We have a new deck!

I cannot remember the last time I posted. That's OK. I am. I have time. The past month has been capital C CRAZY!

After being in our home nearly 3 years, we bit the bullet and re-did our deck! Man what a huge under-taking, but the work has paid off! Look at this fabulous-ness. It's perfect for the dog, Bobby, grilling, relaxing... the list could go on and on. It is an extension of our home! I hope all involved (you know who you are) know how much you are appreciated for what small or little things you did to finish this massive project. Here's photos!

Our old deck (missing a few rails)

That's a lot of lumber...

The deck is coming down!

Our house literally looks naked without a deck!

Watching from the side lines!

Joists!

"Bobby's Deck"

Front decking is done!

View from the front - no railings!

Clear-span underneath!

Bobby approved!

Its done!

360* view!

House

Rob and I have a home!

It's taken me only over a month to share, not because I didn't want to but because I have been so busy lately! I am actually writing this as I sit on the 10th floor of my hotel in downtown San Diego where I am staying for a 3-day work conference.  Well, here is our house! Work in progress, but we love it and are already enjoying calling it home!

Updates!

Home:

I have really tried containing excitement for this house thing - and I am happy to report we are further along then we have ever been. Fingers are crossed and lots of prayers that we get this one. In trying to contain my excitement I took up a good deal that ShutterFly had and bought return address labels with the new address. Granted there is a possibility (small I suppose) that we don't get the house, but if so I will be out a couple bucks and I am OK with that. So inspection went well - didn't really tell us anything we didn't already know... We did some work to make some stuff pass code for the appraisal(replace a few rotted boards, add a handrail for the basement)... and then we had the appraisal and it appraised for the list price so that's good. And now our file has been passed on to the loan underwriter. And now we wait! As of August 20, they were processing files from July 16, so needless to say the government is a bit behind and that is what we are waiting on. Then we will pick a closing date and be moving! Couldn't come at a better time since rent is going up October 1 by $30!! Hello lower house payment!!

Other stuff:

My cousin and now 'cousin-in-law' are married!! Yay! She was an absolutely stunning bride and it was such a fun night!! Here are a few photos!

Sloooowwwllly... moving forward :)

After a near stress attack yesterday... I know my mom was getting a lot of concern from her friends because of my vague facebook post... *sorry*

I'm happy to report that we have our house inspection tomorrow at 9am. We also were able to "barter" with the previous buyers - we won't have to have a well/septic inspection as we got a deal and bought theirs! Win-Win!

I am not posting photos until the house is ours... but I think we may actually get further with this one. That is the hope and end goal anyways....

Until next time.

Oh man...

I keep being reminded by my sister-in-law, Katie, of how terrible I am at keeping everyone updated on our busy lives... so here goes nothing, almost 2 months (or longer) since I last gave an update... and unfortunately, I do not have much to report this time either  some good news, well exciting/nerve-racking etc... (catch all that strike-out font... this was going to be a boring start, but since I started it a LOT has happened actually - read on!)

Rob and I might be once again (third time is the charm?) - homeowners! It's all happened so fast, but we got a call from the new realtor we are working with about a house we had been interested in and had never gotten the chance to see it. First time around it had a few offers on it so we didn't look at it. We were working with a different realtor at that time... well it was still showing up in my search on realtor.com so I asked our new realtor about it and she said she would look into it... well good thing she did because last wednesday she called and said that the buyer had walked and we could look at it Thursday evening! So Thursday evening came, we saw the house, we wrote an offer... Jump to weekend, we verbally accepted the seller's counter-offer last night (Sunday) and tonight we go and sign paperwork and then hopefully have inspections lined up! I honestly don't want to jinx us because I think this house is perfect for our first home. It's not on a lake, but has lake access (about a mile from Lake Victoria in Laingsburg)... has a lot of unique characteristics to it as is and has lots of room for updates to improve and make a sell down the road profitable. I know that Rob and I have been to this point before and were quite disappointed/frustrated/discouraged when things didn't work out ---- but move up and forward right? And remain optimistic too! So that's the news. Nothing official, but here's to hoping :)

Updates and updates...

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...