Category: House & Home

Inspection

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Woke up this morning and thought to myself it sure feels late. I turned to look at the alarm clock and it read 7:19. I start work at 7:30. Crap, crap, crap! I jumped into the shower and got ready as quickly as possible. Would you believe I made it into work only a half hour late? Not too shabby.

I only worked a half day today so I could go to the house inspection. The homeowners were home for that, so it was a bit awkward at first. Luckily the place is big enough that it wasn’t as bad as it thought it might be. Plus the homeowners pointed out how certain things worked such as the dual controls for the ceiling fan and recessed lights in the living room.

I couldn’t believe we ended up spending two and a half hours there. The inspector was very nice and thorough; he found some minor problems but nothing to make or break the deal.

After the inspection, we headed over to our mortgage company. We had received all the paperwork to sign a couple of days ago, but I wanted some things explained to us before signing. Earlier in the day the loan processor called to let us know that our loan was approved and the mortgage commitment papers were on their way. Woo hoo!

To celebrate all the things we got accomplished already, we went to Red Lobster for dinner. I had gotten a gift card through our Discovercard cashback award bonus, so it was free.

I hope the next two months go by quickly because I cannot wait to move! After spending over two hours inside that spacious place, I really didn’t want to leave. It gets so much sunlight unlike our dungeon of an apartment. I’m looking forward to our new life.

Excited all over again

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We went to see our future home again today, but we didn’t get any more photos because the homeowners were there. We have our inspection scheduled for Thursday, so I’ll probably get more photos then.

After seeing the place again, I’m even more excited about our decision. The place is so spacious, clean and inviting. I was a bit worried about the neighborhood since it’s not familiar to us, but the subdivision was extremely quiet for a Sunday afternoon. Plus there’s an outdoor pool down the block that is included in our association fees, so all of us can still go swimming which is nice since Joe’s parents are moving (they had a pool we’d use often). In addition, there’s a lot of nearby shopping and the local library is really nice, which is a big plus for me.

The homeowners are really nice people and it makes me feel good to be buying from people like that. Joe’s mom loves the new place and is sad she won’t be around to help us move in. I will definitely miss her.

We stopped at the library on the way home and picked up a bunch of home decorating books. Since we’ve got two months of waiting, we might as well do some research. I can’t believe we have to wait two months to move in! I want to move today!

Sorry this entry is all over the place. I can’t express how excited I am about owning my first home. There are so many things about the place I love, from the huge ceilings to the kitchen cabinets to the 2 car garage. I love how we have tons of space and don’t have to sacrifice any of it while still giving the kids their own rooms. They’ve been sleeping on air mattresses on the floor of our living room for almost two years now, so I’m really happy for them to be getting their own space. Not only will I not have to look at their toys all over my living room, but they will feel more at home when they visit. It’s a win-win situation.

Everyone said we kept missing out of the other places we wanted because there was an even better place out there for us and they were so right. I love this place more than all of the other ones we liked. I can’t put into words how happy I am. I feel like we got a fantastic place for a very good price. Had we stayed in this town, we would have had to pay at least $50k more for a comparable space. I guess fate wins again, huh? :)

4th time is the charm

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You know how Friday the 13th is considered bad luck? Well it must not be for us – we got a townhome! *

Actually, things went quite smoothly. We saw the place yesterday before the concert and spent a lot of time walking around. We mulled over our options and slept on it to ensure if we were going to put in an offer that we really wanted the place. This morning we met with our agent and wrote up our offer. The sellers countered the price, but they went down enough to make us feel like at least they were working with us. We countered the price once more and they accepted. They have already signed the faxed contract with the changes, and we initialed the changes on our original copy, so the deal is sealed. They took the place off the market and there won’t be anymore showings (or offers accepted). Yay for us!

The place is very spacious which is great. There are definitely things we want to change, such as the brown trim along the walls and windows, the parquet flooring in the foyer, the blue carpeting throughout, and the wall colors in the rooms. But none of that will cost too much and I think it will be fun to do.

We’re due to move in on October 15th. The specifics – 3 beds, 2.5 baths, 2 car garage. We took some photos yesterday and will be taking more on Sunday afternoon when we’ve scheduled another showing so Joe’s parents can see it before they move to Arizona (which is on Wednesday). The timing couldn’t be better!

Here’s a couple of photos until we get some better ones:

Entrance/Foyer (w/Joe haha)
Dining Room
Living Room
Kitchen #1
Kitchen #2
Kitchen #3
View from Master Bedroom

We are very excited, nervous, thrilled, and scared – all those great feelings when you realize you’re a home owner who has a mortgage due every month. :)

* – Ironically enough, today’s date is 8/13 and the earnest check I wrote is #813. How freaky is that?

How we’re dumb

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We owned a townhome for a couple of hours yesterday.

See, we saw this townhome on Friday evening in the same subdivision we saw the other gorgeous model that went under contract as we were viewing it. It was very nice – built in ’96, 3 beds, 2.5 baths, laundry upstairs, large kitchen. We made a hasty decision and put a bid in on it. Since it was priced well, we put in a bid just under asking price. The owners were home, but their realtor couldn’t be contacted, so we had to leave and wait until he could be reached.
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