WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

Ummm... this post was meant to go up on 5/17. Whoops....

Sometimes life changes very very quickly.

Putting it Off & Other Grumbles:

While we had a goal to buy a house this year (and not settle!) we were feeling very unenthusiastic about it. We didn't want to look at houses, we didn't want to figure out the steps to take, we REALLY didn't want to fight people for houses. Where we live, most (reasonably priced) homes sell within 24 hours. We have several friends and acquaintances who had put multiple full and above price offers in on homes and didn't get any of them. Based on how we were feeling, we were unsure if we would really start looking seriously until the fall... if then. Like look in October, not buy or move until 2019....

Along the way we decided to start the background stuff: get pre-approved for a loan, find a realtor, etc. and our expectations didn't change. Our pre-approval was done, and our realtor didn't send us ANY houses within 3 weeks. We finally decided just to go look at a house. It was on the high end our price range, but we figured, why not? Instead of going with our lack-luster realtor, we asked to see it through the seller's agent. It was ok, but nothing we were crazy about. She immediately asked us what we were looking for and started sending us houses. Two days later we looked at a really cute old house, and a decent (still old) but newer house. We weren't expecting anything to come of it.

Unenthusiastic House Hunting:

We walked into a 1905 farmhouse in a calmer part of our (small) city, and really liked it. It had a lot of charm, and open floor plan, and a cute upstairs room. It was small enough that we could reasonable keep up with the space without becoming overwhelmed. It felt right being inside of it, but we went on to the next house not really talking too seriously about it. The next house was fine, but more expensive and not what we were looking for.

Our realtor let us know that the cute old house already at 4 offers on it, and if we were interested we needed to act fast. We left, grabbed a Sonic, and decided that we *were* interested. SURPRISE! We started working on our paperwork with the realtor, when she texted us that there were now 5 offers on the house, and that the owner was going to review all of the offers at 6:00 PM. It was 5:00 PM... yikes! So we started filling out the papers as quickly as we could. They texted again to say that the owner wanted everyone to know the current best offer (super unusual!)... which was $5,000 above asking price, IN CASH, with the contingency of the city approving a permit to build a garage. We were screwed. We can't compete with a cash offer, so we upped our total offer and kept working on the paperwork.

We wrote a letter to the owner about ourselves and how much we loved her house, and included pictures of ourselves and our cats. Well of course the internet was crawling... and things weren't loading... and our offer got sent over at about 6:06 PM. I figured, "this is the last straw, they won't even look at our offer. It's 6 minutes late!!" Feeling really overwhelmed we went to grab some Chipotle. We stood in line waiting to order chatting about how we at least have an idea of what the process is like.. and next time it would be easier.

We got back with our dinner, and had an email from the realtor. She let us know that the owner was considering the offers and would let us know ASAP that evening or the next morning. Not 10 minutes later the realtor called and told us that we got the house. **WAIT WHAT?!** WE got the house?!? WE got the house over a cash offer?!??! KC had burrito in his mouth and looked so surprised. I cried, (weird...), so overwhelmed and COMPLETELY surprised!! The realtor let us know that the letter we wrote really touched the owner's heart and she cried as she read it. Which of course had me getting tearier. We hung up and were completely in the clouds.

We had a house! (aka IMPATIENCE)

We spent the next few days working on paperwork, refreshing the Trulia page waiting for it to be marked as "pending", and trying to focus on anything else. We tried not to get too carried away... because we still had to pass the inspection... and this is an OLD house... so we didn't really know what would happen. We weren't able to get an inspection sooner than 9 days after putting in our offer, and waiting was really difficult. I am not a patient person, and I was super attached... wanting to spend every night over there hugging the side of the house.

We signed our paperwork for our loan, and the loan officer kept gushing about the house and asking if we were excited... YES OF COURSE! WE'RE TRYING TO BE PATIENT THOUGH!!! lol

Before the inspection, waiting was pretty excruciating. I kept reading and reading and working on spring cleaning and packing to keep my mind occupied.

We finally had the inspection, and it went about as well as it could for a 100+ year old house. It had a bunch of small things that needed fixed, but it needed new siding on one side of the house and the yard needed grated to keep the water away from the siding in the future. The owner agreed to cover the siding and a bit of the grating, and pretty soon we were just waiting more... but at least we knew nothing could go wrong to keep us from buying the house!

We FINALLY closed on the house on May 17th!

We started tearing carpet out, painting, and planning to redo the cabinets and counters right away. :) For "live" updates feel free to follow my Instagram Stories... where I rant, ramble, and show "before" and "afters" (sometimes "middles"). and if you have encouragement... I love getting PMs that are like "woohoo!" or "I can relate"... because well, it's nice to know you're not alone. Am I right? I might share before & afters here if y'all are interested. Let me know :) 

Well there you have it, the details behind our "big news"! I mean how many things could it have been...?! 

What do you think?

Have you bought a house before? Were you as impatient as I was?!

Despite the lack of time, etc. I hope to blog and read more blogs coming up... because I miss you guys, and I miss this outlet! :) #balance (aside from the fact that we are out of town next week! Cuba & Mexico here we come!)

XO,

Alexandra