Updates and good news: WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!
I know it's been quite a few months since I've posted anything on here. I just haven't felt like posting, even though I have responded to people a few times. So, here's the updates:
After my Nana passed away, I had major homework to catch up on. About two weeks or so. Total craziness brought on by the fact that my professor gave me cryptic messages (or non at all) whenever I e-mailed him asking when I could make up assignments. Thought I was going to do badly, but it worked out in the end.
The levy passed!!! Overwhelmingly too. I was so thankful that day.
With the levy passing, we decided to look at a house we had seen before and liked. It wasn't so great the second time around, as it appeared to have major problems from within (pipes). Both Mom and the realtor said they felt very uneasy about the property, especially when we discovered it had gone into pending status, then right back on the market again THREE times! I was so depressed. I had thought we had found our house.
Ray and I looked at a few more houses. Only one seemed promising. I broke down, not knowing if we'd ever found one. It sounds silly, but when you've been looking at houses for a year and a half and you've seen as many as we have, most in really bad condition... well, it wears you down after a while. I didn't think we'd find any, and briefly entertained the idea of getting one built (Ryan Homes was having a special). After a while Ray and I came to our senses and sadly let go of that dream. To spend that extra money would be to take us beyond that comfort zone we set up when we created our budget. It was too risky, and we probably couldn't even get the exact one we wanted. We were both sad at this point.
But here's where the story gets interesting. A week ago Sunday, I was getting ready before going to see New Moon with Ray and his sister. I decided to look at the real estate section of the paper, and came across a house listed at $89,000. The description stated it had a finished basement, so it caught my eye. I figured it must have something really wrong with it, but I couldn't get it out of my mind. I thought maybe we could go to the open house before heading to the movie, but discovered Ray had already bought the movie tickets and the only time available had been during the open house. I was sad yet again, so I asked Ray if he would take a look at the house while I was in class. Sure enough, he was able to get an appointment for Tuesday. I told him I'd try to go, but it depended on how long my exam took.
In class, I was excited to hear that we'd take our exam in groups, so I figured it would go more quickly. Boy, was I ever wrong! I was stuck with the people at my table, who didn't talk, and was stuck taking the exam myself. It was almost 10pm, and I was the last one left in the classroom. I finally asked my professor about my grade, and discovered I could get a zero and still get an A... So I randomly picked answers and left, angry. I had missed an opportunity to see this house (which Ray had told me on the phone during a break that it was awesome and that 25 other people had already looked at it since the price had dropped from over $100,000) and now I was afraid that we'd miss an opportunity to buy something great. I refuse to buy something I haven't seen for myself, and this one could go at any time. The realtor set it up so that I could see the house the next morning before work, and I was floored. The house was so nice, and it had so much space! I knew it would go quickly if we didn't act quickly. So, that night, after work, Ray, myself, Ray's dad, my mom, and my brother went to the house to look at it again. My mom and brother loved it. I knew then that it was a keeper.
Ray and I signed an offer on the house. The realtor threw in closing costs, the washer and dryer, and a home warranty. She gave the seller the deadline of the next night (Thanksgiving) to counter or accept. I was so anxious that night. Would he counter, or flat out refuse or offer? Would someone else sneak an offer in so that there would be a pricing war (which would would lose)? Thanksgiving came, and we got an answer early afternoon: He countered. He accepted everything, but we'd have to go up $3000 if we wanted closing costs to be paid for us. This was such a hard decision. We waited until that night before doing anything. We ended up accepting his offer, rather than countering because it was still a really good deal and we were afraid that someone might still slip in an offer and take this house away from us.
The next morning (Black Friday) we met the Realtor at Wendy's, where we officially signed the contract. The seller signed later that night. In the meantime, we had to re-instate our loan preapproval (which had expired a few months ago) and try to get a home inspection scheduled. It took a while to get in touch with the loan originator (and took a few phone calls), but we got our preapproval. The inspector was called, and the inspection has been scheduled for Wednesday morning. We tried to go to the insurance company to get a quote, but they were closed. We'll probably be going back on Friday. So, as of now, we just need to provide a few more documents, home inspection needs to go well, the appraisal needs to go well, and we need to get insurance for the house. We are praying everything goes smoothly, as our closing date is December 23rd. I love how the realtor is trying to give us this house for Christmas :-)
I can't believe this all happened so quickly! I will update when updates are available, so pray it all goes well. Here are some stats for the house for those who are probably wondering:
3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, living room, wood burning fireplace (recently rebuilt), dining room, kitchen, florida room (carpeted and beautiful!), finished basement, crawl space (it's a door to Hell lol), two car garage, workshop area (with padded walls), nice sized yard with fence, furnace and AC are about 3 years old, roof is about 14 years old (single layer), newer windows, and we ended up getting all the appliances, so we don't have to buy any!
After my Nana passed away, I had major homework to catch up on. About two weeks or so. Total craziness brought on by the fact that my professor gave me cryptic messages (or non at all) whenever I e-mailed him asking when I could make up assignments. Thought I was going to do badly, but it worked out in the end.
The levy passed!!! Overwhelmingly too. I was so thankful that day.
With the levy passing, we decided to look at a house we had seen before and liked. It wasn't so great the second time around, as it appeared to have major problems from within (pipes). Both Mom and the realtor said they felt very uneasy about the property, especially when we discovered it had gone into pending status, then right back on the market again THREE times! I was so depressed. I had thought we had found our house.
Ray and I looked at a few more houses. Only one seemed promising. I broke down, not knowing if we'd ever found one. It sounds silly, but when you've been looking at houses for a year and a half and you've seen as many as we have, most in really bad condition... well, it wears you down after a while. I didn't think we'd find any, and briefly entertained the idea of getting one built (Ryan Homes was having a special). After a while Ray and I came to our senses and sadly let go of that dream. To spend that extra money would be to take us beyond that comfort zone we set up when we created our budget. It was too risky, and we probably couldn't even get the exact one we wanted. We were both sad at this point.
But here's where the story gets interesting. A week ago Sunday, I was getting ready before going to see New Moon with Ray and his sister. I decided to look at the real estate section of the paper, and came across a house listed at $89,000. The description stated it had a finished basement, so it caught my eye. I figured it must have something really wrong with it, but I couldn't get it out of my mind. I thought maybe we could go to the open house before heading to the movie, but discovered Ray had already bought the movie tickets and the only time available had been during the open house. I was sad yet again, so I asked Ray if he would take a look at the house while I was in class. Sure enough, he was able to get an appointment for Tuesday. I told him I'd try to go, but it depended on how long my exam took.
In class, I was excited to hear that we'd take our exam in groups, so I figured it would go more quickly. Boy, was I ever wrong! I was stuck with the people at my table, who didn't talk, and was stuck taking the exam myself. It was almost 10pm, and I was the last one left in the classroom. I finally asked my professor about my grade, and discovered I could get a zero and still get an A... So I randomly picked answers and left, angry. I had missed an opportunity to see this house (which Ray had told me on the phone during a break that it was awesome and that 25 other people had already looked at it since the price had dropped from over $100,000) and now I was afraid that we'd miss an opportunity to buy something great. I refuse to buy something I haven't seen for myself, and this one could go at any time. The realtor set it up so that I could see the house the next morning before work, and I was floored. The house was so nice, and it had so much space! I knew it would go quickly if we didn't act quickly. So, that night, after work, Ray, myself, Ray's dad, my mom, and my brother went to the house to look at it again. My mom and brother loved it. I knew then that it was a keeper.
Ray and I signed an offer on the house. The realtor threw in closing costs, the washer and dryer, and a home warranty. She gave the seller the deadline of the next night (Thanksgiving) to counter or accept. I was so anxious that night. Would he counter, or flat out refuse or offer? Would someone else sneak an offer in so that there would be a pricing war (which would would lose)? Thanksgiving came, and we got an answer early afternoon: He countered. He accepted everything, but we'd have to go up $3000 if we wanted closing costs to be paid for us. This was such a hard decision. We waited until that night before doing anything. We ended up accepting his offer, rather than countering because it was still a really good deal and we were afraid that someone might still slip in an offer and take this house away from us.
The next morning (Black Friday) we met the Realtor at Wendy's, where we officially signed the contract. The seller signed later that night. In the meantime, we had to re-instate our loan preapproval (which had expired a few months ago) and try to get a home inspection scheduled. It took a while to get in touch with the loan originator (and took a few phone calls), but we got our preapproval. The inspector was called, and the inspection has been scheduled for Wednesday morning. We tried to go to the insurance company to get a quote, but they were closed. We'll probably be going back on Friday. So, as of now, we just need to provide a few more documents, home inspection needs to go well, the appraisal needs to go well, and we need to get insurance for the house. We are praying everything goes smoothly, as our closing date is December 23rd. I love how the realtor is trying to give us this house for Christmas :-)
I can't believe this all happened so quickly! I will update when updates are available, so pray it all goes well. Here are some stats for the house for those who are probably wondering:
3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, living room, wood burning fireplace (recently rebuilt), dining room, kitchen, florida room (carpeted and beautiful!), finished basement, crawl space (it's a door to Hell lol), two car garage, workshop area (with padded walls), nice sized yard with fence, furnace and AC are about 3 years old, roof is about 14 years old (single layer), newer windows, and we ended up getting all the appliances, so we don't have to buy any!