Thursday, September 07, 2006

House Hunting

Well, Tina and I are taking the plunge and looking at buying our first home. We've been looking at houses for the past three weeks. Here's a little bit of our journey...

Attempt #1 - We found one we really liked (a bit of a fixer-upper but all-in-all a great house) in the 6th Ave. area, but apparently someone liked it a little faster than us and put in an offer before we could. Our first disappointment! We were both pretty down for a couple days or so, then we picked up again looking at houses.

Attempt #2 - There was another house that we liked in the UP/Fircrest area. It was a split-entry level in need of some cosmetics with a big yard. This time, we got to at least put an offer in. Unfortunately, they didn't like the offer and turned us down (I'm not sure they really wanted to sell their house - but I guess its their loss). It didn't take us long to get over that one.

Attempt #3 - Again we hit the streets with our agent, this time we found three houses we liked. The first was a really cute old house that had been remodeled and setup just like we would have wanted. The only problem was that the yard was about as big as a pancake - which really wouldn't have worked with Ellie. So, on to house #2. This one was huge - 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, and two very large living areas with a couple fireplaces and a giant yard. The price was a bit more, but we could rent one or two rooms out with no problem. But in the end it seemed a little too big, and might stretch us a bit too thin. So, on to house #3...


This is maybe not the most eye-catching from the street (at least not in its current white), but it has a lot of old-style charm. It was built in 1939, has hard wood floors, with a good size basement. It also has a great little building out back that could serve as a studio apartment.

So...big breath...we put in an offer, which we found out yesterday has been accepted. Right now we are working on some of the negotiations in that area. Once we know a little more, I'll try to post some pictures up. We are definitely excited about the possibility of owning a home. It seems a bit daunting, but everyone we've talked to has said it's been worth it.

In talking with others, it seems like three weeks of looking is really not that bad, but it certainly does take a lot out of you. We'd appreciate the prayers as we continue working through the process of ironing out details with the house and getting the finances all worked out. We'll keep you updated.

5 comments:

Michelle said...

What a cute house! Congratulations...and 3 weeks will take a lot out of you, but it's not that long in the grand scheme of things!

Mike 'n' Cindy Brinkerhoff said...

Looks great - good luck with the bid / accept phase!

-mike 'n' cindy

Kristin said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Kristin said...

That's great guys, congrats!

Steve said...

Congrats you two. As I told you Michael, I'll pray that you make it through escrow smoothly. Right about now you can start schmoozing all your friends with trucks and strong backs to help you move!