The House (hopefully)

These are all cell phone pictures of the house we signed a contract to buy today. The owners of the other house we originally made an offer on were not negotiating much, and I had a tiny freak-out about the price. So we put them off and talked to our mortgage lady again. We had decided to move forward with the other house, when our realtor called us excitedly.

She asked me if I remembered the brand new house that we had walked through that was under contract? I said yes, because I had really liked the house, but the builders wouldn't have another like it for at least four months.

She told us that the buyers had fallen through at the last minute, and the house was now available to buy. The timing was kind of crazy. The house is bigger, newer, more energy efficient (good for those a/c bills), cheaper, and in a better school district. The builder was willing to basically give us the upgrades they had put into the house for the original buyer for free.

John had never seen the house because I figured it was useless since it was under contract. So we mosied our way up there to look at it, and funnily enough, John fell in love with it. I was very astounded by that alone because John literally has no opinion when it comes to houses except for the price usually. But he was a die-hard fan from the first moment, and so we decided to go for it after doing some research on the builder and neighborhood etc.

So that's the kind of crazy story of how we put two offers in on two houses within two days of each other. Whew. So here are some bad cell phone pics of the house because I know my Mom especially will want to see them.

Here's the outside. John likes the two balconies. I don't think I'll use either one because it's so blooming hot here, but we'll see. :)
The lady in pink is our realtor. The builder is actually going to extend this hardwood further into the hallway and to the left where the formal living and dining rooms are located for us.

Here are those rooms. They are right next to each other which is unusual, but I like that I'll have a formal dining room and a living room. Most houses here either had one or the other.This is the main family room. Lots of windows.
The kitchen, which is open to the family room.
More kitchen shots.
The huge "bonus room." It's called a bonus room because the other buyers upgraded this area to be a room with a closet. It is seriously huge. I think we will use it as a playroom/office/catchall.
The upstairs laundry room. I'm excited that it's 1. upstairs, and 2. a room and not a closet with bifold doors. I can stash twelve loads of laundry in here and close the door and pretend like all is right with the world.
Here's the master. The balcony is out that door. All of the rooms are on the second floor. Also a favorite of John's? The air conditioner is a "dual zone" air conditioner, which means that you can do different temperatures for the upstairs and downstairs and save energy/money that way.


The master bath. A nice big tub just for me. :) Okay...I'll share.
The vanity in the master. The sinks are raised taller, which is good for tall folks like us.

Ok, that's the grand tour. Hope it doesn't seem like I'm braggy or anything. If anything I am tired to death of house-hunting. I was telling John that the show House Hunters makes it look way more fun than it actually is to look at houses. I feel tired and worn out by our lack of schedule, the long paper signings, the long days spent searching with a toddler in tow, and feeling generally sick all day. Not to whine or anything. :) But I am definitely glad to have a house picked that John loves (and I love) and hopefully there won't be any paperwork issues. And be sure to come visit, we have plenty of room.