Or maybe I was right the first time.

Buying a house, or a condo in my case, is a big deal.

I remember how stressed I was over buying my car a couple of years ago. FIVE years! SEVERAL THOUSAND dollars!

Well, that ain't nothin' compared about what I'm about to do.

I'd been kicking around the idea for awhile, but I'd never really gone beyond the thinking-about-it/talking-about-it stage. Sure, I ran some numbers and looked at a couple of places online, but that's about it. That and complain about my apartment, which I actually quite like for the most part. (Especially now that the next-door neighbors who fought loud and made up even louder have moved to another building.)

When I moved into my apartment, I intended to stay for a year or two. That was like eight years ago. It's time.

So, earlier this year I started talking to a dear friend of the family who also happens to be a Realtor. Cindy Calvetti of HomeSmart has known me literally all my life so I knew I'd be in good hands. I say she's known me all my life and that's true, but she only just met First-Time-Home-Buyer Catherine. Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde. Let's just say Cindy has infinite patience.

The same can be said of the woman handling my mortgage -- Kimber Lambeth-Onken of BMS Mortgage. I knew Kimber from her days here at 3TV.

See a pattern here?

I have a thing about working with people I know. Comfort, I suppose. With a big, scary purchase like a condo, I guess I just felt safer. And I figured they would humor me at my jittery worst. And they have, with the utmost reassuring professionalism.

Cindy and I actually didn't look at that long. She sent me lots of listing, but we only saw maybe a dozen places. The last one in the last batch struck a chord. Cindy even said it as we walked in, "Oh, you're going to like this one."

Man, was she right!

It's a very cute place. I know what "cute" and "cozy" usually mean in MLS-speak. Small. I've learned.

But this place is cute in the more traditional sense of the word. Two stories. Two bedrooms. One and a half bathrooms. All new tile and countertops. All new appliances. New carpet upstairs. Fireplace. Little back patio. It's an older building, but a fairly recent conversion. Completely move-in ready. Right by the pool. Small complex. Pretty close to everything. Good price. Really good.

I hemmed and hawed for a bit. Gave in to my need to research everything to death (occupational hazard). Some of the people I talked to couldn't believe I was actually thinking about it! What was I waiting for?

We finally put in an offer. They accepted the next day. We did the inspection the day after that.

We're slated to close on April 29, so it's not a done deal yet.

We just sent back the BINSR (Buyer Inspection Notification and Seller Response ... I've learned all kinds of acronyms during this process.)

I've signed the initial loan paperwork. I can't think about the amount of the loan. Or the cash out of pocket. Or the 30 years. Or the amount I will have paid at the end of that 30 years.

As if stressing out over buying a place weren't, I look around my current place and see just how much crap ... ahem .. stuff ... I seem to have acquired. (I have packrat genes, so I come by it honestly, but that's another story for another time.) The thought of moving is nauseating.

But moving is what I'll be doing if all goes as planned. Soon. Three weeks and counting! I -- the consumate procrastinator -- have even started packing ... if you count boxing up my DVDs.

Wow. A homeowner. I feel so grown up. And utterly petrified.