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!
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