I was recently inspired by Compass (a New York City real estate platform offering personal service for finding a perfect starter home) to share a little about our first home for an international blog series they are doing. Very excited about this prospect, I immediately started looking for pictures of our very first home but then soon remembered that I lost most of them when my old PC crashed 🙁 I did however find a few which actually brought back so many awesome memories.

My then boyfriend , now husband (Kurt) and I bought our first place together in 2006. We knew we were going to get married in the next few years but thought we would get a head-start in the property market first. In 2006, pre-recession, gaining access to finance for first time buyers was as easy as pie. We got a 120% mortgage bond which meant we didn’t need a deposit or any funds up-front to pay for any legal costs. It was a 2 bedroom house with a very small garden, nothing fancy at all, but we were proud of our home and the fact that we were home-owners. When we first moved in, the front of the house was basically just dying grass. We nurtured it, planted some trees and flowers and that’s when I realized that gardening was actually something I enjoyed. We had so many braai’s in that garden as it had just the perfect amount of sun and shade to just chill and relax.

My daschund (Tony Vienna), who was just a pup when we moved in – now 11 years old, just loved the  house and garden as he had free reign throughout but not as much as he loved our very first couch!!!!! I will never forget the day when I got a call from Kurt while travelling home from work saying “I don’t think you want to come home”. I knew it was something bad but I rushed home to find out what on earth had happened. When I opened the door I first saw Tony sitting in the corner under the table, shaking like a leaf. When I turned and looked the other way I noticed that a big chunk of our couch had been bitten, ripped and the stuffing pulled out of it. I just had to breathe for a few minutes and try to contain myself!!!! We didn’t have the heart to hit or shout at Tony because he was so terrified when he saw Kurt’s reaction. He sat in the corner that whole night, I eventually had to fetch him and console him. Ha ha!

Kurt officially proposed to me in that house. While I was sleeping he put a ring on my finger and I woke up to find my self engaged. I remember us planning and preparing for the wedding day, It really feels like just yesterday.

We made our own invitations which turned out quite great

I remember our first Christmas in that house. It was so exciting to buy our first tree and put up the trimmings – I can’t believe that was 8 years ago!!! Time really flies.

Four years after we moved in we sold the house, as we wanted to get into a bigger place before we started having kids but the house took about a year to sell due to the bad economy. We had received a few offers during that period but the banks lending criteria for mortgage bonds had become quite stringent, they fell through. It was bitter sweet though when we eventually did sell, but it was the beginning of a new chapter for us.

We will always have those memories.

What do you remember about your first home?