September 29, 2005
The big news
No, we are not having another baby. Admit it, that's what you all thought, wasn't it?
It's the other Big Family Milestone; we're buying a house! Well, we're trying to buy a house. It remains to be seen whether the house will, in fact, be bought. But all signs are looking good at this point.
We've been touring houses for about a month or so. Keith and I have both heard stories from other people who told us they spent several months, or even years, searching for the perfect house before they finally found it, so I think we were both a little nervous about making an offer on a house so early in the process. Or what felt like early in the process to us, anyway. But, we'd seen about twenty homes, attended a bunch of open houses, and our general philosophy was that there are a lot of homes out there that will work for us. We weren't looking for the perfect home; we were looking for one of the perfect homes.
When we visited the house we finally made an offer on, we both liked it immediately. Most of the other homes we'd viewed had some major flaw or were otherwise unattractive to us for one reason or another. Tiny kitchen, weird smell, ugly floor plan, neighbors with a gigantic swimming pool... we vetoed a lot of places. This one had everything we were looking for, though. Four bedrooms, a finished basement, lots of bathrooms (Keith thinks possibly too many bathrooms; I say you can never have too many bathrooms), an upstairs laundry room, and a really lovely back yard. It's in one of our preferred school districts and I like the neighborhood. On our initial viewing, we didn't see anything that made us dislike it. Keith noticed a slight doggy/musty smell in the basement, but it was slight, and we think it could be solved by steam cleaning, or in the worst case scenario, replacing the carpets.
So we went home and we thought about it, and in the meantime we visited a few more homes, and then we decided to go back and look at it a second time. This time we brought along my sister and brother-in-law. We were more critical on second viewing, and with the help of my sister and brother-in-law and real estate agent, noticed some chewed-up woodwork on the baseboards and a few of the doors -- apparently someone in that house owned a large dog -- and some chipped countertops, a few spots of what we think is mold on one of the basement walls, the aforementioned musty/doggy odor downstairs, and a couple of other minor-to-moderate cosmetic issues. We also noticed a few nice things we hadn't seen before, like the greenhouse attachment on the living room windows, and the built-in cabinets in the laundry room.
My brother-in-law also noticed what is probably the most severe problem of all; the house has a two-car garage, and the concrete on the left-hand side has slumped down so that now there is a lip of several inches between the driveway and the garage. There is no way you could drive a car up in there. So we had a lot to think about.
Keith and I discussed it and decided that we liked the house and didn't think that the cosmetic defects or the driveway were deal-breakers, so we called our agent and told her we wanted to make an offer. This was last Sunday night.
I will fast forward through the ensuing four days of negotiations. I'll put it to you this way: the house had been on the market for 165 days, and I believe the primary reason was that it was way overpriced. We made an offer that we believed was at the lower end of the range of the house's true market value, and that was significantly less than the asking price. Four days of negotiation ensued. We finally agreed on a price that was at the top end of the house's market value (in our opinion, anyway) plus the sellers agreed to pay $2k of our closing costs.
We just called our agent this morning to inform her that we were accepting their most recent counter-offer. And at this point I will pause to say:
YIKES!!!!!!!!!
Okay, with that out of my system... we already have preapproval from a lender in hand, which is good, although we're not 100% committed to that lender. Another one also has good terms, so we have to choose between them. Then we have to submit the actual mortgage application. Then, in what will probably be the trickiest part of this deal, the lender will send out an appraiser to appraise the home. We feel that at this point, the driveway will probably become an issue. Our agent, our agent's broker, and our lender all think that the appraiser will most likely want the driveway to be fixed before they'll approve the loan. Apparently the seller's agent told our agent that at the price they were selling it for, they didn't think they could afford to fix anything, but they won't really have a choice if the appraiser demands it.
Well, they will have the choice to back out of the deal entirely. I am hoping this does not happen and that they don't back out of a deal that took four days of negotiation, and will allow them to sell their home that has been on the market for over five months, because of a $1500 driveway repair. But we will see. It ain't over until the property appraiser sings.
I do have to say that my stress levels have lightened noticeably as of this morning. The biggest thing, of course, is that we're no longer in #$*(#)$ negotiations for this house. I spent four days biting my nails and waiting for the phone to ring. But it's also great that I can stop worrying about all the crap that's wrong with our current house (a rental, which I may have mentioned a few thousand times). The backyard fills up with mucky dirt every time it rains and covers the kids' backyard toys with filth? Not my problem after October 31. The plaster is cracking on the living room walls? Not my problem after October 31. The dishwasher door is broken and can only be used by supporting it with a canister of rice? Not my problem... you get the picture.
There's still a lot to do. We have to put up our earnest money and sign the contract. We have to hire a property inspector. We have to meet with the mortgage broker and fill out all that paperwork. We have to buy a washer and dryer, or at least locate the nearest laundromat. We have to PACK ALL OUR CRAP.
But at the end of it, we'll have a nice house all our own, with bedrooms for everybody (hell, with bathrooms for everybody at this point), with a yard for the kids to safely play in, with neighbors who are grownups and do not throw frat parties every weekend, with a nice big kitchen for us to cook in, with a playroom where we can stash the kids' toys, and with a mailbox we can put our very own name on.
Cross your fingers for us and incantate to the deity of your choice, if you wouldn't mind.
Posted at September 29, 2005 9:47 AM
Posted by: Lil at September 29, 2005 4:06 PM
Oh boy!! Fingers crossed for you! Here's hoping you get the news you are hoping for and that it all goes smoothly!
Posted by: Heidi at September 30, 2005 3:48 PM
Just wondering if you had an inspection done on the house. We get that done here in Ottawa, Ontario. Pay for someone to inspect the house and they tell you what's wrong with it.
What's the wiring and roof like? What's the furnace like? Those are the most important things, oh yeah, plus the foundation (cement basement). Any cracks in the foundation?
Posted by: Veronica at October 2, 2005 7:34 PM
Seriously, I thought you had a book deal. Not sure why.
Congrats on the house!!