~56~On Buying a House, Part 2

The other day, I posted about the processes we went through and decisions we made prior to finding our house.  Today, I'm going to outline the steps we took from the moment we found the house to close. 

*FINDING THE HOUSE*

Jake discovered our house at the end of January while perusing the Realtor.com website.  I had previously saved the listing in my "favorites", but never looked at it close enough to schedule a showing.  I think that part of it was because it was originally listed outside of our ideal price range, so I never took it seriously.  In December 2012, it was price reduced into our search boundaries.  Thankfully, Jake made me look at it again and we agreed that it would be worth looking at.  I quickly contacted my realtor and scheduled a time for us to look at it. 

*HOUSE SHOWING*

It took us a couple of tries to view the house.  The first time, our realtor got sick and asked to reschedule.  The second time, one of the seller's children got sick and asked to reschedule.  We started to get antsy about getting in in a timely manner, especially, when we were informed that two other people were coming to look at the home before we were able to go due to all of the rescheduling.  

During the showing, we considered the amount of space that was available, the layout of the home, and looked for our must haves.  This was honestly the first home that didn't make us say, "I really like it, but…."  It has all of our must haves, plus some.  It was completely move-in ready and aside from some paint and a little updating, didn't need anything done to make it feel like home.  The carpet was new, kitchen remodeled, newer roof, newer furnace, newly painted siding.  We were very excited about the possibility of making this our home and made sure to let our realtor know.  After Jake and I discussed the desire to pursue the house, we set up a second showing with Jake's parents to get a second set of eyes looking it over.  We wanted to make sure that we didn't overlook anything that might cause problems down the road.  We got the seal of approval and decided that we wanted to put in an offer. 

*PUTTING IN AN OFFER AND GETTING IT ACCEPTED*

Once we decided to make an offer, we had to decide what to offer.  We used the recommendation and expertise of our realtor to guide our decision.  We looked at what other homes in the area had sold for and considered any areas that we'd need to put money into in the near future.  We settled on a low-end offer that was $8,000 less than what it was currently listed at to feel them out and provide a starting point.  We asked that they pay all closing costs, and leave all appliances (the listing only offered the stove/microwave/dishwasher, but withheld the fridge/washer/dryer).  

Putting in an offer was a much more official process than I had thought it would be.  We met with our realtor at her office, filled out, and signed a purchase agreement that stated our offer price and conditions.  We also wrote a check for an earnest money deposit.  This basically tells the sellers that you're serious enough about the property that you're willing to put some money down on it.  These funds do not go to the sellers themselves, but rather are held in a trust account and credited to the down-payment/closing costs at closing. I was most surprised by how quickly we were expected to get a response.  This was written into the purchase agreement-requiring the sellers to respond by noon the following day.  We heard back that evening.  

The sellers countered our offer, raising it $6,000 from our initial offer, agreeing to closing costs and the fridge.  Prior to our offer, they had two accepted two other separate offers and both of them had fallen through before they made it to closing.  The sellers were a bit hardened about the whole process.  As a result, they asked us to increase our earnest money deposit to $1000.  We didn't have a problem with this because it all goes towards your amount due at closing anyway.  If anything falls through between then, the deposit is returned. They also asked for a two day difference from closing to possession.  This baffled us a bit, but after talking to our realtor, we learned that the reasoning was that since they can't close on their new house until they'd finished closing on their old (the one we're buying), they might not be able to move until the day after we close.  The two day buffer gave them some wiggle room.  The timing was perfect and we intentionally scheduled our closing date in the middle of my spring break to allow ample time to move and get settled before going back to work.  This 2 days to possession prevented that perfectly laid out scenario from happening.  In our counter offer back, we asked that if they wanted a 2 day buffer, that we close 2 days earlier so that we'd still be moving in on the same day.  Since they were still planning on keeping the washer and dryer, our new offer was $1500 less than their counter.  Their response came the next morning.  They raised our newest offer by $1000, but included the washer and dryer.
We decided to accept!  

The negotiation process was honestly really stressful for me.  I hate the unknown and even more so, I hate waiting.  It was practically killing me.  I kept going back and forth on whether or not we should agree to a higher price.  I kept saying that I never wanted to go as high as we did, but then I realized a couple things that helped me see why it was ok.

1. We were getting everything we asked for in our original offer, but for $6,000 more.  Was I really willing to give up this home over $17 a month ($6000/30years/12months)?  Was I really prepared to walk away from the house and be okay with it.  In the end, the answer was no.
2. There were no other homes in this price range on the market that we'd seen in the last year that had newer everything.  It was worth the piece of mind knowing that we probably wouldn't have to spend a bunch of money on large repairs shortly after moving in.  I'd rather pay a little more now than potentially a lot more later.

*I will note that the final purchase price was within our monthly budget that we set for ourselves when we first started looking at homes. Had the sellers wanted more than what we could have comfortably afforded, we would have walked away.*

*INSPECTION*
Within 10 days of an offer acceptance, we had to schedule and complete an inspection, which was paid by us.  From what we heard, most inspections cost around $250-$350.  Luckily, a neighbor of Jake's parent's was a certified inspector and was available to complete our inspection.  We knew that we could trust him to tell us if anything was wrong with the house and he also did it at a lower cost of $200.  During the inspection, myself, Jake, and our realtor were present while the inspector worked the entire house-exterior and interior making sure everything was in good, working condition.   It passed with flying colors!  We had also contemplated having the fireplace and chimney inspected because on the disclosure, the sellers weren't sure if it was working or not.  This would have been a separate inspection.  We didn't get it scheduled within the 10 day window, but we agreed that if it didn't work, it wouldn't be a deal breaker for us.

*SETTING UP A MORTGAGE*
We had originally planned on using our current bank to finance our mortgage, but discovered during our pre-approval process that they no longer do FHA loans.  However, they were able to refer us to another lender that does do FHAs.  In addition, our realtor recommended a mortgage lender that she has done business with a lot. We decided to shop around and see who could give us the best rate.  In the end, our realtor's recommendation gave us the best rate at 3.25%  He was extremely helpful throughout the process and very knowledgable.  We communicated exclusively through email.  It took less than 12 hours to get a pre-approval through him and after our offer was accepted, he was prompt in sending us the paperwork and letting us know everything we needed to do to move forward.
The biggest thing was a 45 page mortgage application.  On it, we signed or initialed several pages, verifying our banking information, employment, and debt.  Also included in it was our estimated monthly payment-known as a good faith estimate, and amount due at closing.  After submitting the application, all we had to do was wait, while underwriting did their work.  While a pre-approval is a good indication that you'll qualify for a mortgage in the amount that you've requested, nothing is set in stone until the underwriter gives you the green light.  It took us almost 4 weeks from when we submitted our application to when we were officially set to close.  Those 4 weeks were agonizing!  While we were waiting, we avoided doing anything house related for fear of jinxing ourselves.

*MISC ITEMS*
1. Ordering furniture
We started looking at furniture the week that we found out we were clear to close.  We did a first look, thought about it, and then returned to the store with the best deal and furniture the next week.  We're so glad we did.  We didn't think about items being out of stock and needing to be ordered from the warehouse, which we were informed could take 3-4 weeks.  We're so glad that we went when we did to order our furniture because even with ordering a month in advance, our bed frame will not be here in time for the move and we'll have to wait an extra week to get it. (see what we got HERE)
WARNING: DO NOT purchase large amounts of furniture on credit or open any new lines of credit.  Even if you've fully been approved, adding large amounts of debt before you close on your home can cause you to lose your financing.

We put a 25% down payment when we ordered it and secured our shipping date.  We will return after we close to pay another 25% and finance the rest because the store is doing 21 months of interest free financing.

2. Finding a renter to sublease the apartment
Our lease on the apartment that we're currently living in isn't up until August 1st.  With the way mortgage payments work, we wouldn't need to pay our 1st payment until May.  This meant that we needed to get someone into our apartment until May, but would be better if we could get someone to start renting in April giving us a payment free month.  I was skeptical at first about getting someone to rent it for such a short amount of time.  However, after listing it on Craigslist, I had gotten at least 5 interested responses within the first 12 hours. Luckily for us, we had been living at the apartment for so long that our rate was locked in at a low price (over $100 less than they typically go for now) and would carry over to whomever took over our lease.   This made our unit a hot commodity.  By the end of the week, had someone locked in to rent starting April 1st!  This was a huge sigh of relief.  While we were prepared to do it, the idea of having to pay both a mortgage and a rent payment for 3 months did not sound like fun.

3. Homeowners Insurance
Once we were set to close, we needed to set up our homeowners insurance and get the information to our lender because this payment is escrowed into our mortgage payment.  A friend of ours is an insurance broker for his own business, so we contacted him to see what rates we could get.  We also checked with Nationwide, our current provider for renter's insurance.  Our friend got us an amazing quote through West Bend that was almost half what Nationwide quoted us, and with better coverage.  I was pretty impressed with how low homeowners insurance is per month.  We were able to get a rate of about $600/year.  In addition, we were able to bundle in our car insurance for a much lower rate than we had currently been paying.  (I'd tried bundling our renter's/car insurance, but separately, they were cheaper).

4. Utilities etc...
About a week before close, I spent a lot of time on the phone getting utilities transferred, cancelled, and added.  We transferred our electric service, added gas, water, and trash, and canceled our current water and trash.  In addition, we set up forwarding of our mail, set up of cable and internet (we made the switch to DirecTV), and canceling our current car and renter's insurance.

*GOING TO CLOSING*
Friday before we closed, our mortgage lender sent us an email letting us know what we needed to bring to closing.  It was just 2 things: A certified check for the amount due at closing (which he also let us know what that amount was), and our driver's licenses.  That's it.  We closed on Tuesday morning at 9am.  It took about 40 minutes.  We met with our realtor, our mortgage lender, and an attorney.  We signed a bunch of papers, were given a key to our house, and walked out as homeowners!

Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to move in until Thursday, two days later.  After closing, we went shopping for a few things for the house,  pay off the rest of the furniture we picked out, and then back to our apartment to finish packing.



We are now all moved in and slowing getting everything put together.  We are loving the new house already and so excited to show it off to our friends and family.  I will be back within the next few weeks to update on our progress.

Until then,

~55~On Buying A House, Part 1

For most people, the largest investment they'll ever make is buying a house.  Recently, Jake and I purchased our 1st home.  We are all set to close in just 12 days, but there was a lot of research, time, and waiting that was involved in the process.  There is a lot of information out there about buying a house from websites such as Homes.com, Realtor.com, Zillow, and other expert authorities on the topic.  However, in my own research, I did not find anything that clearly explained the process through the eyes of a buyer.  Therefore, I thought I'd share my perspective and experiences of buying a house.  This first part will outline the information, research, and decisions we made or considered prior to making an offer.

**Disclaimer: I am by no means a real estate professional or expert.  The information presented in this post is simply a summary of my own perspective and experiences regarding the home buying process.**

*DETERMINING A BUDGET*

For the past 2 years, Jake and I had discussed buying a home, but hadn't felt completely ready quite yet.  It wasn't until about a year ago that we started seriously looking.  In March, 2012 we met with a mortgage loan officer at our local bank and discussed what things we need to do and consider before purchasing a home.  We also discussed what we could afford.  Prior to meeting with the bank, we took a look at what we're currently spending on rent and determined what we'd feel comfortable spending per month on a house.  When we went to the loan officer, instead of asking him how much we could afford and going from there, we told them what we wanted to spend per month and asked how much house we could get at that rate.  We knew that the bank might tell us that we could afford more, but we wanted to make sure that we felt comfortable with the cost.

*FINDING A REALTOR*
We stumbled upon our realtor by happenstance really.  We were looking on Realtor.com and found a property that we were interested in seeing and I sent an email to the listing agent to set up a time to do so.  She let us know that if there were any other houses we were interested in, she would be happy to show them to us.  We liked her a lot-and she seemed to really understand what we were looking for, so we decided to stick with her.  She was very knowledgable about the home buying process-particularly with first time home buyers.  She was easy to communicate with and was always prompt in returning calls or emails.  If we hadn't found her, we would have asked our friends for their personal recommendations.

*FHA vs. CONVENTIONAL LOANS*

There are 2 major types of home loans that we considered when starting the process, FHA (Federal Housing Act) and Conventional Loans. After weighing the pros and cons of each, we decided to go with an FHA loan.  FHA loans only have a minimum of 3.5% downpayment; whereas conventional loans usually require 5% down.  While ideally, we'd like to put more than that down, realistically, with what we were paying in rent, that just wasn't going to happen within the timeframe that we were wanting to buy a house. Typically, FHA loans have a slightly higher interest rate than conventional loans, but with the way the market is, we were able to get an excellent rate of 3.25%.  Also, while it wasn't a factor for us, FHA also has a lower minimum requirement for credit scores than conventional loans.  

Regardless of which loan is chosen, if you put less than 20% down, Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) is required.  This fee is escrowed into the monthly mortgage payment and is calculated based on purchase price of the home, downpayment amount, and credit scores.   It is imposed as an insurance to lenders in case the borrowers default on their loan.  Once either 20% of the principal balance is paid off, or 20% of the value of the home is added, PMI payments cease. However, it is the borrowers responsibility to keep track of this and bring it to bank's attention once either of those points have been met. 

The major difference between conventional and FHA loans is the type of home you can buy.  In order to be FHA approved, the home must be in good condition, without any structural issues.  FHA can be very strict on this and even something as insignificant as peeling paint on the windows can prevent a house from being FHA eligible.  Therefore, a "fixer-upper" is not going to qualify for an FHA loan.   However, FHA does have what they call a "rehab" loan, known as an FHA 203K loan.  These loans provide upfront money to make renovations and repairs to a home, of which, the cost is rolled into the mortgage.  For example, if we bought a house for $100,000 that needed $40,000 in repairs, the lender would provide the $40,000 needed-paid directly to their approved contractors-and your actual loan/mortgage amount would be for $140,000. 

*SHORT SALES*
Over the years time that we spent looking at houses, we learned a lot about the different types of sales a house can be sold as.  Within our price-point, many of the houses we looked at that also fit many of our "must haves" were listed as short sales (SS).  This put my researching into overdrive.  Here's a summary of what I learned:
1. The owner owes more on the home than it is worth. 
For example: They bought the house in 2000 for $200,000 and still owe $170,000 in 2013.  However, the home is only valued at $150,000 today.  The owner may be selling because they no longer can afford the home and need to downsize their living costs, or they may be relocating and thus sell the house,
2. The list price is set by the seller, but must be approved by the bank.
Remember that the bank is the one taking the hit by basically giving the home owner a pass on the difference between what is owed and what the home sells for.  This is why the process is actually not so short.  It could take as little as 30 days, but can also take as long as 3-4 months to get approval. The term short doesn't come from the amount of time it takes to close, but rather the fact that the home is selling short of what is owed on it.
3. Just because the house previously sold for $200,000 and you buy it for $150,000 does not mean you've gained $50,000 in equity.  
The whole reason the house is selling for less now is because it's not worth as much.  It's quite possible to get an approved offer that's lower than the homes current value; however, the bank is going to want a sale price as close to market value as possible.
4. You might have a harder time getting an FHA approved loan on a home that is also a short sale
Remember, FHA loans have stricter guidelines on the types of homes you can buy and they condition that they are in.  A lot of the short sales we looked at needed some work.  One home was in the middle of a remodel project when they ran out of money.  The basement was only 1/2 finished.  The upstairs was missing framing around the doors.  Only half of the kitchen cabinets had the proper hardware on them.  Other homes weren't kept up once the seller realized they weren't going to make any money off of the home anyway.  Additionally, SS are going to be sold As-Is.  The bank is losing money as it is, so they're not going to pay extra to have things fixed that would cause the home to fail inspection.

In the end, the home we bought was a traditional sale.  While we weren't opposed to a short sale, they do take a lot of time and patience.

Next post, I'll talk about the process from choosing a house and putting in an offer to close.
Until then,  

~54~Hooray for March!

If you remember last year's post at all, you know that I am a huge fan of March.  There are always so many wonderful things going on during this month, that it is pretty darn hard to top.  Now if only the snow would stop and the sun would come out.  This month in particular is going to be pretty spectacular, I just know it!

Aside from it being National Craft Month, here are the top 5 exciting things going on over the next 31 days: 

5. Orchestra+Ballet

I will once again be playing with the Des Moines Community Orchestra accompanying the Des Moines Ballet Company in this year's production of Snow White.  Last year's Wizard of Oz was nothing short of amazing, and I am hopeful that this year is as well.  The performance will be on Sunday, March 31st (also Easter Sunday) at the Civic Center downtown.  While it is A LOT of work, it is incredibly fun. 

4. My parents/grandma are coming to visit

I go home to Minneapolis several times a year to visit family and friends, so it's a special treat when they come here to visit. (It's true, Minneapolis > Des Moines) In celebration of Easter, our new house, and my birthday, I was able to convince them to come see the ballet and have Easter brunch at OUR HOUSE!

3. Spring Break

 2 weeks from today, I will be heading home to Minneapolis to see some friends, and to do a little shopping at IKEA for the house.  These 10 days off will be a much welcomed break from work.  

4. My birthday

I will be turning 28 at the end of the month.  I have no idea what I'm going to do to celebrate, but I always look forward to spending it with family, friends, and good food!

5. The house!!!

 As mentioned in previous posts, we close on March 19th and move in March 21st.  Jake and I are beyond ready for this exiting move and are anxiously counting down the days! We also officially have someone lined up to sublease our apartment starting in April, so we'll have a month free from living expenses!  

What exciting things do you have going on in March?  

What's your favorite month?

~53~ New Look

In case you haven't noticed, I've updated my look.  Due to the snow, we got out of school a couple of hours early yesterday and I decided to spend my extra time making some changes to my blog.  I've been wanting to do it for a while now, and just haven't had the time to really sit down and figure out how I wanted it to look when I was done.  My main reason for doing so was to give it a cleaner, crisper look.  I felt that it was too "messy" looking, for a lack of a better word.  Mostly, I wanted to redo my banner, giving it some lines and framing.  Using my amateur design skills, what you see now, is what I came up with.  While I know it's not the most glamorous, or pristine looking banner, it is a huge improvement (IMO) from what it was previously.  

With the update to my banner, I knew that I also needed to change the background of my blog body.  I wanted a cute background, and to get rid of the peach color.  I changed my template in blogger, and found the cute cupcake design online.  I am still in search of the perfect background pattern, but for now-that will do. I also added on the "you might also like" posts at the bottom to help readers better navigate my blog and find posts of similar topics.  The final touch, was updating my signature at the bottom of each post.  I was never able to perfectly match the  colors and it stood out-which I hated, but was honestly too lazy at the time to do anything about it.  I knew that for my skills, the only solution was to change the background color of my posts to white. 

So there you have it, a new and improved blog design.  I'm sure that in the coming months or years (if I'm still blogging for that long), there will be more change to come.  Eventually, once I get a better vision for a final design look, I'll probably hire my friend, fellow blogger, and an extremely talented designer, Joy, to help me achieve a more polished, professional look. 

In the mean time, are there any things that you'd like to see on my blog? Any changes you think I should make?

If you're a blogger yourself, in what ways have you updated your blog?

Until next time, 

~52~New house = New Furniture

After buying the house and getting all of our ducks in a row, the first thing Jake and I started talking about was furniture.  While we have a lot of stuff (as evident by our never ending packing), we lack some nice, "grown up" pieces.  We have a good bed, an ok couch (which will be going to Jake's brother when we move), a recliner, and a love seat futon, but not enough to fill 4 bedrooms and 2 living rooms.  We started our shopping by browsing store deals and looking online.  Our first stop was a local store called Homemakers. They are definitely the largest and most popular in our area and notorious for having good deals. We found a lot that we liked, making a mental note-but didn't purchase anything on our first visit.  On a second trip, we went to American Furniture, but weren't impressed with their products or their much higher prices.  So, yesterday, we went back to Homemakers and took advantage of their 5% off everything sale paired with cheaper delivery and 10 months no interest financing.  After spending a good chunk of money, we feel so ready and excited to move in and set up our first home.  

Here's a break down of what we're doing in each room: 

*Front Living Room*

This will be used as a sitting room, but won't be our main living room.  We plan to put our newer tv stand in the same place as the red arm chair.  We liked their layout of the sofa and love seat and wanted to do the same thing.  We picked out a beautiful and very comfy cream colored couch on our first visit, but were dismayed to find out that someone bought it and they didn't have any left when we returned.  Luckily, they had the exact same sofa and love seat in a gray color.  I wasn't as thrilled with it at first, but I think it will be a good fit.  The walls will be painted a light sea blue/green, which I think will really accent/compliment the grey well.

We also got a beautiful coffee table and matching end table to tie everything together.

*Lower Living Room*

This will be our main living room, or den.  We plan to put a 55" tv over the fireplace and run the cords through the wall to the garage side and install a shelf to house our cable box and PS3.  There are some major changes I want to make to the look of the room.  First, we are painting the walls a beige color and staining the ledge under the window and on the fireplace a dark brown color.  The window trim and baseboards will be painted white.  We got a new 2 piece sectional along with a super comfortable leather chair, and a 2x2 storage ottoman.

*Kitchen*

There's really not a lot that we need to do with the kitchen.  There's no pantry, so I plan to buy a simple armoire and turn it into this inspiration pantry to put along the wall opposite the bar/long counter.

We also do not currently have a dining room table that we like or chairs to go with it, so we bought this table and 6 of the chairs:

The table is 5" at its smallest, and has 2 drop in leaves to make it a nice long table when we need it.  This is probably one of my favorite purchases that we made. Behind the table, we would like to take out the iron railing and replace it with a bookshelf or a wooden railing.
The final touch that we want to add is adding stones along the front of the bar using a product I found online called AirStone. 

*Master Bedroom*

We currently have only one bed.  When we move, this bed will go into the guest bedroom downstairs. Therefore, we needed a new bed for our room!  Jake and I tossed around the idea of upgrading to a king bed (from a queen), but decided that we really didn't need one.  We've done just fine on the queen one for the past 5 years, with a dog-I might add-so we feel ok staying with what we have.  Plus, we didn't want to take up more room in an already smallish master with a giant bed.  We found a great storage bed in black that was at a steal of a price (holy cow, bed frames are expensive!) and added on a really nice euro-pillow top mattress.  Unfortunately the frame won't be in until after we move, so we'll have to sleep either on the old bed, or on the box spring/mattress on the floor until we get it in. 

In terms of decorating, we are painting the walls a light grey color over their cream and lime green accent wall opposite where the bed is now. When we move in, the bed will go on the opposite wall of where they have it now, which is just way too anti-feng shui for my taste.  For our bed, I am in love with this duvet cover: 

*Main Bathroom*

I have SO many ideas for this bathroom.  First is to paint and get rid of the terrible mustard color.  Since there's blue tile around the shower, we need to keep it in a blue theme.  I love this color for the walls.

The vanity will be repainted black. As will the little wooden piece separating the toilet and vanity.  The most exciting project for this room is framing the mirror.  Currently, it's a standard glass mirror fixed to the wall.  I had never thought much of it until I saw them on Pinterest and knew that I wanted to do that to ours.  What a difference the look makes!

*Guest Bedroom 1*

This room used to house two little boys, hence the bunk beds and beautiful scenery on the walls.  This will be repainted eventually and turned into my craft room. (YAY!)  I plan to do 3 of the walls a really light yellow color and the 4th, a grey accent wall with pink stenciling.  I'm still not 100% set on the colors.  I'm not sure that I like how they all mesh together.  However, I WILL be using Valspar's paint crystals to add some glitter to the accent wall stencil!

There will plenty of posts to come as I put together my craft room-that will ONLY be my craft room! No more guest room/office/craft room combo.  I have yet to settle on any one idea because there are so many different options. 

*Guest Bedroom 2*

For the time being, this room will be an underused office.  We don't really have need for an office, but we also don't have need for an extra bedroom (sans bed), or a nursery (yet…)

*Guest Bedroom 3*

This room is in the basement and will be the official "Guest bedroom" because it is right next the 3/4 bath.  As you can see, it is painted grey.  We are going to keep it that color for now and paint just one of the walls purple.  Viking's purple to be exact.  The bed will go on the accent wall, and the room will serve as a Jake's Viking's shrine.

So there you have it, a pre-move in tour of our house.  I'm so anxious and excited to see how everything comes together.  I'm hoping that it comes out as good as, if not better than, what I'm envisioning in my head.

What updates did you do in your first home?
Until next time, 

~51~A New Level of Crafting

I'm baaack!! Did you miss me?

I know it's been a little over a month since my last post about Advocare, but I've had some big things going on in the past month, and I didn't want to blog about it until I had more confidence that everything was going to work out the way I wanted it to. 

Get ready, I'm about to enter a whole new phase of crafting because….

We bought a house!!!!!!!!

Jake and I had been casually looking for the past year, but haven't found anything that we loved.  While we have been tired of apartment living for the past 2 years, we didn't want to feel like we were settling when it comes to such a huge investment.  At the end of January, Jake was perusing Realtor.com and a cute home with some good specs caught his eye.  I had seen the listing before and bookmarked it, but never thought to go look at it for whatever reason.  Thank goodness Jake pulled it up when he did!  We contacted our wonderful realtor, and set up a time to go view it.  We quickly fell in love. It had everything that we were looking for at a great price and in a great neighborhood.  We had set a goal of finding a house by the end of spring 2013, since our apartment lease is up July 31.  Even though we found our house earlier than anticipated, it really could not had been better timing. I'm so excited to have all summer to work on the house!

Some of the "must have" qualities that were on our list as we looked at homes were: 

*3+ bedrooms and more than 1 bathroom*

Our house is a 4bed, 1.75 bath

*2 car garage*  

Check! And it's attached.  In our area, 2 car garages are hard to come by, especially ones that are attached.  Many have either a 1 car or a 3 car, but not 2.  For anyone who has had to spend numerous mornings scraping snow and ice off your car in the morning, you'll understand why this was a must have for me. 

*Fenced in yard*

Ours is a nice sized backyard with a chain link fence surrounding it.  We eventually will turn it into a wooden privacy fence, but for now it's just want we need.  We can't wait to have a yard for Buckles to roam!

*Finished basement*

We were willing to buy a house without a finished basement, as long as it allowed for the opportunity to finish it in the future.  Our house is a 4 level split.  3 of the bedrooms and main bath on the top floor, the kitchen and a living room on the main-2nd floor, another living room or den on the 3rd floor, and the final bedroom, 1.75 bath, and laundry room on the bottom floor.  Each level is at most 5 or 6 steps from the next level.  

*Newer big ticket items*

Our house has a brand new roof, furnace, painted siding, and appliances.  The last thing we wanted was to drop a bunch of money on a new house and have to put in a lot more on costly repairs.  While we know that anything can happen at any time, this minimizes those chances. 

Following the initial house tour, we arranged for Jake's parents to come look at it with us a second time the next week, to make sure we weren't overlooking anything because we had stars in our eyes.  It met their approval and we put in an offer the next day.  After a little back and forth negotiations, we landed on a final purchase agreement and suddenly, we were one giant step closer to being homeowners.  

We quickly moved forward with getting things set up with our mortgage lender, scheduling our inspection appointment, and setting up our homeowners insurance.   With all of those things ready to go, we are now eagerly awaiting move in day.  We close on March 19th, and get possession of the house on March 21st.  The countdown is now to 25 days.  Aside from waiting for our wedding day, this has felt like the longest wait ever.  

Pinterst as become an instant obsession and I already have so many ideas swirling in my head for what I want to do to make the it feel like OUR home.  If only I had an endless bank account!  Keep on the look out for house updates, as there are certain to be many of them.  Once we get moved in and settled, I will be sure to come back and post some before and after pictures.  

Until then,

~50~Another Blog

I wanted to let all of you know that I have decided to start another blog.  Last month, Jake and I decided to do the Advocare 24 Day Challenge starting with the New Year in an effort to become healthier, lose some weight and inches, as well as jump start a nutrition plan-as mentioned in my New Years wishes a couple of posts ago.   

I want Bake Me A Craft to maintain it's focus of crafting and baking, which is the reason for having a separate blog for my Advocare journey.  If you'd like to learn more about Advocare and follow me as I document my progress throughout challenge, please head over to http://bmac-advocare24dc.blogspot.com

Hope to see you there!