The One

We found it! We finally found it, THE ONE! 

2100 square of big old house! Did I mention the full acre of land? Also, the most beautiful old wood work you've ever seen! 

Some of you are thinking "It doesn't seem like you've been looking that long!" But we have, we started our hunt a while ago (about a year, maybe slightly less) to see what we could get for our money and decide what areas were options, what we wanted and didnt want, investigate schools and be sure we were financially ready. So this has been tough, but we found it!

Now, fingers crossed that the home inspection goes well tomorrow and I will be posting pictures! 

4 bed, 2 bath, 2 car garage and formal dining room!! Most people aren't psyched about a dining room, but I was because most homes in this area just have small eat in kitchens and I need all the space I can get!

The house needs a few things, lack of central air was nearly a deal breaker, BUT I couldn't live without the woodwork in this house! We are like giddy little kids over this house! I've even got my husband excited to do work in the house which is super difficult!! 

The husband is psyched to have enough space to play cornhole of course, and I'm happy to have enough space for a craft room, as well as a garage I can actually put a car in, unlike where we live now! I am certain I could get the car into the garage now, but I'm equally as certain that I can't get it back out without taking the porch on the side of the house for a ride.

We are super excited! Stay tuned for pictures, hopefully tomorrow! EEEKK!!!

Access denied

So about a week ago we put our first offer in for a home! It was very strange, we went back through 2 homes we had already looked at and then through a new listing. We ended up putting our offer in on the new listing! 

It was a great home! Very clean (I swear I could've eaten off the basement floor), and totally decorated with my style, for the most part anyways. I probably could've moved right in without bringing any of my stuff!

The bad news was that the home had only been listed for a few days but already had another offer, so if we were interested we had to jump on it before they made a decision! 

Very late the next night we got the call...and we didn't get it! I was crushed! I felt like we were never going to find a house again! The other 2 we had looked at and really liked were dumps compared to this house, and the price was great! 

So the search continued...we kept reconsidering one of the others, needed some work but we could definitely see ourselves living there! The listing agent kept calling our realtor to see if we were interested, called daily! So we thought maybe they were getting anxious and we could score a good deal! The house had been on the market forever, and if they were nagging us then they were ready to sell, right? So we put in a verbal offer, made it low to see what they would come back with, and that nagging biotch listing agent NEVER CALLED BACK!! Ok, so even if it was a big fat no you could at least tell us if it is out of the question! This is the same house I mentioned in a previous post that I was pretty sure was a total d-bag, now I'm positive! That's what the sign in the yard should say "Listed by D-bag Real Estate!" 

So the search continues, again...but with a couple more popping up maybe one will be the home of our dreams!!

Negotiating

So we have found some things we like! We actually have a first choice and second. But now is the tough part...the negotiations. 

We haven't done this type of thing before, and I won't even haggle at a yard sale, so haggling over the biggest purchase of our life is stressful!

Do you lowball in hopes that they don't tell you to eff off? Or do you just pay what they ask and hope you don't get screwed?

One thing we did learn is to look twice if you have the time! You don't want to end up with a house that smells like 20 years of cat piss...this is real life!!

People live here?

Yesterday we looked at 4 homes, all with different things that met our criteria and all in different price ranges. I was amazed to find how some people live. 

The first home we went to had lots of country character, I would call it. But needed some work, and basically had no yard. If you read yesterday's post about my rambunctious toddler you already know it wasn't an option. 

Then there was the next house, which we really really liked, however, we would've liked it to smell less like an old lady. But hey, that's fixable! The house had a solid foundation, good space, good sized bedrooms and a full basement in good shape that could probably be finished. Overall a great house that could be our home very long term! The problem is that it is a bit out of our price range and and it seems the listing realtor could be kind of a douche. There is a repair to an outside retaining wall that would have to be fixed for our loan to go through, so we aren't sure if this one will work out.

Then there was the 3rd house and HOLY BACHELOR PAD! We really thought we were going to love this house...BIG disappointment! We walked into the huge kitchen to see a linoleum floor...peeling up and crumbling, food splattered all over cupboard doors that don't close all the way and a bowflex! Go ahead and read that twice, I can't make this up! My guess was at one point a woman lived there, so when she left (I'm guessing an argument about where to put the Bowflex) he went hog wild and decided he was going to do whatever the hell he wanted in rebellion! The basement was great though, I guess he only lives in that part of the house because the rest was a dump! The Laura Croft cardboard cut out tells me that is his favorite space. Good luck dude!

To be continued...

The joy? of house shopping with a 1 year old

We have a 1 year old son that travels with us on all of our house hunting adventures. He's going to be living there too (assuming I don't send him off to be raised by wolves in the meantime), so it is only fair we get his input. I use the term input very loosely. 

Some of my main priorities while house hunting are: 

1)Where I can properly place the 500 baby gates required to contain this child

2) Will he have a large enough bedroom to be grounded in, but not too big that he enjoys it when he's grounded

3) How many sharp corners are there for him to crash into

4) Is there enough space for him to run off all of this energy without breaking his neck

5) Are the ceilings high enough to continue to stack things so he can't reach them, or will I be forced to start stuffing everything in my ass

6) Swing set space

7) Is there a quiet space for mommy to occasionally hide

We looked at a house a few days ago and he decided while we were there was the perfect time to take the biggest pee of his life. We were both soaked as it was dripping down to our feet. 

Today was worse. We looked at 4 houses. To him it was HOLYCOWMOMMYLOOKATALLTHISSTUFFICANTOUCH!" Which left mommy and daddy running in circles! The last house we looked at we really liked, so we were kind of lingering and discussing. Meanwhile, Mr. Crazypants was running around trying to destroy this person's belongings. While being a lunatic he crashes into one of their dining room chairs and ends up with this on his head:

Yep, look at that big gash/bruise/egg on his head! It actually looks slightly worse in real life. 

So I guess his input is "Yes, I can crash into things here too!" Oy!

Us vs. foreclosure homes

Ugh!!!!!!!!

We are really having a tough time finding a home that meets both of our criteria, big yard, big kitchen and within our budget! Most off the houses that meet the criteria...ok, all of them, are foreclosures. 

Oh the foreclosure! Looks like you're getting a great deal when you look at the house and the pictures online. Then you go in or peek in the windows and it is a whole other house! 

Please, someone, explain to me why people take the light switch covers!! And the light fixtures, and the pool filter, and register vents as well as all the other things that are missing that you may not notice at first! Let's be serious, if you lost your house you probably don't have a new one heading your way to use all those things, and the light switch plates and plug plates are like 20 cents at menards! If you didn't pay for it then it isn't your house!!! 

Then there are those that are even worse! Those that have been obviously broken into. And these crazy thieves take anything metal they can get to scrap! Here's what frustrates me about this, first is the amount of damage they cause, but more importantly they are probably getting pennies on the dollar compared to what a homeowner would have to spend to replace it all! How annoying! GET A JOB YOU BUMS!!!! Makes me want to start a task force that watches these idiots and puts them in jail!  

Stupid foreclosures.

Missing the boat

As our house hunt continues, we can't help but think about the houses that we've missed out on, three in particular.

The first one was certainly the house of our dreams. Over 3000 ft.², with a three car garage and in an amazing neighborhood. The problem was we were still coming out of a bad financial situation. This house is completely unfinished and lost in foreclosure and basically only the shell, but with only a few thousand dollars worth of work we could've made it our dream home and easily doubled our money! But we weren't quite ready and it sold very quickly. Damn. Here's a satellite picture:

The next house was older, but recently remodeled. It was a big home sitting on over an acre (plenty of room for cornhole, gag me). This one sold in 2 days, we missed out, but maybe it was for the best, it was definitely at the top of our price range.

The most recent was one we had driven by and looked at online several times, but we were afraid it would be just a little too small for our family. We sat down and looked at it again, discussed things we could change with the floor plan to give us more space and then were very excited about it. I immediately text our realtor, then received "it went under contract today =(" Another disappointment. 

So here's what we are learning from all of this:

1) don't look until you're ready, that way there are no regrets! You don't know what's there so you don't know what you might miss out on!

2) even if you aren't sure, go look! It doesn't hurt and you don't want to miss out on your dream home because of bad pictures or small doubts!

3) I don't really have a third, I just don't like stopping at 2! 😊

So take it from us, learn from what we've learned! The hunt continues...