I have had many people ask "Are you excited for your new house?" Craig has spent many hours thinking of the updates he wants to do & details about the house. As for me? I've had my head focused on one thing: BABY! http://nossonenedoce.blogspot.com/ It's not that I'm not excited, but the house is stressful & emotional with ups & downs. I responded to everyone, once the inspection is done, then I'll be excited!
The day came and I was excited to go walk around, measure and remember all the details that I had forgotten about. The inspection day got pushed back a bit because of the inspector but it was worth the 10 day wait. I knew going into it that he would find things. Being through our Washington house and seeing all the things they noted-makes you feel like there is NO perfect house. Although, some things are really petty. We had a 9-11:30 appointment and got there about 9:30. I was shocked to see the home owner still there! It was awkward to say the least. I felt restricted to not wonder through and check things out for myself. She was nice but still weird. I did find out from her that in our backyard we have in a row: rainer cherries, apple tree, peach tree, plums & apricots. I'm thinking I need to learn to can & should invest in a dehydrator. I was telling her how I wanted to plant asparagus and she actually already has and told me where they usually come up. Also she had her trampoline that they had just barely bought on Amazon for $269 only 6 months ago that they offered to sell for $120. It's only a 12 inch, but I think the cheaper price is worth vs getting a 14 inch. The girls won't really care. They are so excited about getting a trampoline! While our agent, home owner & I chatted, Craig kept busy counting doors; (all the door hangles-hinges & door jam are GOLD...yuck! So we are changing all that to bronze) measuring the carpet portion of the house; (we are re carpeting first thing) getting master bathroom size for tile (they carpeted the master bathroom!); and pretty much just checking things out. The girls were very good and played mostly in the "blue room" The inspector finished and found items.
Granted it is a 1999 house there were normal things that are just wear & tear that we have to consider with not buying a brand new house. Then there were things that we felt were necessary for the home owners to do. Then there were petty things like some insulation in the crawl space fell down. Overall, the inspector did say-this is a very nicely built home. We were very impressed with our inspector and appreciated the time & effort he spent to see everything!
We made a list for the home owner and waited back for the reply. I still, at this point, was very excited. Despite the things that needed to be done. I felt it was a good, sturdy house for the next 30 years.
We were about up on the time to hear back and Craig got home (it was Friday) and he was ticked. Not only did the home owners haggle us for paying $3500 in closing, but now they didn't want to do things on our list that we felt were VERY important. One of them: The house was originally built with a 4 car garage. At some point, the 4th car was converted into a room. There is no closet so technically can't count as a bedroom-but we'll make it the kids play room & media room. It's right off the family room. Well above the "blue room" there was no insulation and part of the family room! We were all shocked that they didn't find that in their inspection when they bought the house a few years earlier. We felt...how do you buy a house that isn't even insulated! So we wrote that on the list and they didn't want to do it. Craig did a quick search and to spray insultation would be about $500 at most. The other thing was another fix of about $1,000 that they didn't say they would fix. That would come out of our own money to fix those things but they already haggled us. Like I said earlier. So we felt that we would stick our ground and counter back again and say NO, those HAVE TO BE DONE! Doing so meant that we could lose the house. They can say no and then we would get our earnest money back. The only thing we would be out was the $325 for the inspection. It was the most stressful night-Saturday morning. I had to go out-of-love with that house and keep my head open maybe to house #1 again or another house. I then noted things that were cons about the house to make me not so excited although deep down I would've been crushed. I also had to think-if it doesn't work then obviously we aren't supposed to be there. I pulled up house #1 again and we decided if they would come back saying no, then our next step would be another offer on house #1 although we did more research adn found that they are listing it about $15k too high (just looking at comparibles in the neighborhood) I was pretty stressed too because Craig was getting ready to leave for 14 days on a work trip back East. That meant if it didn't work, everything will be done via phone & by myself. Ugh, just my head was everywhere and again reminded how much I hate buying houses!!!
WELL----The next morning our agent called with confirmation from their agent that they signed our letter and we are good! They were going to fix our list. I just felt so calm & grateful & also just at peace that for some reason we are to be in this house. The way it was all working out and the timing. Everything in our life is about timing I swear! Even from the very minute Craig and I started dating.
So, next step....Appraisal!
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