Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Not jumping for the first thing

We walked in there resolute in our decision that we would not jump at the first thing we saw. No, you don't want to do that when you're shopping for the biggest investment you'll ever make. None-the-less, that's exactly what we did.

In our defense, we've been scouting the market for a while now, and what's out there and affordable for us is less than desirable. Most of them are in ugly parts of town, run down, need a lot of work. If we wanted all of those things, we'd stay right.

So the house we looked at Sunday was perfect for us. Not huge, but certainly not tiny, with a great kitchen (my main requirement in the house hunt) and nice bedrooms. The main attraction to the house, though, was the florida room right off the kitchen. It's all sunny and glassed in, under air, and overlooking a spectacular back yard. Did I mention that the back yard is spectacular? Well, it is. They've landscaped it in red brick paths that all converge to a central patio surrounded with various species of native plants.

There's no fence, but the Bouganvilla growing all along the property line creates a natural screen that blocks out the rest of the world and makes you feel like you're in your own little paradise.

The owners tell us that this is where they spend most of their time. Who can blame them.

We want it. Bad.

The one thing in our favor here is that it's within our price-range, and they're not in any hurry to move. The lady is scheduled for surgery soon, and after that they are moving north to be near family. No rush though, her surgery has been postponed. That gives us time to fix this place up and get it sold. If I'm budgeting correctly, and I'm probably not, we'll need about $10,000 to get this place up to a sellable standard. In other words, replace the A/C, fix the master bath, the stucco, repaint outside and in, replace the carpet in the master bedroom. And if there's anything leftover, we're going to put in a new kitchen sink and faucet, maybe even new counter tops. They say that updating bathrooms and kitchens are your best investments when trying to sell a house. I'd have to agree. The kitchen has always been the selling point for me. It's not that ours is bad, as a matter of fact it's roomy and great, but the white counter tops are boring and easily stained, and the stainless steel sink is, well, stained. Gotta love well water, right?

So, instead of sitting here dreaming about being in our new home, I guess I need to be on the phone getting a few estimates, eh?

Wish us luck. We both feel that this is truly the perfect house for us, and it's so rare that we EVER agree on anything that I can't help but believe that it's the right decision.

7 Comments:

At 2:37 PM, Blogger Erin said...

Well, here's the deal. I looked at that house on Saturday and we bought it.

OK, not really, but the Florida room and the yard sure make it sound worth the move ;) Wanna fight?

Good luck getting it Ang, it sounds GREAT. If we lived anywhere close, I'd come help with sinks and carpets and stuff. I love doing house fix-it stuff.

 
At 4:06 PM, Blogger Mommyleek said...

It's only about an 8 hour drive, E. Come on down. We can use all the help we can get! Are you any good at tile? After doing the living room floor at 6 months pregnant, I'm all tiled out, I think. :)

 
At 12:09 AM, Blogger Laura said...

wow Ang that does sound awesome. really awesome. I hope it all works out -- with the way you're talking about values out there, I wouldn't stress making it NICE, just make it liveable before you sell, odds are someone will come along and want to change everything anyway. :)

 
At 8:05 AM, Blogger me said...

Good luck with the house you're both interested in, Angela. It took my folks a long time to settle upon what they wanted: a two-flat, rent-bearing, property, a home - bungalow, or a suburban-style, weekend house converted and they got all three in their lifetimes; at different times but they got them. Hang in there!

 
At 2:28 PM, Blogger Mommyleek said...

Thanks Mike,
My biggest fear is that someone else will come along and sweep it out from under us before we have a chance (financially) to make our offer. We're willing to pay the asking price, as I think it's more than worth it. But we have to sell our house first. I suppose we could offer a contract with a contingency, but I'm pretty in the dark when it comes to all things real estate. We'll see.

 
At 3:27 PM, Blogger Laura said...

Ang,
yep, contract with contingency on selling is not a bad thing. most contracts say sell within 45 days or blah blah blah.

you can tighten that up if the seller will agree. also, you could do a letter of intent now... and have the place inspected... rather than go directly under contract in order to make absolutely sure you want it. also could have an inpsection done on your place to give you guys a "to-do" list. A home inspector would also be able to tell you what is most important to have done (as far as what mortgage companies will want) and so forth.

but that might buy you some time. :D

 
At 8:29 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congratulations, and that is very cool. I hate it when L comes in and says all the things I was going to say, but she did it, and so..um...ditto, and yeah, don't stress too much on things like the kitchen. The new people will just gut it and put in their own dreams, odds are.

 

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