Tuesday, April 29, 2014

the story of the new house

what a crazy ride this has been!  i shared before how we "accidentally" sold our current home.  when we decided to do that, we had no idea what a challenge it would be to find our new home.  it is definitely a seller's market out there and what IS listed for sale goes VERY fast.  i am shocked at the low inventory to choose from...there are just not that many house to choose from in our price bracket and in the areas we were looking to move.

our ideal criteria for the new home was:
1) location, location, location!  we wanted something closer to school, thinking about athletic practices as the boys get older.
2) square footage!  our current home is 1563 sq ft and we are using every square inch of it!
3) a pool!  we really wanted a pool for the boys (and us!) in the hot texas summers but we've never had a pool before and now that we have a baby, i was willing to give this one up if we had to.
4) either a cheap fixer upper or a house that needed no upgrades that would allow us to feel more comfortable about spending more

well, as our search began, we quickly discovered that we needed to prioritize our wants and needs.  the first house we fell in love with was huge (2700 sq ft) and had a pool (and was mid-century!) but not in our ideal location.  it was a hud home so we made an offer but ended up not being the highest bid.  we were disappointed but we knew going into it that the home would need some major work, so we moved on without much regret.

we looked at a few more houses (one had huge holes in the sheetrock and smelled like urine and one was super dark and dreary) and started to feel really discouraged.  there was one house that declined our viewing and then sold it the very next day before we could see it (and had 4 offers on it already!).  houses were being sold before they even hit the market, often for more than what they were going to be listed at!

so here's the story of our "new" house:
it hit the market on a tuesday evening.  we did a drive by and liked the neighborhood, but noted that people were doing the same and also already looking at it.  john had taken off the next day (a wednesday) to close on our current home.  we had that meeting early wednesday morning and were set to view this house at 12:30.

so we're talking middle of the week, middle of the day, house just went on the market....

we roll up and there are people inside viewing the home before us and before we leave 20 minutes later, there are two more sets of people waiting their turn to view it.  we quickly realize that this house was listed at a low price to encourage lookers and start a bidding war.  we fell in love with the home and knew this one would be perfect for our family so we decided to make our best offer and hope for the best.  our realtor called the listing agent to let her know we would be presenting an offer, only to find out that she already had 4 offers on the table and would be ending the listing at 5:00pm that day and going with the best one!  it was discouraging to us because we knew that our best offer would probably be easily outbid but we submitted one anyways and tried not to be emotionally attached to the house.

we found out the next day (thursday) that we were not the highest offer and we did not get the house.  i was so bummed.  there were no new listings to look at to try and distract myself with either but it was easter and we decided to focus on that instead.

so a week goes by and there's still nothing out there to even look at and we're beginning to wonder if we made the right choice in selling our home.  don't you hate that feeling?  when lo and behold my agent calls and says, "i hate making this kind of phone call but i have some news..."

(and i should insert here that she hated it because often you get your hopes up again, only to be crushed again later when you don't get the house the second time around)

turns out the listing agent contacted her because the highest bidders were acting funny about the house and she didn't think it was going to work out.  we were the next highest bidders (a miracle!!!) and she wanted to know if we had found something else or if we were still interested.  well, our agent of course told her we would be thrilled to get that house, that we were going to be homeless and living in one bedroom at my parents' house and that our 3 boys would love that house!  so we had to wait a few days to see what would happen but found out yesterday that they've accepted our offer!

the best part about it was telling the big boys that we got the house.  they were yelling and fist pumping in the car when i picked them up from school!

so here's the skinny on the house:

it's quirky, like us.  it's a split-level home so when you enter, you can either go downstairs to the basement which has the two bedrooms for the boys, the boys' bathroom, the laundry room and a living area.  if you go upstairs, you will find another living area, a formal dining, an awesome kitchen, and the master and master bathroom.

it's still in the same city where we currently reside so we didn't get much closer to school but we got square footage (2150!) and the house is already upgraded, so we can just move in.  a huge plus with a baby!  there's no pool but the backyard is huge and there is a huge wrap-around deck that will be great for hanging out on and playing under (i can see the boys having a clubhouse under here).  the best part is that we will have the space (and a great layout) to entertain which is something we really want to do!

when john and i first viewed this house, it just felt like home.  we thank all of you for praying that the Lord would provide the perfect house for us and that this specific house would work out!  we are thrilled and a lot more motivated to pack now, ha!

inspection is set for this friday so we are praying that nothing funny is found.  if all goes well, we will close on june 4.  we have to be out of our house on may 25, so there will be a couple of weeks where we will be at my parents' and our stuff will be in storage, but we are just so thankful to know that there will be a house waiting for us!

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