Home Owners!

Hello! I just wanted to pop in for a quick minute (still no internet at home) to give you the news that the closing did in fact happen yesterday. We had a fairly uneventful closing in the morning which left us with a whole marvelous day to spend with the house. We talked about where to put our stuff, we looked closer at our yard (we'll get apples from the trees this year), we met the neighbors (they are friendly and have a beautiful yard), we had lunch at a neighborhood cafe (seriously good burritos), the water works guy came to read the meter, my dad came over, we brought the dogs over to play in the yard and sniff the whole house and, to top it all off, we had pizza and wine on the porch for dinner while the dogs ran around free of leashes. We are happy folks! I will post some photos and some fun tidbits about the house as soon as possible.

Project 365: Day 12

Inspection Day

Inspection day was stressful. The inspection took a total of 3-1/2 hours! I now know that the basement is a very, very important part of a house. I also know that cracks and sagging can be bad. I want to be excited that this might be our house, but the might part is holding me back. We are going to need to go through another round of inspections with a contractor to address a potentially big issue. If it is a big issue, we might not proceed with this house. If it is a minor issue with the option of addressing it a year or two down the line, we will proceed. There are also a few other hitches that will need to be addressed with the seller as well. Best case scenario is that those 3-1/2 hours were a very informative introduction to our house. Worst case scenario is that those hours were an expensive lesson in how a house works.

The inspector took photos of every potential issue with the house, so I had to take one to highlight something nice and pretty. See the pretty window? It will all work out fine, just look at the pretty window. Oh yeah, and we still have bank and appraisal hoops to jump through, too!

Project 365: Day 8

Make An Offer

It is just about 24 hours after seeing the house and we have a signed purchase agreement! It was a nerve wracking day of offers and counteroffers, but in the end we came to a happy medium. Now, all we have to do is get our inspection, financing, appraisal, closing and we can call it ours.

I didn't sleep well last night because I spent the night tossing and turning while my brain was busy mentally unpacking our stuff into the house. People, this is a damn fine house if I do say so myself!

Project 365: Day 7

Our House?

We saw a house tonight that we like. We like it so much that we are preparing to put in a bid tomorrow morning. Our fingers are crossed, that is, they are crossed when we are not using them to crunch mortgage scenarios on the calculator. Any good negotiating mojo you could send our way would be appreciated!

Roller Coaster

Paul and I are officially house hunting. And, thus far, it has been a roller coaster. We looked for the first time last weekend and Paul found a house that he loved. He loved it for what it could become, not what it was, because this house was in serious need of endless amounts of work. It qualified as a rehab house. "Rehab" as in not possessing a kitchen, questionable heating system and countless other things that would need lots of time, energy and money before the house became habitable.

This process qualifies as a roller coaster because during the 3 days it took us to look at this house, talk about it with people, have my dad inspect it and run the numbers, I went back and forth, up and down, numerous times. I went from saying things like:

Yay! I love this neighborhood! This house is so spacious! I love the built-ins and the woodwork! We could walk to the lakes!

to saying things like:

This house needs so much work. I don't want my life to be focused on fixing up our house. I am scared about what else might be wrong with this house. I don't think it is a good sign that I haven't been sleeping because I am worrying about buying this house.

and back again, a few times.

I think I exhausted Paul with my back and forth emotions.

In the end, I had to stick with my gut and my logic and let this house go. Unfortunately, I only came to that realization after we had told our realtor we were going to make an offer. Luckily she is patient with us and understood when I told her that I changed my mind.

We are going to look at some more houses this weekend, this time with a more move-in ready approach. One thing I have learned about myself is that I am not a rehab kind of girl.