H O M E O W N E R S ? ? ? ?

H o m e o w n e r s ? ? ?

I've been pretty tight-lipped about the goings on in our family over the last week. I've so wanted to write about some of the major things happening here but have been wanting to wait until it felt "safe" to say anything. (And no, I'm not pregnant...though another sister in our Hall is...congrats Carrie and David!). I like for things to be signed, sealed and delivered before believing it's a sure thing (Can't help it, It's my personality type...I need closure.) So therein lies the reason for my recent reluctance to write (say that 10 times fast, lol).

Short version for those of you who don't have time to read this whole entry: We put an offer in on a house we want to buy and it was accepted...we're prequalified and pre-approved and our lender says to start packing! This week has been a whirlwind. And remember, Jeff wanted to build. A week and a half ago, buying an already built home really wasn't a consideration.

Long version for those of you who want the whole scoop (hang on...there's a twist at the end...): We've been trying since about March to get together with a trusted builder and friend to discuss some floorplans that we had picked out. This is what we wanted...A home that had 3 bedrooms with the space to add a 4th bedroom in future...pluse we needed space for our office. And we needed a yard. While having a "brand new" home does seem inviting, I was dreading the whole process and was concerned about the money that would be involved. I kept mentioning to Jeff that I knew that there was already a house out there that was just waiting for us to find it. He wasn't so sure about that, though. On the 15th (It was a Thursday), out of curiosity I started searching properties online and found a couple of homes that l thought might be worth looking in to. I contacted a Crye-Leike rep online, they called me the next day, hooked me up with a local agent who then contacted me and we set up a time to meet later that day to go and view a home. Jeff was reluctant and I have a feeling he was going along just to placate me.

The home we saw looked great from the outside, but was sorely lacking on the inside. It did have 4 bedrooms, but that's just about all it had- and the rooms were small. The carpet was bad, everything was outdated. The backyard was a good size, but the trained police attack dog that lived next door made me a little nervous. (I don't know why...it just did). And Jeff wasn't impressed with the house at all...neither was I.

The next day while out in service, we passed a cute house for sale. We did stop and pick up a flyer in the yard and while it sounded and looked nice, it seemed small. It looked tiny for a 5 person family, so we didn't give it a second thought.

On Tuesday, our agent called me and told me he just toured a home that we had to come and see. He said it looked small on the outside but was much bigger on the inside. He told me where it was and it was, in fact, the same house we passed on Saturday. He was very excited about it so we agreed to meet him to look at it. I pulled up into the drive of the neatly "groomed" unassuming little house.

Then I went in and thought..."Wow!" It was much bigger on the inside! The living room wasn't huge, but the ceiling was tall with a nice beam at the top. And there's a fireplace, which was one of those things that I thought would be nice but not a neccessity.

The 3 bedrooms are a good size, too. The 3rd bedroom was used as a masterbedroom and it is small for a masterbedroom (12 X 13 I think). It does have a tall ceiling with a wood beam, which is very nice. It has a half bath and a walk in closet. Ordinarily, a smaller master bedroom with only a half bath wouldn't work for us, but what made this home so sweet is that there is already a huge new masterbedroom under construction in the bonus area above the garage! It has 4 huge windows and a full bath...and huge closets. It's already plumbed and wired...It just needs sheetrock and carpeting, toilet and vanity. Soooo...this would be our bedroom, and the old masterbedroom would become Sydneys. Anyway, the living room/bedrooms have berber carpet that is in really good shape...still remnants left in a closet!

The dining room, kitchen, and sunroom are relatively new additions to the home. Kitchen is a nice size, plenty of room for an island in the future. From the kitchen (and from the current master bedroom), you have access to the deck.




Off from the kitchen is the sunroom...the room where our computer will go. This area can be accessed from the outside without necessarily having to walk through the house. Great for when we need to meet with clients. It has sliding glass doors on both walls, tall ceilings with additional little windows and also skylights...It's very cheery! And I love the tile floors. Out one of the sliding doors you have access to the deck...out the other side, you have a view of a flower garden.



The home has a 2 car garage and also a workshop in the backyard....


It's so funny how much bigger the house looks from the back compared to the front, lol! In this pic, the two big windows above that garage backdoor would be our future masterbedroom.


When we put in our offer, we added that we would like to keep the riding lawn mower that was in the garage. We got it! And we'd need it for the yard...1.1 acres! It's just perfect!


So...I promised you a twist. We had our builder friend inspect the home today (late Monday afternoon) and he said it was a great house. HOWEVER, the roof suffered major hail damage in the tornadic storms that passed through within the last couple of weeks. And we are talking MAJOR. Cost to replace to roof could run upwards of $20,000. Because we are getting an FHA loan, this has to be fixed by the seller before our closing date which is June 26 (yep, four weeks). Our real estate agent, who has been awesome, said that the sellers homeowners insurance should cover it BUT it would take at least a month to get the insurance people out to examine the roof, to get bids from contractors (and roofing contractors are very busy now repairing other damaged homes in the area) and then to actually replace the roof. Our lease expires at the end of June...SO as you can see, we are racing against time. Steve (our agent) will be contacting the seller first thing in the morning to get the ball rolling and hopefully the seller will agree to go ahead and get started with the repairs through his insurance. OR he could just decide not to sell to us afterall and try to sell the house to someone else sans FHA. Either way, the roof will need to be repaired. I will be disappointed if the latter happens, but even if we were doing a conventional loan where repairs wouldn't be required before closing, we'd be stupid to buy a home that we knew needed such costly repairs to the roof.

So will we be moving into our first new home this summer? Or will we be starting our search all over again? As of now, I really don't know. It really all depends on the seller and what he decides to do.

What else is going on in June besides possibly moving? June 10th am: recital practice; June 10th pm: recital; June 11th: I have a talk; June 14th: having a yard sale with Leigh (btw, the above mentioned house is one street over from where Leigh and Norm live!); June 26: closing? June 28: mother coming in from CA; June 28: moving?

We shall see how it all turns out...stay tuned!