17 days of buying a house
I grew up constantly planning my future.
The thing about making plans about the future is that sometimes they go one way in your head and another in real life.
We started looking at houses about three weeks ago. We're working with a realtor, so she has listened to things we want and keeps her eye out for them. Then we all work on this website together where we can look at options and favorite them. She can also set up alerts based on certain things we've said we want.
Russ and I had selected a variety of houses in our price range, some being newer and nicer, and some being older and in need of renovations. Russ is quite handy, so we thought we might like to buy a fixer-upper and make it great.
On day one, I was pumped. I was so excited to see in person some of the houses I'd been looking at pictures of online. Lisa, our realtor, decided to split things so that day one we'd look at old houses, and day two we'd look at newer houses.
We saw the inside of three houses that first day. Two of them made me want to crawl in a hole and die. Perhaps renovation was not for me. One of them was just as old, but someone else had already done the flipping. It was a really gorgeous house with some of the things we were looking for. But unfortunately, because it was an old house, there were structural issues that could pose a problem later. I was disheartened.
On day two, I was already feeling like house hunting was a hopeless cause (apparently I give up easily . . . ), but then we went into the first house. And I fell in love. It had so much space, and we could have everything we wanted all in one house! The renovations were simple things, like paint updates and one wall that sorely needed paint instead of wallpaper. Russ loved it, too! Our only issues with it were that it had a small backyard and a shared driveway. We really wanted a freestanding house because we're done with any sort of apartment feel, and while this house was freestanding, it was still kind of connected to three other houses because of that shared driveway. I was willing to let those things slide, but Russ wasn't so sure. We decided we'd keep that house on the back burner while we continued looking.
The problem with that was, well, me. I was done looking, and I just wanted that house. We kept looking at different houses almost every day, but we still weren't finding anything that worked for either of us, but especially for me.
On day nine, the house I was in love with got sold. I was devastated. I hadn't seen anything I'd liked more, and I truly felt that we would never find something good enough for both me and Russ. It was too hard to make a joint decision on this one and we were both struggling to compromise.
On day ten, we expanded our search to include Spanish Fork, so we looked at the outsides of a few houses down there, but again found things wrong with the areas. Also on day nine, our realtor sent us to look at a house that was under construction. The benefit of buying a house that is under construction is that we could actually have a hand in some of the decisions, like flooring and wall colors etc. That was an idea that I loved, but after walking through the framed home (no walls or interior things yet), both Russ and I felt that the house wasn't quite right for our needs/wants.
On day eleven, our realtor went to see the house for herself. She loved it for us and she helped me see that some of my complaints against it could be fixed. I was ready to be done, so I kind of just wanted to say yes to this house and be done. Russ could tell I wanted to be done, but he still didn't feel quite right about anything we had looked at. He was ready to say yes to this house just to make me happy. We felt defeated. We couldn't agree on a house, and we were both kind of ready to just settle, except that we really still weren't ready for that. I didn't want Russ to make a decision just to please me, and he didn't really want to make that decision either.
On day twelve, our realtor arranged for us to see a completed house with the same floor plan as the one under construction. We walked in--me really without much hope at all that Russ would actually like it--and then I fell in love again. It looked so beautiful! The layout was so open and fantastic and I loved all the finishes! But I tried really hard not to fall in love because I didn't want it to be taken from me like the last one. But the more we looked, the more I could tell that Russ was liking it, too. By the time we got upstairs, I was really just looking to Russ to say yes, because I was so ready to say yes. When he said "It just feels right," I pretty much started jumping up and down screaming because I knew that's what he'd been looking for all along--something that felt right. And now we had found something that we both felt good about and loved. This was a Friday, and we made a verbal contract for the house, along with an appointment for an actual contract the upcoming Tuesday. I didn't stop beaming for the rest of the day.
And you'd think the story would end there, but nope. It doesn't.
On day fifteen, our realtor sent us a link to another house. I about had a panic attack because it was a bigger house for about the same price and I liked how it looked inside. I called Russ and I was basically just hoping for him to find something wrong with it so that I didn't have to make any more house decisions. Luckily, he did find problems with it, and so I again felt at peace about our decision to buy the house under construction.
On day sixteen, we met with the builder. Again, I was super excited, and this time, so was Russ! We got there, signed a bunch of documents, and then got to start picking carpet and paint and countertops and such. The house we bought kind of comes a certain way with a few options, but then you can pay for upgrades. We knew that we wanted to do some of the upgrades in our house, but we didn't know how much stuff like that was going to cost, so this is when we found that out. That turned out to be a stressful process because, though we could afford the upgrades, upgrades sort of messed up our plans to put a full 20% down on the house. You have to pay upfront for upgrades, but then that money doesn't count toward your downpayment. And when we considered that we also have to pay out of pocket for our yard and for some appliances and decorations for our home, we had trouble deciding how we were going to work everything. After some roller coaster decision making, we finally figured everything out. I was so happy!
On day seventeen, the builder accepted our offer, and all the stuff I haven't liked about house hunting finally ended. :D
Bring on the next 6 weeks of excitedly seeing our house get finished!! There will definitely be more home posts in the future, filled with how I decorate an ENTIRE HOUSE that is all ours :) :)
I've thought about baby names since I was 5.
Don't even get me started on how often I would think about my future husband.
And I got really into home design around age 13--drawing pictures and picking paint samples and even drawing home layouts on graphing paper.
The thing about making plans about the future is that sometimes they go one way in your head and another in real life.
My baby names have definitely changed over the last ~20 years.
My husband is wonderful but definitely different from what I planned (better in many ways, and just different in other ways).
And when it comes to buying a house . . . the process is a lot more difficult (and irritating!) than I anticipated.
We started looking at houses about three weeks ago. We're working with a realtor, so she has listened to things we want and keeps her eye out for them. Then we all work on this website together where we can look at options and favorite them. She can also set up alerts based on certain things we've said we want.
Russ and I had selected a variety of houses in our price range, some being newer and nicer, and some being older and in need of renovations. Russ is quite handy, so we thought we might like to buy a fixer-upper and make it great.
On day one, I was pumped. I was so excited to see in person some of the houses I'd been looking at pictures of online. Lisa, our realtor, decided to split things so that day one we'd look at old houses, and day two we'd look at newer houses.
We saw the inside of three houses that first day. Two of them made me want to crawl in a hole and die. Perhaps renovation was not for me. One of them was just as old, but someone else had already done the flipping. It was a really gorgeous house with some of the things we were looking for. But unfortunately, because it was an old house, there were structural issues that could pose a problem later. I was disheartened.
 |
| these three pics are of the flipped old house |
That evening, Lisa also asked Russ and I to drive to four more houses just to see what their locations were like. We did so, and found problems with every single one of them. Seven houses, all no's.
On day two, I was already feeling like house hunting was a hopeless cause (apparently I give up easily . . . ), but then we went into the first house. And I fell in love. It had so much space, and we could have everything we wanted all in one house! The renovations were simple things, like paint updates and one wall that sorely needed paint instead of wallpaper. Russ loved it, too! Our only issues with it were that it had a small backyard and a shared driveway. We really wanted a freestanding house because we're done with any sort of apartment feel, and while this house was freestanding, it was still kind of connected to three other houses because of that shared driveway. I was willing to let those things slide, but Russ wasn't so sure. We decided we'd keep that house on the back burner while we continued looking.
The problem with that was, well, me. I was done looking, and I just wanted that house. We kept looking at different houses almost every day, but we still weren't finding anything that worked for either of us, but especially for me.
On day nine, the house I was in love with got sold. I was devastated. I hadn't seen anything I'd liked more, and I truly felt that we would never find something good enough for both me and Russ. It was too hard to make a joint decision on this one and we were both struggling to compromise.
On day ten, we expanded our search to include Spanish Fork, so we looked at the outsides of a few houses down there, but again found things wrong with the areas. Also on day nine, our realtor sent us to look at a house that was under construction. The benefit of buying a house that is under construction is that we could actually have a hand in some of the decisions, like flooring and wall colors etc. That was an idea that I loved, but after walking through the framed home (no walls or interior things yet), both Russ and I felt that the house wasn't quite right for our needs/wants.
On day eleven, our realtor went to see the house for herself. She loved it for us and she helped me see that some of my complaints against it could be fixed. I was ready to be done, so I kind of just wanted to say yes to this house and be done. Russ could tell I wanted to be done, but he still didn't feel quite right about anything we had looked at. He was ready to say yes to this house just to make me happy. We felt defeated. We couldn't agree on a house, and we were both kind of ready to just settle, except that we really still weren't ready for that. I didn't want Russ to make a decision just to please me, and he didn't really want to make that decision either.
 |
| a drawing of a house similar to the under-construction house (slightly different though) |
And you'd think the story would end there, but nope. It doesn't.
On day fifteen, our realtor sent us a link to another house. I about had a panic attack because it was a bigger house for about the same price and I liked how it looked inside. I called Russ and I was basically just hoping for him to find something wrong with it so that I didn't have to make any more house decisions. Luckily, he did find problems with it, and so I again felt at peace about our decision to buy the house under construction.
On day sixteen, we met with the builder. Again, I was super excited, and this time, so was Russ! We got there, signed a bunch of documents, and then got to start picking carpet and paint and countertops and such. The house we bought kind of comes a certain way with a few options, but then you can pay for upgrades. We knew that we wanted to do some of the upgrades in our house, but we didn't know how much stuff like that was going to cost, so this is when we found that out. That turned out to be a stressful process because, though we could afford the upgrades, upgrades sort of messed up our plans to put a full 20% down on the house. You have to pay upfront for upgrades, but then that money doesn't count toward your downpayment. And when we considered that we also have to pay out of pocket for our yard and for some appliances and decorations for our home, we had trouble deciding how we were going to work everything. After some roller coaster decision making, we finally figured everything out. I was so happy!
On day seventeen, the builder accepted our offer, and all the stuff I haven't liked about house hunting finally ended. :D
Bring on the next 6 weeks of excitedly seeing our house get finished!! There will definitely be more home posts in the future, filled with how I decorate an ENTIRE HOUSE that is all ours :) :)
UGH! I hate house hunting we did it for so long, and I was in the same situation. We live in a smaller town, so everything was SOO OLD! I'm glad you found one though!
ReplyDeleteYay! Congrats! Can't waIt to see it all come together!!
ReplyDeleteWHAT? I'm so jealous you are going to have a braaaand new home and be able to pick the paint colors out and everything! That's seriously amazing - definitely worth the wait. This story made me feel like it was a miracle we got our house in three days ha! Anyways, I can't wait to see yours, that is so soooo exciting!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! SO jealous that you are buying a brand new house. That is awesome :)
ReplyDeleteThat's so exciting! Brand new is pretty amazing...we were lucky to find a REALLY old house entirely redone. Can't wait to see your home!
ReplyDeleteYAY! Congratulations!! We had such a similar path to our new home (last summer) - Every house I loved would sell the second we set up an appointment to see it and then we ended up building - You will LOVE having the newness of your new house!!
ReplyDeletecongrats!!! it's a long process but SO worth it. I cannot wait to have my own house someday to decorate and grow av family :)
ReplyDeleteXo
Candace
Lovely Little Rants
It's smart to wait for a house that feels just right to both of you, even if you do have to look at a lot of houses to find the right one. Actually, finding a house in 17 days is quite good; some people search for months until they find their dream house. Good luck with all your future plans!
ReplyDelete