At the beginning of this past August, my husband and I were going over our bank accounts one day when it dawned on us — we had saved up a big enough down payment to be able to start looking for a house.

Finally, we had reached a goal we had waited and talked about for almost three years. We had worked hard to save up that money, and we intended to enjoy the house buying process. Friends told us to budget a few months for a house search; we said things like, “Maybe we’ll be in our new home by Christmas!”

We even decided to extend our lease, set to end in August, by three months, reasoning we didn’t want to worry about a potential gap between our lease ending and our move into a house beginning.

We were set. We were going to take our time and make a well-thought-out, informed decision.

Then we started house hunting. On our first day of looking at houses, our real estate agent, Max, arranged for us to look at four Shelby County houses we had seen online and asked about.

We knew house No. 1 wasn’t going to work out when we were greeted with a nice, friendly roach skittering across the basement floor. House No. 2 was much nicer, but the tiny master bathroom and cramped kitchen left something to be desired.

And then we arrived at house No. 3, and the heavens opened up and the angels sang alleluia. A beautiful brick house beckoned on a quiet cul-de-sac. We walked inside, and every room was exquisite. Hardwood floors, quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances, his-and-hers walk-in closets — it was all there! This house had everything I had dreamed of in my years of watching “House Hunters.”

We left, grudgingly, and went to house No. 4, but it was folly. We left five minutes later knowing we’d already found our house.

I asked Max probably four or five times if he thought we were crazy for making an offer after 45 minutes of house hunting. He said sometimes people take a year to find a house, and sometimes the first house is the right one. I figured we had seen enough to know, so we threw caution to the wind, and now — about a month later — we’re proud first-time homeowners.

Hope you like me, Shelby County. With a house like that, I’m sticking around a while.

Amy Jones is the Associate Editor for the Shelby County Reporter. She can be reached at 669-3131 ext. 30 or by email at amy.jones@shelbycountyreporter.com.