...make that 14 days!

Dan (with my apartment-hating support) has decided that we'll just move the Friday after we close on the house.... 2 weeks from today! Eek! The packing began last night. We filled some 8 boxes and took all the art off the walls. Still, it's like there isn't even a dent in what has to be packed up. This is going to be a couple weeks of packing. But the end is in sight. The best part? They need our apartment early for new renters, and since we'll be out by the 13th, our rent will be cut in half. And? And, we don't have to do any cleaning or repaint the walls we painted, because they've somehow decided we're doing them a favor. Woohoo!


Our loan has been fully approved, so we're at the point where I can safely and securely say that this is a go. So, here are some pics of the house from the MLS sites. I can't wait to start doing stuff to our home so that I have Before and After posts.

The street view

Living room with bay window...

... and fireplace

Where the magic happens - this picture doesn't adequately show all my cabinet space

Master bedroom with huge walk-in closet and french door entry - that's a queen size bed, y'all, which means the king we want will more than fit

Patio for entertaining. There's also a place for a fire pit and a built-in BBQ, so we'll have both gas and charcoal grills

It's really happening... excuse me while I squeeee!

22 days...

I've been keeping a secret. Kind of. Some of you, like Facebook or Twitter or IRL friends already know. I just haven't written about it here. Sort of in case it didn't pan out, and sort of because there's been a lot going on the last few weeks. But in 22 days, we'll be moving to our new home! 22 more days of coming home to the apartment, climbing stairs, making 4 puppy potty trips a morning and 6 puppy potty trips an evening. 22 more days of being renters, of having neighbors that are attached to us, and living in the first place we lived as husband and wife. 22 more days.

We are really excited. It's surreal. I admit that when people ask about the house, they probably don't think I'm all that excited. But I really am. I guess I just feel cautious still. Even though I know there's not much that could go wrong at this point. Maybe it's the fact that I have the daunting task of packing still in front of me. Maybe when that's done, then I'll get really stoked. And I've been told I definitely had to pack. Last time we moved, I apparently had the notion we could just carry things from one building to the other. And it worked for some stuff, but it won't this time. We have to actually pack, with, like boxes and stuff.

We close on March 9th. That first weekend will be spent replacing the oven, redoing the countertops, and installing a doggie door. Ambitious, but doable. Dan's pretty determined. He wanted to move that first Friday and I had to back the train up, remind him that we didn't want to live in a house with a kitchen in progress. So we're moving 22 days from tomorrow, on March 18th. Dan will take the day off, and his friend will help load and unload the U-Haul. I'll pretty much go to work from the apartment and come home to our house. Our home. That's the thought that gets me excited. We're finally going to have a place all our own. I've been here in Phoenix for almost 6 years, and this is the first time I'll be living in a place with a sense of permanence. I finally get to put down some real roots. That's the exciting part.

Under contract

We are under contract! Hooray! We had an offer accepted verbally yesterday, and got the contract signed officially by the seller this morning. I'm equal parts ecstatic and freaked. I know there are a few more steps to get through, but this is the first hurdle, and we did it! We have a contract.

The house is a 3 bed, 2 full bath ranch style in the area we originally wanted. New carpet and tile, fireplace, nice back yard for entertaining, tons of cabinet and counter space in the kitchen, and room for 2 RV gates. Pretty much, everything on our list. And it's completely move in ready, which allowed us to really use our cash budget well. So keep your fingers crossed for us as we go into inspection and appraisal week. Our close date is tentatively scheduled for March 9th, giving us almost 3 weeks before our lease is up to get settled in.

Phew.

The week in Morristown was a killer. Early mornings, 10 and 11 hour days, sometimes with dinner after. A lot of info that didn't pertain to me, a lot of training type crap that anyone who does the stuff it did pertain to should know, and a lot of annoyance from the co-irkers. As expected, it was Mrs. ESPN that saved me from going postal (er, tax analyst) on some people. The lead-up to flight home was about the punchiest I've ever seen her, which was quite amusing for me. This weekend is nowhere near long enough to make up for the incredibly boring week we endured. Buuuuut, the VP did give us all a video camera as a thank you for our time, so I'm willing to forgive and forget a little. My soul can officially be bought with flashy electronics.

We're now off to Tucson to pick up our pups and help my dad with a project. I'll hopefully get a chance to do a mock-up of my sister's shower candy buffet table and get some tissue poms made, too. Watch out, Mom, you're about to be put to work.

Friday Randomness

It's been a very busy week. It's month end close at work, and we have the added pressure of making sure things get done before we head to our corporate head quarters in Morristown for a week. More on that in a minute. I haven't had a chance to form a coherent and sensible thought in a while, but I'm going to give it a whirl.

- The potential deal on the house with the divorcees is a no-go. They seriously can't seem to communicate, and we gave them almost a week to come through with either a counter offer or an acceptance, only to find that the wife doesn't even seem to want to sell. Take it off the market then! I swear, these people are bat shit crazy. We're going looking with Raluca again tomorrow morning, and hoping that one of the six that we see is a good one, and then also that the 3rd time is a charm.

- Morristown. Oy. My group at work, along with Mrs. ESPN, is going to Morristown, New Jersey on Sunday. I'm mostly (like 67%) dreading it. Not only is it going to be super cold, but I can see my boss and coworker (the one who talks endlessly about weight loss while eating brownies and clips his nails in his cube) driving me insane. I also just like being at home - a week away living out of a suit case and not doing my own cooking and not sleeping in my own bed is going to wear on me. I used to travel for work, so I know that what makes a business trip enjoyable is who you're with. I'm going to be with a 75% anxiety-inducing crew. I'm just thankful Mrs. ESPN will be with me. She'll keep me sane when everyone else pushes me toward the edge.

- I'm getting very anxious about my sister's shower and hoping it all comes together. I'm really really excited about the candy bar. I got all the candy and the containers for it sorted out about a week ago. Dan and I practiced making tissue paper poms and they came out really well! Dan's actually a very talented pom maker. I just need to figure out how to exploit his talent. I also plan on making some of the candy bar stuff myself - chocolate covered Oreos and pretzels, cupcakes, and mint meringues. I bought a mold and gave the Oreos a try last night and they came out really good! My coworkers certainly appreciate me practicing goodie-making.

- Even though we don't celebrate Valentine's Day, I want this super cute "Kiss the Cookie Decorator" sign and adorable sheet of cookies cookie favor on the Cookie Crumbs blog by A Dozen Eggs Bake Shoppe. I love this blog, and the shoppe is something like what I'd love to have myself someday. I might just have to send Dan this link as a not-so-subtle hint.

- This may seem weird, but I was super excited the other morning about Clover. As you may very well know, she's not a cuddly puppy. She likes us mostly because we give her food, but she isn't attached to us like Paisley is. I take that back. If Paisley's not around, she'll curl up on our lap, but for the most part, she's far too busy with chasing shadows and ripping socks and trying to sneak stuff out of the pantry to give us much attention. Anyway, yesterday, we were hanging out in bed in the morning, like we always do. I started talking to Clover and telling her how sweet she is and she started wagging her tail, people. She never does that. She wags it when I come home and when she's playing with Paisley, but she's never wagged her tail just with me talking to her. I'm a total dork, but I imagined it must be how a parent feels when their baby gives them a smile for the first time. Okay, that might be taking it far, but still. It made me very happy. Maybe she loves me after all!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Get your sh*t together

House hunting round 2 began at 9am on Saturday. Dan and I met our agent, Raluca, at house #1, a house than Dan wanted to see because of the large lot. It was in a nice quiet cul-de-sac and looked nice from the outside. We knew it qualified for a renovation loan and the estimate in the listing was $2800. Not huge, and workable depending on what the renovations were. Inside: huge mess. We nixed it quickly.

House #2 was a brand new listing, on the market as of Thursday morning. The bedrooms were clustered and there was no space for a dishwasher without removing cabinets, which were sparse to begin with. There were multiple listings, and we had to get a preapproval with the listing lender. It was okay, but not feeling it to go through the hassle.

We got in the car to go to #3. It was literally 300 feet away on the other side of the street. I hadn't been super stoked about the pictures, but we looooooved the inside. It had nice spacious living spaces, and an enclosed Arizona room off the living room. Compared to the first house we put an offer on, which had similar square footage, it felt very homey. The house had new carpet and tile, as well as new paint, throughout the whole house. It had a bonus room off the garage/laundry room that we could use as a pantry or office. It also had a separated master bath - the tub and toilet were separate from the sink - just like we have now. We ranked it highly on our mental list and moved on.

Houses #4 and 5 were nice, but not it. They were near to each other, but just didn't have that instant attraction we had to house #3. Plus, they had HOA fees and were at the top of the budget. If you're going to be at the top of our budget, an HOA fee and a small kitchen and/or odd entry won't get ya far. Nix and ixnay.

So we discussed House #3 as we stood in the living room of House #5 and decided to submit an offer. House #3 was priced well below the area's market average of $60/square foot. Raluca called the listing agent, an investment company, and learned that there were two offers: one below list price, and one "very close." So we decided to go over, and ask for closing costs to be paid, making the bottom line $4K above listing price, yet well within feasible appraisal value. A fair and more than reasonable offer. And then we waited.

Raluca called me as I was on my way to Tucson later the same day. She told me that she'd gotten a contract signed by the investment company (!!!) but then (!), then, she'd gotten a call from the investor's wife saying she was part of the LLC and they were going through a divorce and she didn't agree and her soon-to-be husband's contract was void without her signature. What.the.fuck? In subsequent conversations, Raluca learned that the husband wanted to take our superior offer, and the wife wanted to take an asking-price cash offer. She pretty much wanted to have a quick deal and get out of their business partnership. And neither of them can sell without the consent of the other. Well, shit. So we're stuck in some couple's feud. I told Raluca to keep me posted.

Two hours later, Raluca called again. Evidently, Mr. and Mrs. Happily Ever After weren't able to come to an agreement and decided to pull the house - the house we wanted as OUR house - off the market. Pretty much the opposite of her goal of getting all assets off their books ASAP and moving on. We went from a 50/50 shot to a 0% shot in a snap. We're torn between hoping they resolve their feud and accepting our offer, and wondering if pursuing the deal is stupid, as we could pay for an inspection and appraisal only to have them get in another fight and then we're out $600, if not more. I seriously don't know what to do. We could really see ourselves living there. I guess we'll take it day by day and see what happens. I honestly don't know if we should cross our fingers this will work out, or move on and thank our lucky stars they didn't pull out 1 day before close. I asked Raluca to get a status update tomorrow, as the investors are supposed to meet with their lawyer regarding their LLC. I guess I just hope the lawyer will order them to commit to the highest offer (us) and wash their hands of each other.

Everything has always come so easy to us. This has truly been our first challenge. We're running out of market listings we agree on to see. We've put in notice with the apartment complex. We can go month-to-month, but it would increase our living costs by 50%. We're just hoping we find something in the next few weeks that will allow us to not have to extend our lease. Hopefully, the third time will be the charm, but I'm quickly learning that it's not nearly as easy as hoping.

Back to the drawing board

Well, the house went to auction. Apparently, the bank never even responded to the offers. Our agent confirmed that the house is on the auction website. I hope the bank gets like 50% of the asking price for being greedy and not accepting our 95% offer. Yes, I'm a bit bitter. I'll get over it though. I give it another hour or two until I'm excited about looking again.

So now the search continues. Dan and I will re-evaluate the favorites on our list and we'll probably go looking on Friday after work. None of the pictures of them are as appealing as those of that house, but I'm hoping we'll be pleasantly surprised by them in person. And hey, bonus, most of the houses on our list are $10-25K less than this one was, so "yay!" for lower mortgage payments. Thanks everyone for crossing your fingers for us :)

The hunt begins

Yesterday was our first round of house-hunting. I think it went well. We have a "no," a "pretty much a no," and a "heck yes! but probably no." But more on that.

The first house we saw was a 3 bed, 2 bath in Glendale. The pictures online were good, but they were NOT representative of the house itself. Someone got creative with angles or Photoshop, people. The layout and the structure was good, but it was so dirty and destroyed that it was hard to imagine how it could be our home without a lot of work. And there'd be hours and hours of cleaning before we even got to the "lot of work." We're willing to put in some elbow grease, but not that much. Note to people who are leaving their house: it's not necessarily to rough it up before you go. Also, if your 10-year-old son is as tall as me, as indicated by the marks on the exterior kitchen wall, you're feeding him too much processed hormone-y meat, and I'm just plain scared. That is all.

The second house was one that Dan had picked to see. It's a short sale, which has me hesitant. I want out of the apartment ASAP, and I find it hard to believe that we can't find something we'd like just as much that wouldn't require us to go through a process that I hear makes people say "I'd rather pull my own eyelashes out." But he was all jazzed about its big driveway, so we went. The house was cute, and in a cul-de-sac, which is nice. The living area was spacious, and the eat-in kitchen was modern and has a ton of counter space. The backyard had a covered patio, and the house is getting a brand new roof thanks to recent hail damage. The downside: the bedrooms were clumped together and the master bath was tiny. Like "hey, we have a failry big closet, let's make a tiny bathroom in it" tiny. Nothing redeeming enough to endure a short sale.

The last house was one we weren't sure we'd get to see. It's in a beautiful neighborhood. There were people walking down the street with dogs and there were kids on bikes. Nice area, and super convenient to all the things I have here in Ahwatukee. We walked in and instantly loved it. Fireplace, all tile floors, wood flooring in the bedroom, split floor plan, a ton of kitchen counter space, really nice master bath with double sinks. Great foundations. The listing says "as is" and there are some obvious things we'd have to deal with - the guest bath would need tile replaced, we'd need some drywall work done, and the master bedroom would need a new door to the patio. The counters in the kitchen are also an ugly pink, but they have a lot of potential. None of this is stuff we wouldn't be willing to do, and quite honestly, with my husband being the fixture snob that he is, we'd plan to work with the bathrooms before we ever even moved in. Yes, my husband is the guy who replaces toilets before he even puts his clothes in the closets. The kitchen is something we plan to eventually upgrade unless we're lucky enough to find a home with an amazing kitchen in our budget, which isn't likely.

Point is, we love it. We'd seriously put and offer in like right now. Of course, everyone is all "look more!" Well, Dan and I operate the same way, which is great for us as a married couple. You see, we don't have to look at every house on the market in our price range to pick a favorite. We know what we like when we see it and can say "yep, I'm happy with that." I did it with my wedding dress, the frame on my Sistine Chapel print (we looked for 3 hours and ended up getting the one I first pointed out), our wedding venue, etc. We don't need to shop by elimination. It's just not our style. So to those of you who are reading thinking, "that's only 3 houses! You can't put an offer in on the first day!" Oh yes, I can.

However - and this is a big "however" - the listing also says "auction." The realtor said that usually with auction properties, the MLS states where and when the auction will be, and this info was missing. So there's a small possibility that this was added prematurely and that the house is still available to the general buying public. The realtor is going to call today to see what's up. So we may still have a shot at this house, though it's probably not likely, and we're realistic about that. If we don't have a chance, this house will at least be a standard against which we measure others. It's got everything we hope to find.

We're seeing between 6 and 8 more houses this weekend. I'm very excited, because at least I've seen that there is at least one house out there in our budget that we can love. It's going to be a long Saturday, but we're both really hopeful.