Part I - pre-inspection...
Well, as of today we have made it further in the housing market than we have in quite some time...Read my lengthy, very lengthy update below to jump to the point at which we stand today.
By the time you are reading this, Rob and I will have been dressed like the kids from Christmas Story out at the house scraping trim off of the outside windows and attempting to re-paint them. Yes this is amusing, because a) it likely wont adhere and b) it will probably glob up and freeze, but if it gets us pass the mortgage company assessment - woohoo thats the goal!
So how did we get this far...
Long story short, but we'll start from the beginning...
In October 2012 we put an offer in on a HUD home in Bath. That offer was the second or later and we didn't get the house.
December 2012 - we put an offer in on a house in Dewitt (we call this house the Jason house). At this point, while awaiting to see if we were approved - lots of prayers, thoughts and well wishes were being sent our way and I am pretty sure everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, thought this house was a "for sure" thing. We had 'banked' on getting this house. Remember the saying - don't put your eggs all in one basket? Yes, *pointing to myself* <-- guilty as charged! That is exactly what Rob and I did. After 4-5 weeks of long, LONG waiting (or so it felt), we got the bad news that the other offer was accepted instead of ours. Big
B.U.M.M.E.R.
Jump forward to March and not seeing a lot of houses, and still being upset, frustrated and saddened by not getting the Jason house... we start hearing rumors of that house coming back on the market (Wahoo right?)...well just as we are putting in an offer on a house in Saint Johns... KID YOU NOT, literally Rob is submitting our final and best offer on the house in Saint Johns (March 1) we are hit with knowing Jason house is back on the market. SIGH... what to do... what to do?
Well we do what any crazy person would do, submit the offer on the house in Saint Johns and re-submit the offer for Jason house (with updated dates - nothing more, quick and easy right?!)... Nerve-racking to say the least having two offers out there... I think in our minds we knew the house in Saint Johns was a no go. It was a too good of a deal, at a great price and with the high taxes we simply couldn't bid high enough. We found out the following Monday (3/4) that the house ended in a bidding war in which it sold for about $25,000 more than what we offered. So a bit of relief, but still stress in our minds with the Jason house. You see,
we I thought it was a sign that maybe this house was "meant to be"" since the previous offer fell through. So why did it fall through with the previous buyers? - because a year and a half to two years ago the flood plain lines were re-drawn by FEMA. Nice widened lines and now the house is in the floodplain. How they figure that, we will never know, but at first glance we were questioning be able to afford the house with flood insurance. Our first quote on flood insurance was going to max out our budget after adding it in to our pre-existing budget...
... well super long story made longer... in the past week, we have gotten new estimates based on our loan amount (and not replacement cost) and I know we can afford it. Our offer for Jason Rd was signed wednesday March 6 after the seller said they would not sell to anyone else (Thank you so much!!). The seller came into the realtor's office the following day, accepted our offer with official signature to which we had already signed the documents claiming that we acknowledged her acceptance of our offer (confused yet?!), and Friday, March 8 our offer was sent to the bank. The following Thursday brings us (basically) up to speed at where we stand now. We were given notification that we could start housing inspections! Can we say "Yay!", "Holy Crap!" etc etc?! Talk about nerve-racking! The biggest concern is that at this point since our offer hasn't been officially accepted, we will lose out on the money from the inspection. Our take is that we are going to get the house and we won't be out the money (normally inspections are done AFTER your offer is accepted so that you have a reason to back out if you so choose..), but the thought sticks in the back of our mind. Our house inspection is today at 3pm. But because our loan is unconventional the lender will be doing an assessment of the house so we need to pretty it up some - paint the trim. And we are doing that today... and its below freezing out. Yes, good luck with that one.
Part II - post-inspection and painting...
Well post inspection, I'm lying on the couch with very little of a voice and a very sore throat! I just finished looking over our official inspection report. The house needs some work.
While at the house we were not able to paint (darn, sooooo disappointing) but we added some sauffit and replaced some trim on a window. It was so cold and with being sick I felt pretty useless. I think my job was more or less to supervise, give opinion or for moral support. At the end I was just downright cold, so I sat in the truck. Did I mention it was 23 degrees out? Sounds like there's potential to go back and paint, when its warmer... So maybe next week! A lot of scraping and painting...
I'm exhausted and I've reported most everything so I'm off to sleep. Here's a few photos...
