officially home owners!

It is official! Obviously - from previous posts. We moved into our home the first weekend in December. I was determined to get in the house before Christmas (my favorite holiday and time of year). Let me back track a little though!

 Matt and I had walked away from the house we offered on and decided that the other houses in the mix were not worth offering on. We were out on a Sunday not specifically to go to open houses, but we had just gotten into the routine of taking a Sunday drive and ending up wherever. We drove over near my parents neighborhood and kept driving out further near an outdoor shopping center here in town and happened to see that there was a Five Guys hamburger place in the shopping center. I had no idea that Five Guys was even here in town - I had only had it with Matt in Cincinnati when visiting his family. We both love Five Guys so we immediately pulled in and decided to eat there. We must have had a late breakfast because it was around 1:15 when we ate. We got our food and talked about our game plan for the house hunt. We talked about the area we were in and both agreed that it was a nice area (a little further away from what we were familiar with) but we wondered why we had not considered that area in our house hunt. As we are finishing our burgers and fries I got on my phone to look if there were any open houses in the area that day. There was one that started at 2pm not far from where we were eating.

We hopped in the Jeep and made our way there. We showed up to the house at about 2:05 and it did not seem like there was any open house happening. I looked on my phone again and it said there was an open house on that date. I read the description and looked at the pictures again and was somewhat disappointed. The outside of the house was nothing like I had imagined us living in. In fact it was extremely similar to the house my dad grew up in and that I spent much time in visiting my grandma. The pictures made it seem so great on the inside so I was willing to look past the exterior, after all things can be changed cosmetically. After drinking a large diet coke at the burger place I really had to use the restroom (TMI? sorry!) so I told Matt we couldn't wait around or I would pee my pants! He reluctantly pulled away from the house and took me a mile or 2 down the road to a Dairy Queen.

Once I got back in the car Matt said he wanted to go back and see if the realtor had showed up. I was kind of over it and annoyed that no one was there at the said time. After some coaxing Matt got me to agree to go back to the house. The house is on the way out of the city - it is not in the country by any means but it is about 3/4 of a mile to the next county from our neighborhood. I was never familiar with this area growing up - I guess I kind of stayed in a little bubble around my parent's house and my school. Matt and I had discussed eventually moving to that county (they supposedly have better schools) and building a house and having some land, so the fact that we were getting pretty close to that county was a good thing to us.

Back to the open house!

Matt and I pulled up to see the realtor putting a sign in the yard and unlocking the front door. I wasn't so sure since she was running late that this would go down well - I was prepared to be disappointed. We were the first and only ones in the house. We walked through pretty quickly - we were pleased and pretty surprised at how good of shape it was in. It was somewhat "flipped" I guess you could say. We did not ever see the before pictures, but the man selling it had obviously done some work to the home. The kitchen was all new except the flooring. All new carpet throughout (which we have learned now is cheap cheap cheap carpet!). Neutral paint throughout and pretty much a blank slate for us. The bedrooms were not very big, but there was a basement, living room and eat in kitchen area. Plenty of living area for the two of us and a small child in the future.

We chatted with the realtor about the area and the history of the home and told her we would be in touch. I don't know if we truly meant we would be in touch, but turns out - we were being honest!  Everything that happened from then on was a blur. I wasn't sold on the exterior, but knew that the interior was too good to pass up for the price. We both thought that it would be nice to be in a part of town neither of us were super familiar with - that way we could discover it together. With me being from here and Matt not, I often forget that I am the only one who knows where things are. Now that we are further out than I am used to, we get to learn our surroundings and neighborhood together.

We brought our realtor to the house that same week to look again and made an offer that night. The owner accepted the offer and we began the process. Everything went pretty smooth. Our inspection came back good with just some minor fixes that the owner agreed to make and we closed on our house at the end of November and moved in the first Saturday of December.

Celebrating our first night in the house with a bottle of champagne from our wedding

I was so pleased to be in the house before Christmas and did some decorating on the outside of the house before unpacking any boxes. The house had sat empty for quite some time so I wanted the neighbors to know that we were there and that we took pride in our home. There was an older gentleman walking his dog not that long after we moved in and I was outside doing something. The gentleman looked at the house and looked at me and gave me a "thumbs up". That made me feel good, I want our home to reflect us and to be welcoming to those around us.

the first snow in our new home

handy man Matt putting on new locks

We have lots of plans for the house and have already begun painting, decorating and doing some handy work (Matt is my awesome handy man). There are big plans for the outside of the house once warmer weather hits. I am sure you have noticed the lack of landscaping - there is absolutely nothing planted in the yard! I also have plans to paint or get new shutters, a new front door, at least some landscaping, and rip out the chain length fence in the backyard and install a nice wooden one ourselves. Matt would like to build a deck.  Right now we have a concrete slab. I would love to have a deck as well, but around here we do everything ourselves and I am not sure if I will have it in me after we do the fence (which I am already dreading).

bringing home our Christmas tree

Next up: a feature wall in our basement! It involves 100 yr old reclaimed barn wood. Stay tuned!

First Offer

not our first offer, but a top contender

source 

Back to the house hunt postings!

 After going to about 20 open houses we found a house that we wanted to offer on. It had lots of charm and was owned by an older couple. They kept it up well, but had not done much updating. There were arched doorways, original hardwood floors and some crown molding. I loved the exterior - almost entirely brick, well maintained yard, and a fairly new wooden fence in the back. The street was very nice as well. The neighborhood is in an older part of town and sits between two busy roadways. I was worried about some riff raff coming off of those roads on foot, but not worried enough to not buy the place.

We took my parents to see the house and they liked it enough to give us the go ahead. I think we would have offered regardless of their opinion as long as there were no red flags. The home needed work - in our opinion. The kitchen was closed off and small with no dishwasher. It sat next to the dining room and small living area. We had planned to knock out the kitchen wall and make a large open concept kitchen and living area. The full bath and the half bath (both on the first floor) needed help as well. There were 4 bedrooms, 1.5 bath, a large unfinished basement, and a shed.

We offered the day that we brought my parents to see it. We had seen it twice before. We put in our offer under the asking price, but not ridiculously under. We gave the owners til the next evening to respond. As we were going through the offer process our real estate agent said that the house is in a flood plain and that if we do purchase the house, we must have flood insurance. We figured that was normal and turned in the offer.

Matt and I go home and look into flood insurance and found out that it is not cheap. Not to mention another bill to add to the pile. We decided if we could get the house for what we wanted that it would not be a huge deal. WELL, the owners did not respond within the time frame we gave them and when they did respond they counter offered at the asking price. They did not budge at all! The house had been on the market for quite some time and did not have any other activity. We were stumped. We thought that we would maybe go back and forth and finally settle on an agreement.

 Matt and I ultimately decided to walk away. I told myself in the beginning of all of this that I would not get emotional or attached. Well, I got a little sad. The house had character and a lot of potential. After some time I realized that it was not meant to be and it would have taken quite some time (and major budgeting) for us to get the house the way we wanted.

Our first offer

source

Matt and I took about a week or two off from house hunting and thought about waiting a little longer and saving up some more money to put down.  Well, we did not waste too much time considering that we made our first offer in mid October and found, offered and moved into our new home by the first week of December.  We were very pleased with the way everything went with the purchasing of our new home and have already been busy making it ours.  

 Since the first offer the owners reduced the price to what we offered and from what I have researched, I believe that they have taken it off the market.  We are happy with our decision regardless!

Stay tuned for pictures, projects and some hiccups along the way!

life update

Things have been interesting around here lately! We are settling into our new home and starting some projects around here, which is exciting! Every project always seems to take longer and cost more money than you think it is going to, but we are getting used to that. I blogged about my new job in September, but did not reveal what I was doing. I was taking a leap of faith by accepting a job that was not high paying and not something I was used to. I was working at a handbag and accessories boutique. We sold some really nice handbags like: Kate Spade, Zac Posen, Brahmin, and Hobo. We also carried jewelry, gifts, housewares and some baby stuff. I was really enjoying interacting with our customers and being around pretty things. I was also really looking forward to Derby time at the store. The owner sold Derby hats in the previous years and it is always a fun time of year in Kentucky.

 In mid Novemeber the owner sat me down and told me that she had decided to close the store. I was shocked! We had a great customer following and we were actually planning to move to another shopping center at the beginning of the year. She decided that it was time to let it go and take time for herself and her family. I was definitely not expecting the store to close, I had just been hired in late August! At first I was sad and then my gears started turning and I realized that we just bought a house!!!

 Fortunately Matt has a job he loves.   He is quickly moving up and gaining much respect within his company and I am so incredibly proud of him. We are able to cover all of our bills and mortgage with Matt's job, but I pray and ask you to pray that I find something quickly. I know that everything happens for a reason and there is something else out there for me! The boutiques last day was this past Saturday. I can't believe it came so quickly. I am hopeful that I find something that is fulfilling and a good fit for me.

 I have big dreams for our future, we are hopeful to have our own business someday and to acquire some land and property to do this. Right now I need to stay focused on the bigger goal and land myself a job!! I have had some small leads for jobs, but no offers yet. I have been pretty picky about the job search, but I am trusting that I can find something unexpectedly, even if it is unfamiliar.

 I have written drafts for SEVERAL other posts about the house hunt and finding our humble abode we now call home, as well as some projects we have already completed! Stay tuned!

The House Hunt

I am back!  Hoping to make some changes around here!  I know I have probably said that before BUT it is one of my resolutions this year to blog more and document our life.  So often I forget the little details and get going in our everyday life and forget about all the small wonderful things that happen throughout the week.  Hopefully by blogging more I can cherish those moments a little bit more!

Onto the house hunting.  I feel like it has been a while since we have done this since we are now officially homeowners!!!  We got to spend Christmas in our first home and it was great!  Very rushed, but still great to be in our home for our 2nd married Christmas.

We moved to Louisville in May for Matt's job and moved into an apartment not too far from my brother and his family and not too far from my parent's house.  The apartment was a good size but lacked character and nice finishes.  We were spoiled in Bowling Green, our apartment there had great appliances, crown molding, ceiling fans and vaulted ceilings AND a much better price!  I knew we would be paying more in Louisville with it being a bigger city, but it was a struggle to spend so much on rent when we knew we would be staying pretty long term.  SO, we started house hunting earlier than I think we both planned.  We wanted something that we could call our own and do weekend projects and actually hang stuff on the walls!

I guess we started looking in late August early September.  The first open house we ever went to was about 3 blocks over from my brother and sister in law.  They live in a really convenient area with some really cute brick cape cods.  I was really interested in cape cods and ranch style houses.  I also love the craftsmen style.  We knew that we either had to have a basement OR a garage - both would have been great!  We were looking for 3 bedrooms and at least 1 1/2 bath.  There was not a particular part of town we wanted to be in - just some parts of town we did not want to be in.

Love this home!  Not for sale, but I was getting inspiration!

That first open house did not have a basement or a garage and was more than we wanted to spend.  We continued to drive around and get a feel for what we wanted and figure out our price range.

Once we found some good contenders we went ahead and got pre approved.  We were surprised at how much they pre approved us for because we were not really comfortable paying that much!  We crunched some numbers and figured out what would be a good number for us.  That helped the house hunt go a lot smoother.  We didn't want to look at anything that we could not afford.

We found a brick ranch house that we both really liked that was freshly painted, all new appliances, vaulted ceilings, brand new fence in the backyard - but it did not have a basement or a garage.  The price was in our price range but not really what we wanted to pay for the space and lack of basement and garage.  We went back and forth about that house as we continued to look. 

Another one of our requirements were that we could make it our own.  We wanted to have projects and to make the house ours.  We did not want to have to completely redo a house.  We were willing to move some walls around or take some down and redo some bathroom work, but I did not want to live in a construction zone.

We kept the brick ranch house we both liked in the back of our heads as we continued to look September - November.  After about 20 open houses we found 1 that we wanted to make an offer on.  We went back to the original brick ranch before making an offer on a different house thinking we would make an offer on that one first, but finally decided it was just not enough space and not practical.

I will fill you in on our first offer next time!  Follow along with us as we make our house a home!

Cheers!