Finding Our House

We bought a house. You know that. I’ve mentioned it in probably every post I’ve written in the last two months. (Yes. All three of them.) And it’s awesome and we love it. But guys? Can I tell you a secret? Buying a house is not very fun.

See, we’d been living rent-free for nearly five years in a house David’s parents had purchased back when they were newlyweds. Now that David had gotten a steady job and we’d saved up a decent down payment, it was time to move on. David’s very pregnant sister Emily (she’s due in a week or so) and her husband Adam were moving up from Tucson so that he could attend occupational therapy school, and it was their turn to enjoy mom and dad’s generosity.

They needed to be out of their apartment by July 31st. Since we started shopping in May, we had approximately one month to find a place and have our offer accepted, and one month to finalize everything and close on a mortgage.

PEOPLE THIS IS NOT A LOT OF TIME.

Of course, we realized there was always the option of renting a place while we continued to look, but we really really didn’t want to do that. So I contacted Elizabeth, this super cute realtor who I’d met briefly at a blogger conference Lydia and I had attended not long previously, and the house hunting began in earnest.

We found lots of properties that looked promising until we actually saw them in person. Like the one in the perfect neighborhood that had holes in the walls and smelled like an ashtray. Or the one with a huge workshop but the tiniest kitchen I’ve ever seen. Or the one with a fantastic yard and pool that was literally cracked in half and sinking in on itself. That one was a major bummer.

And we found lots of properties that would have been perfect except for really weird restrictions on their purchase. Like the one in a “60 and up” neighborhood. Or the one with the tenants in place who had a lease until the following February. Or the one that we weren’t allowed to see in person until our offer had been accepted. (Actually, I think those last two were the same house. It seemed great but the circumstances were just a leeetle bit sketchy.)

We put in offers on several places. The one with the seashell-shaped bathroom sinks that would require a new back fence almost immediately but had the most glorious living area. The one that was smaller than we’d have liked but was in great shape and was in the perfect location. Others that I can’t remember because I didn’t dare get my hopes too high. You see, every time we tried to make an offer, fifteen other people did the same, and since many of them were paying cash, we just couldn’t compete. We even tried to make an offer on one house sight-unseen the day after it came on the market, but were told that they’d already received too many bids and weren’t accepting any more. It was discouraging. And we were running out of time.

Finally, after an evening of rushing from Ahwatukee to Chandler to Mesa to Tempe and back to Chandler, after losing Elizabeth on a seemingly impossible left turn, after saying no to the house that the neighbors could see into from their second story, no to the house with the weird beehive fireplace and the backyard entirely filled with un-fenced-in pool, no to the house that was smaller than the place we were currently living in, we found it.

It was a HUD home and had been unoccupied for at least several months. It needed a ton of cosmetic work on the inside. It was being sold “as is” so we weren’t sure what kind of problems we’d be inheriting. But it had a lot of potential. A great yard and a great location. Older, with some character and quirks. Quality updates, like new windows, roof, and AC unit. Plus, from the outside, it was really cute. And check it: the house was on Chicago Street. I couldn’t resist.

We made an offer.

It was accepted.

Suddenly life was a whirlwind of calling the city to turn on utilities, hurtling through inspections and appraisals, gathering documents, writing checks, gathering more documents, signing papers, and crossing every appendage we could think of and praying that we wouldn’t be homeless in a month. Paperwork went through faster than expected so we were able to do both the inspection and appraisal on the day before we left on a week-long trip to Utah. The house appraised for exactly what we offered. Elizabeth pushed everyone to make stuff happen and was available whenever we needed her. Our loan officers did everything possible so that we could close much sooner than the 45-day time limit we were given. Everything fell into place so perfectly, it’s like it was meant to be. Within a matter of weeks, the place was ours.

We moved in on July 28th. And we’ve been working ever since, because OH
MY GOSH there is just so much to do to make this place pretty. But we
love it. It’s ours. And it’s going to be amazing.

Please excuse my car that is not in the garage. There are boxes and things in there right now that make it impossible to use for car parking purposes. Also: more house photos to come!

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Kitchen Before Pics Picking paint colors with music Ugly Fireplace, Not-Quite-As-Ugly Room