We bought a house!

When we began seriously thinking about moving to Indiana, we knew we would rent a home initially so we could get to know the area and make sure we wanted to live here for the foreseeable future. And so we're currently renting a town home in what has turned out to be our favorite part of the Indianapolis metro area. And guess what? We absolutely love it here! We miss family and friends terribly, but we know that God wants us to be here, and we feel so at peace with our decision to move.

We'd been keeping an eye on the housing market since months before our move, and had been in contact with a wonderful realtor here. We had our eye on a lovely and unique neighborhood called the Village of West Clay, but all of its single family homes were too expensive. After our move, we discovered that one of the West Clay builders, Pulte Homes, had almost completed a section of homes that were drastically cheaper than the rest of West Clay. After doing more research and visiting some older homes and new neighborhoods with our realtor, we decided to snatch up one of Pulte's few remaining lots. Having seen the housing market at its (recent) worst, resale value is top priority for us, which makes West Clay an excellent choice for our peace of mind. The home won't be finished until December, unfortunately, but we'll have fun watching its progress. The neighborhood is only a few minutes away by car--in fact, I rode my bike there the other day and it didn't take long at all--so we can keep a close eye on everything.

Here are some pictures of the green areas, buildings, and parks of West Clay. There's also a little retail area with an ice cream shop, restaurant, barber shop, etc. We won't be living immediately near any of these things (though there is a small playground on our street), but they'll be walking distance or a short car ride away and we do have full access to them since our home is part of the West Clay development.

The floor plan for our new home:

The main level - a modern floor plan with no formal dining room.
It's a little disconcerting to us that the garage is practically as big as the house,
but there was no option to downsize it.

The upstairs.
We're closing off the loft to use as a bedroom, and Bedroom 4 will be the playroom,
since it's a little separate from the rest of the bedrooms.

There is a finished basement as well, which will contain Ryan's office (hurray! real office space!), a large rec room/guest room, and a full finished bathroom. There were several options for adding more rooms to the main level, but we decided to keep the cost as low as possible and forgo the extra space. This house is already probably bigger than we need, and I'd rather spend less time cleaning anyway!

I think the yard is about a third of an acre, with most of it in the rear of the house, and the property backs to trees. We can't wait to move in, and would love to have guests!