Homeowners!

We're all done! It feels very nice to be finished with the house hunting process. We thought everything would take a little longer than it actually did, so it feels weird that we've done all of this in just under two months. I wish we could have been featured on HGTV's House Hunters, but maybe we'll save that for house number #2!

Here's a play by play (with photos!) of our day. I apologize for the very long post!

We started off the day waking up at 7, and meeting Grant at the house for a final walk-through at 8. Everything looked good (except for a huge scratch in the hardwoods, but we have the laminate finishing to fix it). GE was coming out to the house to replace the fridge doors. They were a little dinged up, and apparently everything was still under warranty so the seller was having it fixed today. That was a nice surprise.

Oh, another note, it poured all day. That made things a litte unpleasant!

Anyways, at this point we STILL had not heard from Countrywide on the final amount we owed at closing. So we headed to Chickfila around 8:45 for breakfast. I broke my resolution not to eat fried foods. =0 We though we'd hang out at Chickfila for awhile hoping that the mortgage guy would call with the amount. That would have been great since the bank was right next to Chickfila. We sat there for about 30 minutes, but no such luck.

yum...chicken minis and hashbrowns!

So we headed home and waited...and waited. Eric waited patiently and I did not. I kept thinking it wasn't going to happen today! Finally at 10 we got the call and headed over to Bank of America for the big 'ole check.

"wow-we, I have never had this much money ever!...can we go to the mall?"

Then we drive to Grant's office (also shares the space with the attorney) for the closing. We got to meet with the seller, which was really nice. He told us all about some quirks of the house and what it originally looked like. He said it was a bittersweet day because he did all the remodels with the intention of living there, but as a real estate agent this economy has changed his plans. Apparently he may move to Costa Rica now. Overall, the closing took about 45 minutes and was very painless. I think I'm finally used to signing Streitenberger now!!!

When we left the closing it was absolutely pouring. We made a slow drive with the help of the GPS through the rain to downtown Decatur to get our water account set up. We fed the meter and walked in the sheeting rain, getting the legs of our pants soaked the entire way. Apparently we needed a certification for our low flow toliets and sinks, and we were missing that. We can fax it in later. DeKalb requires the low flow now, and our house is in compliance...but we were missing the plumber certification.

"rain, rain go away..."

We then lunched at Panera and drove by the house. GE was still there reparing the fridge, so we headed home for a break. I took a little nap in my Snuggie. =)

Showing off the new keys

Then we finally went to see our new home alone for the first time! It was strange to be there without Grant or an inspector. We made a list of everything we wanted to buy and were about to head to Lowe's. Grant then stopped by to put a "sold" sign in the yard, so naturally this was a great photo op.

Lowe's was a little nuts. I did score some Tagalongs and Samoa's from some Girl Scouts, so that was awesome! Eric of course was irritated that I wanted to "waste" our money on expensive cookies. I'm sure he'll change his mind when he eats them tonight!


Two carts later, we'd spent a ton of money, so then we loaded up and headed back to the house. Oh yeah, it's still raining and we're still soaked... We needed to buy more stuff, but we couldn't fit anything else in my car. I'm sure we'll be headed back there a lot over the next month!



Got back HOME unloaded, and then headed to Kroger to pick up dinner. And now after blogging, I'm pretty sure I'll be asleep in an hour!


THE END!!

A celebratory beer...don't I look exhausted and like I've been out in the rain all day?

Ok, I'll keep blogging to show some pictures of the progression of the house and other unimportant life events. Come visit us!

Last Minute

Tomorrow at 11:00 is the closing, and we are still waiting on the final loan papers. This is all very last minute and stressful! We got another list of documents to produce from the lender last night around 6:00, so we scrambled to pull everything today pretty quickly. With the way things are going in the mortgage world at this time they are being very strict on loans, and requiring more documentation for underwriting. Next I think they are going to email us and ask us how many rolls of toliet paper we own and how often I go to the bathroom! Ok, cleary kidding, but you get the point. The whole thing feels very invasive. Stupid mortgage people lending to people who could never afford home that got us into this whole mess to start with!

Anyways, we made it through underwriting just fine. We are waiting on the final HUD statement from the attorney. The attorney usually works until 11 pm, so we may get it tonight. The first one just came in a few minutes ago, but it had errors on it. And then first thing in the morning we have to go to the bank to get the big fat certified check!

Also in the morning we have to swing by the house for a final walk through to make sure the repairs we requested were done. Eric tried to go tonight, but he wasn't able to get into the house.

So, so much for sleeping in on my day off!

Furniture

The only thing we've really done for the house last week was order some furniture. One of my clients is a furniture wholesaler, and they sell their stuff to places like Haverty's, etc. So when I went to see them for lunch a few weeks ago I inquired about the "friends and family...and insurance brokers!" discount.

I was given a huge catalog and told that I could order whatever I wanted at wholesale cost! So Eric and I decided to order a bedroom suite and an entertainment center. The only catch is that we have to rent a U-Haul and drive down to their warehouse by Six Flags and pick up and assemble everything ourselves. But hey, since we're saving so much money it's well worth it. I don't think we could have afforded new bedroom furniture otherwise. Eric's stepbrother so graciously volunteered to come over on Friday and help us unload everything at the house.

Here are pictures of what we ordered:

Hopefully we'll actually be able to purchase a TV to fill this entertainment center in the next few weeks!

We also spend our Friday night at Lowe's (I know, exciting, right?) looking all of things we need to buy...closet organizers, towel bars, rugs, trash cans, blinds...the list could go on forever.

We haven't heard from the mortgage company in over a week, so we assume we're still on track for Friday. Apparently this whole mortgage business operates at the last minute, so I guess we've just got to get used to that. We aren't sure exactly what amount we have to pay on Friday, so we'd like that information soon so we can head to the bank for that big, fat certified check!

Just waiting

I don't have much exciting information to report on the house front. This past week has been spent finalize the mortgage information. Eric and I spent quite a chunk of time gathering up every single financial document we had and submitting those to the mortgage company. The mortgage company should complete the appraisal any day now, and our application should be done with underwriting on Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully then we'll get the details on the time and place of our closing.

Eric thought it would be interesting to post a picture of what the house looked like last year from Google Earth. I'm still continually amazed at the powers of the internet. Doesn't the house look so much better now? The seller really put in some work to this house!

Inspection Day

We survived inspection!

The inspector said he wished all houses were as easy as ours, and that we picked a great house. What a huge relief! We'd heard horror stories from other friends who were under contract on houses then come to find that the house needed major repairs. I was a little afraid to fall completely in love with the house until I knew that everything was in good working order. So now I'm 100% in love and ready to move in!

Although there were no major problems, here are some of the issues that came up:

-electrical outlets in some rooms have an open ground (Eric tried to explain, but I still don't quite get it)
-guest bathroom sink has very low water pressure coming through the faucet
-some tree limbs are close to the power lines
-basemet stairway needs a handrail
-the circuit breaked for the A/C unit is the wrong size
-the vent from the master bath shower is stuck in the "open" position, so rodents and squirrels could get in (really got to get that one fixed!!)
-attic doesn't seal all the way
-other small electrical issues (I don't totally understand)

We also noticed that we don't have a garbage disposal, but it's a huge deal to me. We can always put one in later.

We've also submitted all of our paperwork for the mortgage, so we are waiting to hear if we will need to submit anything else. The mortgage company is also planning to do the appraisal in the next few days as well. Let's hope the house appraises for more than we paid for it!

Under contract!

Well, it's official! We got the house! After the intial offer yesterday afternoon we decided to counter offer this morning, and the seller accepted our counter offer. We were very surprised to learn that the closing will be February 27th. Boy do we have our work cut out for us in the coming weeks.

We spend most of the day today researching home inspectors and trying to finalizing the mortgage stuff. We only have a 7 day due diligence period, so we've got to move really quick!

Another offer

After visiting the green Dresden house again on Sunday, we've decided to make an offer. I'm trying not to get too attached in case it doesn't work out, but I think we feel good about this one. Apparently the seller is a little desperate, so hopefully that puts us in a good bargaining position.

The houuse is move-in ready, with the exception of window coverings, cable outlets, and some grass for the backyard. The house is also walking distance from a new development with some cute shops and restaurants. I'll be very excited if the rumored J. Christopher's opens there! There's also a new coffee shop within walking distance too. Hopefully the development helps the property values too.

The very green front of the house (can always be painted later...althought I'm starting to dig the green)

The open living room, dining room, and kitchen.


The crowning glory of the house...the awesome kitchen

Master bathroom and bedroom, with doors onto the deck

Stay tuned for an update!