Big news!

No we're not pregnant. If we were, I'd be checking Daniel in to the hospital after he hit his head and not writing this blog post. But it is a big gas deal (get the Kmart reference?). We bought a house!

We've been trying to sell our house on and off for two years. Not long ago we decided to look around to see if there was anything on the market and if so, we'd lower our price significantly. We found a few things but nothing we just had to have right now. So we kept mulling over the idea of renting our current house, as suggested by many people, and buying a new one while the interest rates were still low-ish. That's where Mike comes in...

Meet Mike Adkins, realtor extraordinaire. He's with Home Advantage Realty and really knows his stuff.

After looking at several many houses with us, Mike learned what we really wanted. There were quite a few things important to us:

1. Had to be in one of two school zones (because they were rated high). Schools were one of the top concerns for us since we have only 4 years before Charlie starts, which I know will fly by.
2. Needed to be at least 1500 sq. feet but preferably over 1800
3. Had to have a 2nd bathroom, even if it is the size of a closet
4. Met our budget (duh!)
5. Needed to be in an area where people cared about their homes. Meaning, we didn't want to move to a neighborhood or street where we'd fix up our house but everyone else was neglecting theirs
6. Preferably in an area where we could safely walk (we miss that about the house we rented when we first got married)

The rest we were open to since we were OK (and I preferred) a fixer-upper. However I did want it to have good bones. I'm not interested in gutting a house...nor can we afford it. Daniel would have preferred a "move-in ready" house but realized a fixer-upper was more in our budget and realistic for the areas of town we were considering.

Back to the point, last Tuesday Mike called us to let us know of a house that went on the market that morning. He previewed it and recommended we look at ASAP. We actually went back and looked at it twice last week before making an offer. It met all our criteria and came in under budget!

So over the weekend an offer was accepted, we rented our house (more on that later) and found a place to stay for 6-8 weeks while the new house is renovated. I feel comfortable posting these pictures since I'm not publicizing the address or any details that can give away the house since technically it isn't ours yet. So without further ado, below are a few "before" pics for you to peruse (can't see the front, yeah, stay tuned on that):

Den - isn't the paneling gorgeous? ha! This will be the "man room" and office.

 

Dining Room - so excited to have a dining room finally!

Kitchen - lots of work to be done here but I'll be back with a list of items we want to do once the work gets started.

 

Living Room - excited we still have a big window here

 

Bedroom 1 & 2 (it's the same in both rooms...for now)

 

Master Bedroom - this actually also has his/her closets but I didn't take pictures of that part of the room. Might go back and do that later for posterity sake.

Master bathroom - this is in the master bathroom and is literally the size of a small closet. In the bigger scheme we have plans to turn this in to a nice walk in closet and add a bathroom off the back of the house (from the left window in the picture above). But for now...we'll just do some basic cosmetic changes that won't break the bank and a few repairs.

 

Guest/Kids Bathroom - I was convinced I couldn't take the mint green but too many people have told me I could make it work until we're ready to remodel it.

 

Backyard - perfect for a new shed and a fun swing set for the kids!

This is by no means all our before pictures but it at least gives you an idea of the type of house and a general layout. I love it because it needs some love but still has a lot of character. I've already decorated it 10x in my head at night.

We've also been busy working with the loan group at Wells Fargo (they have a great home renovation loan!) to get that squared away. Plus our contractor/realtor (Mike) has been busy getting the quotes for all the work we want to do before we move in. I'm still saving a lot to do ourselves but there are some major things like the roof, shower pan, kitchen, floors, etc. that we need to do before moving our busy family in. Less stress and hassle that way. And let's face it, it made Daniel feel less overwhelmed to have some big things tackled before we get there.

So now that the inspections are done, I feel that much more excited! OK not so excited about being without a home for close to two months but excited about moving in and having all kinds of work to do to make it truly ours!

Special thanks to our friends and family for volunteering to help us when we become homeless and who have already helped us along the way!