Buying a House {Our House!}

These are my thoughts from the past two months as we went through the process of buying our house. It was one heck of a ride, that's for sure!

January 28, 2015

We are putting an offer in on a house today.

That seems so surreal. I don't know if I even really know what that means. I think the more I try to write about it or think about it the more my head will begin to explode. In some ways I know that it's a huge commitment and in some ways I don't really think anything of it. Maybe it's just the right time and that's why I feel so calm about it. Or maybe it's a horrible, massive idea and I just haven't thought about it enough. I feel like I'm ready to have a little place of my own.

And this place would be perfect. We found a cape style house that has everything we need. First of all, it's not a total dump like many of the houses we've seen on our house search. It's been renovated from top to bottom and they did a great job of it. Thomas can actually stand up all the way in the shower. You'd be surprised at how many places that isn't possible. He can also stand up straight in the basement which is clean and well maintained. The kitchen is beautiful with new cabinets and appliances. The hardwood floors look great and there are useable bedrooms and bathrooms. Oh, it makes my heart sing!

The market is so crazy here though. They are having an open house for it on Sunday but will accept offers before then. I just really hope they like us and want to sell it to us even though we might not be able to offer them the highest price ever. I hope some jerk doesn't come in at the last minute and offer to pay $50k over asking in cash. That happens around here regularly. It's a little frustrating.
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I just signed the first papers to put in an offer on that house. I am freaking out a little! But there's a huge smile on my face! I can't wait to see what happens!

January 30, 2015

When we were on the plane about to take off for Florida we got an email from our realtor, Rebecca telling us that the sellers were wanting us to come up a little bit on our offer. We had discussed what our max budget was for buying a house overall and again talked about what our target price would be for this house in particular. We decided to go back to the seller with something between what we had originally offered and where they wanted us to go. We were frantically talking to Rebecca on the phone while the flight attendants gave instructions to shut our phones off. It was a long flight waiting to hear what they thought of our offer.

We didn't end up hearing back until the next morning just before we left to go to the Ft. Lauderdale Temple. We spent a little while doing initiatories and really pondering our options. In the end there were a few thoughts that made an impact on us. The one that crossed my mind the most clearly was this: is this a house that we can make into a temple for our family? Is this somewhere we can come to feel at home and that the spirit can dwell?

We sat in the car outside of our friends' apartment and talked over our options and the money and how we felt about the house. We'd done so much work figuring the numbers in advance of even looking at houses that in the end we just had to listen to our guts. There was an overwhelming sense of calm that permeated our conversation and in the end it just seemed like the right thing to do.

It was a surreal experience to call up our realtor and tell her that we wanted to get this house. She was excited for us and so were we!

This is where we were when we officially decided to buy our house.
In a Mustang convertible outside our friends' apartment in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

February 12, 2015

After waiting all week for the sellers to sign the P&S (they were supposed to have it signed on Monday the 9th) we finally got word that they got it done! I feel like it's been such a long process and I just keep thinking about how easily everything has come together for us. We found a house in a neighborhood that couldn't be more perfect for us, a house that is beautiful and just what we were looking for. I can't believe how quickly it's gone from thinking we should maybe look at houses to actually buying one!

March 19, 2015

The day we closed on our house! I can hardly believe it's really ours! Well, we owe the bank a ton of money for it but, still. We get to do whatever we want with the place! It's ours! I don't think it's hit me yet and probably won't for a long time but so far I like the feeling.

It's been a long month and I feel like we've been chasing our tails on more than one occasion. We've had so many things to get together and a seemingly endless list of things over which to worry. I have to admit that there were some days when I thought it would never happen. It felt like we would get to the end of March and would be stacking our stuff in a storage unit and sleeping in a hotel. I am so glad that didn't happen! I am so glad our amazing Realtor fought through all the craziness for us, she is a miracle worker, no doubt.

The first thing we did after leaving the closing table was drive straight to 12 Hamilton Road. Thomas gave me a piggyback ride across the threshold and around the main floor. Our realtor was there and she took a picture of us on the front steps. Is this even real life!? Do we really live here now!?