House Hunting

Woo Hoo we were pre-approved for a mortgage!!!

You see with the Husband's job we need to eventually live within 25 miles of his work location so we will need to move when our lease is up.  This time we have decided to settle in and buy a house, as he plans on staying in this position for awhile and in the area.

This will be my first home purchase.  It is very exciting and scary at the same time.  Exciting because we are starting on a new chapter in our married life and scary because it is a HUGE responsibility.  One that we do not take lightly.

Our lease is not up until May so we have some time.  Ideally it would be nice to close on a house towards the end of March or sometime in April.  However, if we do not find something that we are interested in by that point in time then we have the option to go month to month on our lease.

So the house hunt began on Saturday.  We were originally scheduled to see three houses, as our Realtor could not get a hold of the residents of the fourth house that we were interested in seeing.  That morning she called us and said that one showing had cancelled because their little one was sick.  Okay, I thought to myself, maybe the kid is throwing up.  Funny thing is that the Husband and I drove by the house to get a look at the outside and all of the lights were off, they were not home.  Don't worry we were not looking in the windows or anything.  That was a bit frustrating, come on don't you want to sell your house?  Maybe they had to take the child to urgent care or something.  Although my dad, a retired Realto,r said that happens, some people are just like that.

Onward we go, let the house hunt begin...

House # 1:  This house was an older home, a little over 100 yrs. old.  The problem with older homes is that in theory the Husband and I love them, with all of the little details.  However, many times the bedrooms are very tiny.  We looked at the pictures and we thought it looked nice, there was some wallpaper but we could deal with changing that.  Little did we know...When we arrived at the house the renter was still there, actually they were in the process of moving in.  Kind of weird but we went with it.  He was so excited to show us around the house, I suspect he thought that we were buying it as a rental property.  Let me tell you if he was not there, showing us around we would have walked right out.  This place smelled TERRIBLE and it was falling down.  Literally, the Husband went down to the basement and the foundation was crumbling.  The whole house was in disrepair ..talk about money pit...seriously have you seen the Tom Hank's movie?  This house was out!

House #2:  We pulled in to the neighborhood and I really loved it!  There were only about 15 homes, they all look different and it was sitting on about a 1/2 acre. lot and it was on a cul-de-sac.  We walk up to the house and there is this cute little courtyard on the patio.  Even better we walk in the house and it does not smell.  We walk around the downstairs, it is cute.  The kitchen is small, almost like an after thought, something to think about but I think we can re-face the cabinets and add new counter tops.  There was a four season porch, loved it!  There was a partially finished basement, which was a bonus!  Problem:  There was a smell down there that they were trying to cover up big time.  Was it a dead body?  Just kidding about the body, not about the smell.  Something that we would need to look in to and ask an inspector about, if an offer was made.  Then we made our way up to the 2nd floor.  Loved the fact that they had converted the 4th bedroom in to a sitting room in the master bedroom.  The Husband however was not impressed with how tiny the master bathroom was, he felt claustrophobic.  I promised to keep my makeup and all in the sitting area.  I was a bit disappointed that there was not a jacuzzi tub but at least there was a bathtub.  Then a light bulb went off.  We could put a large jacuzzi out on the four seasons porch, we were getting more and more excited about this house.  The larger issue was that there are transmission lines behind the property and this could be a hard home to resale.  The Husband thought it was neat because he works in power delivery, others would not agree.  Honestly, you could not see them but people would know they were there.  So I would not pay what they are asking, I would offer much lower.  That is just how it is.  If we do go back and make an offer they could tell us to take a hike.  We will keep it on the list for now.

House #3: Looking at this house was spur of the moment.  It was actually one of our Realtor's listings.  Don't worry she did not push us in to looking at it.  I mentioned my feelings on kitchens and she thought that I would love this kitchen.  It was over our price range but she said the seller was motivated and willing to negotiate.  So we thought why not.  The neighborhood was okay, not bad just not like the other one.  We loved the size of the house, the bonus room, the bumped out garage and the hardwood floors in the dining and living room, the were gorgeous!  The love pretty much stopped there.  She talked it up like it was a gourmet kitchen, which it was not.  The redo was not bad and the size of the kitchen was great.  The cabinets were on the cheaper end and it showed and the granite was the one with blue specks, which is very pretty but is very taste specific.  Not sure it was our taste, although it was neat how she incorporated it in to the floor.  Back splash had birds on it, taste specific as well.   The rest of the house had TONS of wall paper, lots of old and different colored carpets.  I know wallpaper can be removed but it was in EVERY room.  The carpet would need to go.  The upstairs had not been updated, you could barely fit in the shower in the master bathroom.  Really nothing to love upstairs.  So considering the price and what we would need to do to make it feel like our home, we just did not feel that it was doable or anything that we were interested in.

This is just the beginning more house should come on the market as we get closer to Spring.  So praying that all goes well, we should be in a home sometime in 2013.  Keep us in your prayers!

We are very excited to start this adventure and move on to the next chapter of our lives.

We will keep you updated on the process.  Until next time, happy almost New Year!

Saturday Classes: Week Eight

On Saturday, I ended up waking up early.  My darn internal clock thinks it needs to wake me up early on the weekends!  So I thought to myself, why not drive over to my parent's house and make my mom go with me to Dunkin Doughnuts before she has to go to work.  Not sure how excited about this she was but she did end up going with me.

So off to work my mom went and I looked at my Dad, he looked at me, I asked him what he was doing before he had to go to work. Apparently the golf shop was having a big sale and he wanted to use his league credits to purchase some items.  Seemed like a good idea, so I tagged along with him. It ended up working in my favor because he bought me a purple hat.  No, I don't golf but I loved the color and I can use it at the shooting range.

Now it was time for him to get ready to leave for work soon.  Hmmmm....what to do with myself.  Well, of course, I went to a do a little bit of Christmas shopping.  I sure will be glad when these classes are over because I have been spending wayyyyyyy to much money!

After that I stopped by to take my favorite leasing agent a diet coke, she is an addict.  I know I should not support this habit but I do. :-)

Then I figured I would be productive and get some laundry, ect. done.

So that was my day.  Not all that exciting but I did keep myself busy!  Thank goodness there is only one more class left.  I see a massage in my future for Saturday...Shhhh don't tell the Husband.

Until next time, keep on adventuring!

Saturday Classes: Week Six and Seven

Wow am I off my game for blogging about what I have done while the Husband is attending Saturday classes.  I started this so I need to finish it.  Now let's see if I can remember what I did...Heck I have a hard enough time remembering what I ate for dinner the night before!

Ah yes...

WEEK SIX:

This was Thanksgiving weekend.  One would think the Husband would not have class due to the holiday.  Well, originally he WAS supposed to have class but then they ended up cancelling it. I had already scheduled a massage for the day, sorry no deals this time, so I decided to go ahead and keep my appointment because after all a happy wife, makes a happy life, right?

The rest of the day we just spent cuddling and relaxing together.   Awwww...aren't we cute?  No really, aren't we?

WEEK SEVEN:

The Husband returned to class.  Thank goodness, I was missing having mu Saturday adventures with out him.  Just kidding!

I started off my morning with using one of my deals from LivingSocial for a 25 minute foot massage.  It was only $12.00 so I figured that I would give it a try.  Honestly, it was not that great.  I should have saved my $12.00.

Oh well, now that my feet were somewhat relaxed it was time to hit the pavement with my mom and do some Christmas shopping.  Fa-La-La-La-La....Somehow she ended up taking a really good coupon from me but I can't talk about it because I might have to kill you.  Okay, not really, I don't want the Husband to read about it, since it pertains to some of his Christmas gifts.

So those were the two weeks in a nutshell.  I think I two more weeks of this...

Until next Saturday! Oh crap that is tomorrow.  

Keep on adventuring!

Introducing The Husband

So I thought that I would tell you a little bit about the Husband.  Since he is one of the main characters in my blog.

The Husband is about a year and a half younger then me, yeah I know I robbed the cradle.  Trust me I have heard all of the jokes about this, especially from him.  At first it really bothered me that he was younger but now not so much.  I think the main thing that pisses me off is that I am going to be thirty before him and I am not sure I am going to do thirty well.

He is the youngest of five boys.  Yep, that is right, five boys.  His poor mother!  So not only is he the youngest but he was mostly an only child, since the next youngest is ten years older then him.  Hmmmm...two only children together, married, kind of a problem at times.  Sharing is not my thing he should want to share, he had siblings.  This can be problematic at times.




He currently works for a utility company and has aspirations of one day becoming a lineman.  I try not to think of him up there climbing on poles.  Kind of freaks me out a bit but I support him in his dreams and am proud of his accomplishments.  He has been working on his associates degree to help him get in to this line of work.



He recently posted this on my personal FB wall, I am glad that he understands....



Especially since he has a problem recognizing what this is...



In all seriousness though the Husband is a great guy and I love him to pieces!  He is a kind and compassionate man and he loves with his whole heart.  He would walk to the end of the earth for me and I would do the same for him.

I am proud to call him the Husband, even though he is an overgrown man child. ;)