Househunting, Take 2

Catch up on when we started househunting (Take 1), if you want.

For the past month and a half, we have basically gone out about once a week with our Realtor and looked at houses. The first night we did this, we got some family members to watch Cora and we hit a whopping 7 houses. House #6 was darn NEAR PERFECT.

The house itself was almost exactly what we wanted--it even had an extra sun room off the kitchen and a wet bar in the basement! The lot was nice and included an awesome swingset. But it was on the 'main drag' of a busy neighborhood, and we had wanted a quiet cul-de-sac lot. It was also the very top of our (spoken aloud) budget. We hesitated to make an offer right away, since it was our first time out. We said we'd think about it over the weekend. Well, by noon the next day there was an offer on it, a sign in the yard that said "SOLD in less than 7 days!," and we had to just let it go. I've driven by that house a few times since then, and still kinda mourn it.

the beautiful house we didn't buy

So we kept searching. We would usually see 2 or 3 houses after B got off work. We brought Cora along, and B chased her up the stairs or wherever as I explored. It really was me being the picky one. B had basically no requirements or even little extras that were important to him. (He mostly just wanted a house that was built within the last 20 years.) This was actually really frustrating to me, since I knew if I picked a dud it would be entirely my own fault.

I had a handful of things I wanted, and our realtor even took us to a builder to discuss custom-building a house. We decided that wasn't for us for a few reasons, mostly because of the time involved, the cost, and the fact that I didn't really want to live in the neighborhoods where homes were currently being built. I eventually even upped our budget, which I had not wanted to do, since I kept being shown things at the top of our budget that still needed a basement finished (can run about $20K to do this) or something expensive like that.

My parents were in town the week of July 4th, and I drove them around the part of town we were looking. My mom has custom-built TWO houses, which means she hasn't lived anywhere that previous owners held in over THIRTY YEARS. She kept telling me we should build, and I kept saying, "I'm not that picky!" Our Realtor did tell us there was a lack of inventory going on in the market right now, and I still believe that. I started looking in the opposite direction online, at 1970's-built homes that were wayyy under budget, but still looked decent. I never did get in any of those to really see them, but I know they would have required a lot of work to configure into what I really wanted.

A few days after my parents left, I was looking online again, and I saw a house that looked promising. But then I noticed one of the things I seriously did not want in a house.

I had been hesitant to have a main-floor master bedroom with all of the other bedrooms upstairs, mostly because we're still on kid #1. I eventually had to let that go, since a ton of the homes here have that. But the master facing the street? Hrmph.

I asked our Realtor if we could see this other house, and while on the phone, he mentioned the one that had prompted my raging tweets. I told him I didn't want to see it because of the master-facing-the-street issue, and we moved on with the conversation. But then some strange feeling hit me later that day, and I emailed him and asked to see it too. Just to cover my bases, I guess. I'm pretty sure my actual email made me sound like a 15-year-old. Plus, it was $15K under our original budget.

After seeing two other houses I didn't like very much, I ended up liking that house a lot. The house I didn't even want to see originally. Except that it needed a bathroom added to the basement and a complete overhaul of the master bathroom (it has carpet and a hideous tub.) However, it was the first time I had gone out to look at houses during the day while B was at work. I was having trouble chasing Cora around, as it was really hot out and my stomach wasn't feeling too good for whatever reason. The owners of this house were out of town, and had left their thermostat set to 81° so it was sweltering inside the house, too. I decided to ask if I could come back with B that night to see it again. Our Realtor brought along a purchase agreement to the showing that evening. We knew we had to move fast, too, after losing that last one so quickly.

Yes, that's a quiet cul-de-sac

To make a short story long, we came back, looked at it again, and even got to talk to a neighbor. We made a full-price offer on the house while Cora ran around on the sidewalk.

Unfortunately, the story doesn't end there. I woke up the next morning with a heaping dose of buyer's remorse, thinking how much I might hate this house, and how it just isn't perfect. I kept thinking that my actual perfect house was going to come on the market in the next day, now that we had made an offer. I called B in tears. I seriously considered pulling the offer, and I was feeling that we rushed into it all too quickly. I almost felt like I did it just to spite my mom's insistence that we custom-build. B listened to me whine and then told me to get out of the house and go do something else! He also told me we needed to get some bikes for that 3-car garage. I took Cora to the library for story time, and by the time we got back, I was feeling much better. I started seeing all the possibilities with the house, and I looked at some of the pictures again. I even mustered up the courage to call my mom and say, "Hey, we bought a house."

I still don't understand the point of the master bedroom facing the street, other than the front of the house needs a pretty window. (And the only room upstairs that got a pretty window is the one facing the street as well.) But the rest of the house is a blank canvas for us to make into a home. And it does have a lot of great features, like the island in the kitchen, an adorable dining room, an herb garden, and a big basement to fill with kids and their toys. Now, a week later, with this week mostly focused on getting our financing in order, I am officially excited about our new home!

5 Favorites

1.

Target Cartwheel

Finally, an app-type of coupon clipping thing that you don't actually NEED a smartphone for! You just clip what you want and can either show the barcode on your phone at the register, or simply print it out. Plus, you can stack the Cartwheel savings + Target coupon + manufacturer's coupon + 5¢ off per each reusable bag. (And if you have the Target credit card, you get another 5%!)

I would also like to point out just how similar the font they used is to the one on my blog. It's kinda freaking me out.

2.

Brown Sugar

Why is this stuff so good? I could probably eat spoonfuls of it straight-up.

And a little tip: I prefer the light brown over the dark brown for chocolate chip cookies. Easier to tell if they're burning, too.

3.

my Danskin running shorts

Mine are an obnoxious shade of purple

I don't like the inner liners on most running shorts (um, I'm already wearing underwear!), so I had to search a few places for new shorts.  I eventually got a pair of Adidas ones from Dick's Sporting Goods, which are okay. But then I decided on a whim to buy this $7 pair from Wal-Mart, and they turned out to be my favorite! I mostly just like the hidden pocket, which perfectly holds my scan card to get back into the Y. (It would probably fit my car key, but I leave that in a locker.)

4.

Gallery Walls

I put one in our apartment that you see right when you come up the stairs from the entrance. It's so fun to look at all the pictures, and I love seeing them in other houses. But now I need to figure out where exactly to put ours in . . .

5.

Our New House!

So we're buying a house, and this is it! Offer has been made and accepted, and the inspection will be happening next week, and closing will happen the week after we get back from Virginia in mid-August. The back yard is HUGE, and I think we're inheriting the herb garden as well. I'm kind of excited, but also overwhelmed. It was under our budget, so we'll be making some big updates before we move in. I will be talking much more about this house on the blog, including before-and-after pics, of course!

7 Quick Takes

--- 1 ---

Yesterday the only real friend I've made since coming to this town moved away! Cora and her daughter were buds, too. We met through the library story time way back in like November and then found out we lived in the same apartment complex. I'm supposed to be the one that moves, not the other people! I'm feeling very deflated. I also feel like since proximity breeds friendship that I won't really be able to make new good friends until we buy a house.

--- 2 ---

On a brighter note, I had seen a group of ladies meeting up with their babies in strollers outside the Y a few times before going for my run. I finally just opened my big fat mouth to one of them yesterday and asked her about it. Turns out, it's a class at the Y that I don't know how I missed hearing about! I got home and checked the monthly class schedule I keep on fridge and sure enough, "Strollin' on the Trail" Thursdays at 9:15 was staring in my face. I'll be joining them in 2 weeks :-)

--- 3 ---

Speaking of house-hunting, our realtor took us to look at a house yesterday and there was one of those kitschy signs that said "Good moms have dirty dishes, laundry piles, and happy kids."

I found this via an image search; pretty sure the actual one I saw did NOT mention sticky floors

While I totally agree, I found it funny that this is also the same house that had a (permanent) sign at the front door asking you to remove your shoes and had shoe covers in a basket for us home-viewers to put on. (We've looked at a lot of houses now, and this is the first time we've had that happen.) I guess I feel that homes are meant to be LIVED in, with shoes or without! I generally take off my shoes at our place, but mostly because I feel more relaxed, not because I don't want to vacuum or am afraid of my kid eating floor crumbs. Maybe I'm crazy or something, though.

--- 4 ---

Can I just brag on my kid for a bit? For the past 3 months or so, she has been in the picky-eating phase that most toddlers hit (and hers was almost perfectly timed with when she started walking). However, it has been sooo easy to take her out to restaurants! Once we realized she likes hummus (um, I feed it to her every other day!) and most dips, we just order off the appetizer menu for her. (How many kids love spinach artichoke dip?) She has only gotten a kids' meal once--B's aunt got it for her--and she didn't touch it. (I generally bring one of those fruit/veggie pouches in my purse just in case.) But last night we went to a Greek place and she loved the pita, hummus, tzatziki, and even liked the avgolemono (lemon/egg/rice) soup that B got! She also tried the spicy feta and then cried a bit when the spiciness hit her. She was eating so fast I hardly could get a pic.

It also may have helped that the owner of the restaurant looked like my dad. (I'm Lebanese, not Greek, but they're pretty similar. And both names Catherine and Cora have Greek origins, so there's that, too.)

--- 5 ---

I went "Midwestern tubing" for the first time this past week. It was . . . scary. Midwestern tubing = tube being pulled behind a speed boat. Southern tubing (my fave) = floating slowly down a river (usually involves sipping alcoholic beverages).

That's me on the left and B's youngest brother on the right.

--- 6 ---

Hooray for summer reading at the library! We read enough for Cora to get her first prize--an egg shaker!

--- 7 ---

My big girl turned 17 months on Wednesday! And also turned into a 1-take wonder. This was almost too easy to get. (Very different than last month!)

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

5 Favorites

1.

Parenting: Illustrated With Crappy Pictures

I have loved this blog for a while, and I just devoured her book in a weekend (and I'm one of the slowest readers ever). It's weird because I seriously haven't even had most of the issues the author complains about (yet?). Still, the MS Paint-style pictures are hilarious, Amber's writing is hilarious, and Crappy Baby is adorbs.

2.

Birthday Freebies

This was some of last year's since I'm too lazy to take a pic of this year's

Ah, I love my birthday. Mostly because of the influx of coupons, freebies, and good deals that hit my inbox in the week leading up to it. I got a free sub at Firehouse Subs, a free (kid-size) scoop at Baskin Robbins, a free $3 to spend on whatever at CVS, and a free burrito (with purchase of drink) at Moe's. I still have a free breakfast at IHOP that has so far gone un-used, along with a couple other 'buy something get something' offers that I'm not always so keen on because there is actual money involved. (But I did want that burrito on Sunday night, so that worked out well.) I think I just ate more fast food in one weekend than I have in a few months. Happy 29th to moi!

3.

the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV)

Yeah, this is a weird one, but they do a great job with this here! They have good hours that can appeal to people in almost all shifts --open Tuesday through Saturday with certain days of the week open until 7pm. This is totally awesome because it meant I didn't have to lug the child with me to get my car registered here. (I did take her to get my license, and it was a huge mistake because she whined the whole time I was attempting my computer test. Doable, but not ideal.) They also have perfected speediness and short wait times. There were actually a lot of people there when I went to do my plates this week, but there were 10 workers, and each could handle anything. And there were another two 'floaters' who did things like checking my car's VIN number while we handled the rest of the paperwork. I got my number at 4:51 and walked out of there with my car registered in Indiana at 5:10. Less than 20 minutes, start to finish!

The only weird thing is that I only got a temporary plate, and they'll mail me the real one. The other states I've lived in just grabbed one from the pile and handed it over. Also, I've heard that IN plates are crappy plastic, but my others are pretty metal. I'm planning to hang my 3 former plates in our garage when we buy a house, so this kind of matters.

4.
this house that we didn't buy

I probably shouldn't think about it any more, but we saw this house last Thursday with our realtor, and it was fabulous. It was also at the top of our budget so we decided to wait a few days. Someone else put an offer on it the next day, and there is now a big "Sold in 7 Days!" sign next to the other one on the lawn. If you want to see more pics, here is the trulia listing. (Yes, it even included the swing set!) Things I've learned: we (actually, it's just me) are totally gun-shy about making an offer, especially this early in our search, and the good houses around here go fast. I'm also probably going to compare every house we see from here on out to this one.

5.

Maximum Cuteness

In the Crappy Pictures book, Amber Dusick introduced me to the phase called "Maximum Cuteness" which goes from about 16 months until 3 years. (I guess kids get mean and nasty about then, or at least that's what Crappy Mama says.) Anyway, Cora has hit this stage, and I am loving it. She had never shown much interest in her stuffed animals before, but now she has started carrying them around and hugging them and such. Then, there was this:

Let's take a closer look at that: 

And last night she fell asleep with her stuffed cat under one arm and her mousey under the other. I can't even handle the cute.

5 Favorites

1.

Fort Wayne Zoo

I hadn't been to a zoo since I was 8 months pregnant, and that zoo was not very good and made me sad for some of the animals (namely, the monkeys). When we were moving here to Fort Wayne, everyone and their mothers said that we had to go to the zoo! It's fabulous, they said. Your kid, no matter how young, will love it!

So we went! Sure enough, we loved it. Kangaroos and giraffes were favorites. We'll definitely be coming back. (I bought a membership! I even tacked on an "add-a-guest" option, so if you come visit me, I'll take ya there!)

Zoo buddy babies

2.

Eating this for breakfast

A scrambled egg on top of a toasted English whole wheat English muffin, alongside a smoothie made with random fruit, spinach, yogurt, and applesauce.

I'm not a morning person, and my usual breakfast of cereal and milk reflects that. I just need something super-quick that requires zero effort because I'm usually in zombie-mommy mode. However, I always find myself really hungry around 10am and usually start scrambling through the pantry for unhealthy crap around then. But I'm taking this Child Nutrition and Cooking and our assignment last week was to make a balanced breakfast with protein, grain, and at least one fruit or vegetable. I had this, and it sustained me well until lunch. (The picky toddler loves the smoothie, too, so right now it's one of the only ways I can get her to eat green veggies. Sigh.) My new goal is to make this at least once a week for breakfast. I did it again yesterday, so I'm on track! I think I might freeze the smoothie as popsicles and then thaw them down back into smoothies in the morning--is that a decent idea? (I have no desire for a popsicle at 7am, sorry.)

3.

Daphne Oz

Speaking of food, I love the show The Chew on ABC. If we're hanging around the house on a weekday at 1pm, I turn it on. My favorite host is Daphne, who I had never heard of before the show! She's Dr. Oz's daughter, if you're curious. She also has a new book out called Relish, and I had it on hold at the library for the last month and it's finally my turn. Lots of delicious (and healthy) recipes and general Daphne Oz-someness. (Get it?)

4.

trulia

It's no secret that we're on the hunt for our first house. Although we now have a realtor and pre-approval for a mortgage and all the jazz, we started our house hunt on the trulia website. It has a lot of great searchable features (I narrowed it down to school system + price + age of house + other picky stuff), and we found a few open houses to look at on our first day out through it. I now just have it email me when houses that meet my criteria get listed. Which is like, every day. I guess we're not as picky as it sounds. We do have our first meeting with our actual realtor on Thursday, in case you were wondering.

5.

Lindt Chocolate Cremosi Assortment

I won these from a blog giveway (thanks to The Young Retiree!), and they are so good! There are 3 types in the bag, and I love them all. I got B to try one and he just popped it in his mouth like a piece of popcorn. I asked him what flavor it was, and he was all, "I dunno, chocolate..." Oh, I got so mad at him! I told him he wasn't respecting the chocolate and that he can't have any more of them. This would be a great gift for someone who respects the chocolate--check out the whole collection here at The Young Retiree's shop.

Househunting, Take 1

My husband B had Sunday off for only the second time in the past few months. Instead of wasting the day away, he decided we should go to some open houses to see what kind of real estate is around here.

Hooray for our first house-hunting adventure!

B printed off a list of open houses that were going on that day from Trulia. I didn't know it at the time, but he only picked "new construction" houses. This was kind of annoying, for a few reasons. It meant in each house, they were not only trying to sell us that house, they were trying to sell us any house. Sigh. It also meant that some of these houses were on roads that didn't exist until just a few months ago, so the GPS (on B's phone) couldn't find them. We had his laptop with us (no internet though), but the map was zoomed out too far to tell.

At one point, we gave up and just ended up just following a sign to an open house and seeing a 1999-built house that needed a lot of work. In total, we saw 4 houses and then called up B's aunt and uncle for a visit when we realized we were nearby where they live.

The house I where I grew up in Lawrenceville, GA. A custom-built in 1985.
No one else has lived here but my family!

I have now started a list in a notebook for our house hunt! B isn't very picky except for the location, so I guess I get to be the choosy one.  I have some "deal-breaker" features (open kitchen is a must for me) and some "wish-list" features (a dedicated laundry room perhaps?). We're still not sure if we're going to do a custom build or just buy something already built, but we have enough time to get either accomplished. (Our lease ends in November.) Even though it's still early days, we did sort of nail down which parts of town were acceptable. I'll call that a win.

Our current apartment (with 1-car garage on the bottom) in Fort Wayne, IN

This whole thing is still sort of blowing my mind. I know a lot of my non-military friends don't see what the big deal is. They bought a house right around the time they got married, and that was a preliminary step before having children. Some people that I graduated high school with are even on their second home now. But this is all slightly frightening to me. Kids are mobile, houses aren't. (Well, at least the kind we plan to buy.) The whole idea of buying a house just hammers home that we aren't just living here for 2 or 3 years. (I kinda sorta loved being a nomad.) The truth is that we have no idea how long we would live in this house. And even though I was raised in the same house from when I was a baby through my high school graduation, thinking 17 years into the future for my own daughter is just plain scary.

All that said, B is quickly approaching is 30th birthday, and I think that's a pretty good age to 'settle down,' plant your feet in the ground somewhere, and buy a home. I'm also excited at the prospect of a mortgage payment (plus insurances and taxes) that could be less than our current rent!