Today I'm excited to continue the "Advice from Not-So-Newlyweds" Series with a blog about the struggles and joys of home ownership from Lauren Windham, wedding coordinator at The Yacht Club at Marina Shores. Read on to hear her story and her advice for buying a house as a newlywed!

Earlier this year, my husband, Bradley and I celebrated our first year of marriage, moved out of our apartment and purchased our first home! The process of becoming homeowners was (and continues to be) an adventure!

The adventure began in August of 2015. We’d been living in our first apartment for a few months and the initial excitement had started to wear off. We were tired of our beige walls, loud upstairs neighbors and lugging groceries up two flights of stairs! Eager to figure out the next steps, we chatted with my parents, who suggested we meet with a realtor (their neighbor, who I used to babysit for). So we went- unprepared, without much in our savings and with no clue what we were getting into...