week 28’s notes are being written a bit late, but i didn’t want to let the week pass without marking the fact that we finally did it — we bought a house! :)

we drove all the way to lisbon not quite sure whether everything would work out in the end, but it was fairly straightforward: the legal person read the text out loud, we signed underneath, and passed over the check. we then paid some fees on the way out and done! it felt surreal how quick the whole thing went in the end (despite us having to wait around quite a bit of time). i guess we’re now the owners of a little piece of cement in tavira, and no one can kick us out!

i still have mixed feelings about it. on one hand, i’m reasonably sure this is a good investment, and i’m relieved we won’t be kicked out in the near future as the market is crazy at the moment. on the other hand, so much of our savings are stuck in this house now (and we still owe money to family)… my mind is filled with “what ifs?”: what if the market goes down? what if we need the money suddenly? what if we have to move north?… none of these are unsolvable, but being solvent definitely gives us more freedom to move — which is something we’ve treasured all our lives.

for now, i guess we’ll enjoy this newfound feeling of stability, of knowing where we’ll be for a little while. we’ll finally install some heating in the place and fix the infiltrations, and i might even revamp the garden at some point. looking forward to this new chapter!