult process that will probably age me five years.

Owning a house just makes sense. Rent is flushing money down the toilet when you could actually be putting your money towards something that you will eventually (waaaaaaaaaaaaay down the road) own. I like Portland so I could definitely see living here through the duration of a mortgage loan but I can't see living in the same spot for that long.

We went to a real estate loan officer at Advantis and were told that we need fair amount more paperwork before we can get pre-approved so we will be coming back on Friday. The house in the picture above is one that we are sort of considering. I don't think that I can spend the next 30 years living three blocks from 82nd though. Why do we have to live in a system where everything is so damn complicated and expensive and...committing?