the hunt begins

since our last entry we were able to get the ball rolling AND find a pretty awesome realtor.  unlike the guy from Century21 this man has really worked with us.  i contacted him tuesday, right before thanksgiving and he found a few properties for us and set up viewings for the 4 we liked as well.  oh, and all of this was while he was out of state for TurkeyDay! while he was showing CrazyDaddy, the gene pool and i around we found out we couldn't have picked a better realtor!  see, i choose him simply because of 2 reasons.  first, his reviews online were from tons and tons of buyers.  he even had a few people who bought a home with his help use him when they sold too.  repeat business for a realtor rates high in my book, how bout yours?  also the 3 people i contacted based off of reviews one of them actually refereed me to him!  we later found out he has a large family (5 kids), been married around 13 years and his wife homeschooled for a while too.  could we ask for more in a realtor to walk us through this process?  i think NOT!!  we looked at 8 homes on saturday and when it was all said and done we fell in love with 2 of them. i must admit, i was bummed with one because we thought it was our dream home but quickly realized it wasn't once inside.  it's funny how deceiving pictures and written descriptions can be.  i know whatever we find will be perfect for us.  it will be where we are supposed to be at this point in time.
  CrazyDaddy is calling first thing in the morning and trying to take part of the day off so we can get paperwork done and get our offer in on this house!  he says it's our dream home.  it's a large cookie cutter home which means there is no work needed in order to move in.  it will need a fridge BUT it fits the one we already have picked out so that's a plus.  also it's a short sale which means it may take a while to get the bank who is trying to get rid of the house a while to sell us the house.  OH and then there was an offer put in on saturday as well *boooooo*  this house is pretty awesome.  new carpet, big (just shy of 3,000sqft), garden tub and stand up shower in the master bathroom, 2 fireplaces, a HUGE living room downstairs, a HUGE pantry, and HUGE kitchen great for entertainment and a fenced in back yard.  plus it's a corner lot which i think is rather nice.  it's pretty solidly built too.  i couldn't hear CrazyDaddy or our realtor K tromping around upstairs.  all 3 kids were rather calm in the house too.  i feel like this could easily be our house.  i hope this is our house but it may not be our house.  like i said someone else has put in an offer and since it's a short sale (this is just the step before a foreclosure) the bank is going to try and ensure they get all they are owed on this house.  this being a short sale has tugged a bit on my heart strings.  i'm not super sensitive but some of the things we found in this house really hit me.  the couple who used to own the home had measurements for all of their kids on the side of the bar wall.  they also had tick marks for her belly during her last pregnancy on the wall too.  it was hard to see this.  to think that maybe something happened where they just couldn't afford their home anymore.  then K mentioned how some people just turn the home over to the bank so to not ruin their credit with a foreclosure.  granted the short sale stays there for a few years but it's a lot less devastating than a foreclosure.  yes, that made me feel a bit better but it was (and is) still hard to think their was a family who just bought this house last year to raise their children and now have had to give up their home.  i fear that this may turn into a nasty bidding war but CrazyDaddy ensures me we won't get into that.  we will offer the asking price and then that's about it.  granted the asking price isn't much BUT we've got a back up house.

this house here i have dubbed the BradyBunchHouse.  why, well why not!  you can't tell me when you look at this house you don't instantly hear the theme song to the brady bunch!  i could almost hear "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!" when we pulled up lol  it's not as new as the Qhome (which was built just a year ago) but the inside has been completely remolded!  there are hardwood floors through out the house, energy saving windows, newer appliances in the kitchen, a beautifully landscaped front yard and yard that is fenced in all but a small area in the front.  the basement is completely furnished too. there are 2 fireplaces in this home.  it is 800sqft smaller than the Qhome but that's not that much.  the lay out is a little odd since it's an older home from the 60's.  the only thing left that should be done before another resale is the kitchen.  which, after some research on my part may not be that expensive.  also CrazyDaddy has been pouring over the VA home loan papers and we can actually get refinanced for upgrades and our home loan all at the same time.  which means we could get this house AND update the kitchen all at the same time.  i personally love this house more but, alas, i have been out voted.  CrazyDaddy, BabyL, C and MK have all (in their own way) voiced how much they love the Qhome.  this home has been on the market since july so i highly doubt if we wait for our offer on the Qhome to be accepted/denyed that this one will be gone.

so tomorrow, on CrazyDaddy's and mine 13th wedding anniversary we will be putting in our offer for our very first home.  wish us luck!!