to be honest, i found the house a couple of weeks ago, a couple of days after my last post…but the last couple of weeks have been filled with stress in negotiating and waiting, stress over finding the right lender with the right pricing and then finding the right lender finally.

for the first time since i started looking for a house, i am confident there won’t be any hiccups and i am ready to talk about MY house!

first of all, let me introduce you to it, this is my house:

on the day i found the house we had looked at maybe 7 houses.  this was the most expensive house we looked at that day with the highest HOA fees and so i had set myself up to not like the house at all.  as soon as i walked in the front door, i felt like it was the right houses.  the other houses we had been to, i had to point out what i liked about the houses and try to ignore what i didn’t like.  this house was perfect.

it had windows everywhere, the kitchen was gorgeous, it had gas appliances, a window seat, 2″ blinds, beautiful cabinets, black appliances, a breakfast area, french doors on the master AND in the front bedroom, french doors into the master, his and hers sinks, separate garden tub and shower, large master closet and a walk in closet in a front bedroom.  the place was beautiful, upgraded light fixtures, nice, clean fireplace, HIGH ceilings, just perfect.

however, at the end of the day, chris and i were stuck between two foreclosures, both two stories, both four bedrooms – each with their own positives and each with their own negatives.  we had set this house aside because it was the most expensive.  the next day, i asked my wonderful Realtor to take me back to the two, 2-story houses along with my parents so i could get their feed back and put in an offer.

after looking at the two houses, we left realizing neither of the houses were really for me…for several reasons, not important.  on the way back to the colony, we ended up going to this house to show my parents and they loved it to!

that settled it, the second trip to see it confirmed it was the right house for me and i prepped to put in an offer!

{front door and hallway to living room}

we put in an offer for exactly what the seller was asking.  we knew the seller would likely have to bring their own money to the table because they hadn’t owned it very long and likely owed more than they were asking.  monday i got a call to give my best and final offer. i gave it and then later that night the seller came back with another offer i couldn’t take.  they wanted to reduce the amount of closing they had to pay to $2000.  there was no way i could pay what we thought would probably be $4000 for closing costs.

that night i went home sad and depressed knowing the house wasn’t going to be mine.  i resolved to wait until late april to start looking again.

but! the next day, i got another call from my Realtor and had just realized that morning that the closing costs were less than i thought and the final offer from the seller put us back where i wanted to be anyways.  the house was mine!!

{the kitchen}

i scheduled the inspection for saturday.  we were confident that the house would pass inspection – it was built in 2006 and was in pretty immaculate shape.  saturday came, the inspector said the worst problem with the house was some loose tape on the HVAC unit in the attic.  WHEW.  in case you didn’t know, both my dads own their own heating and air conditioning companies…problems with the HVAC, especially smalls ones like that are nothing!

i was thrilled!  when i got the inspection report, most everything that showed up either had to do with insulation, the hvac system or electrical.  my dad is also a licensed electrician in texas and arkansas.  the electrical stuff amounts to pretty much nothing – preventative measures…same with the hvac and insulation.  YES!

{living room}

last week was all about financing.  my lender had sent over more than 100 pages of documents for me to read and sign and sent me to a website with even more.  once i sent everything back, i got my good faith estimate and started shopping around.  who knew you were supposed to shop?  haha.  so thats what i did.  i shopped and shopped and shopped.

after talking with many different lenders and looking at numbers until i was blue in the face, i found a company – at the last minute – that was giving me a pretty amazing offer!  i had to redo the numbers over and over to make sure i wasn’t missing something.  i started a spreadsheet and compared every cost and charge and was shocked when i realized it really was possible!  PrimeLending was offering me a closing that saved me almost $1,000 at closing and more than $50 a month on my payments!  i was pretty ecstatic!  he also was able to give me an APR that was lower than anyone else!  oh yes, i was thrilled and immediately asked for him to get me locked in!

{master bedroom}

so that led me to thursday night.  for the first time since i began this process, a happy smile and calmness settled over me.  i was BUYING A HOUSE!  and what an incredible house!

when i started this process, i figured my budget would buy me an old house in a decent neighborhood that was not quite to the “falling apart” stage, but that would take lots of work over a number of years to keep it maintained.  i never imagined i’d be looking in a new neighborhood or looking at a newer house.  this house really and truly is more than i imagined and i couldn’t be happier!

with the new lender, my cost for this house ends up being only about $30 more a month than i am currently paying for my 820 sq ft, 1 bedroom apartment!  and that $30 a month is only because of the HOA…if it wasn’t for the HOA, this would be MUCH cheaper than my apartment.  but, the benefits of the community are pretty incredible too.

{master bathroom}

savannah is a master planned community that encompasses mostly cape cod style housing.  recently they have started building modern style brick homes as well.  i guess the idea of a master planned community is to build a neighborhood that eventually becomes its own city.  the communities are created to bring back an old fashioned way of life where neighbors get to know each other, interact and work together to create a safe, fun place to live.

there are walking and biking trails all over the community, a dog park – soon to be two, many parks and greenbelts throughout the community, a huge swimming area with a jr. olympic pool, kiddie pool, adult pool and hot tub, covered sand beach and tanning areas.  there is a work out facility, a craft/workout area for boot camp, karate, zumba and other classes.  men and women’s sauna, bath houses by the pools, full tennis and basketball courts, soccer fields, baseball fields, all sorts of clubs for so many different things, a ball room and movie theater and i’m sure much more than i even know.

{backyard}

so yup.  we are excited.  i am excited.  the animals don’t know it yet, but they, too are excited!  lacey will have a fenced in backyard for only the second time in her 9 years (i’m not counting the mold infested place we lived for 2 months when i first got back to dallas).  i can’t wait for us all to get settled in.  my dad will be visiting from arkansas and the first thing i’m going to ask [beg] him to do is put in a doggie door.  however, we don’t close until april 19, so we have a little ways to go.  i think we are at 40 days until we move in.  now starts the process of packing.  oh boy…always the favorite part of moving, right?

i think my favorite part of the whole situation is looking forward and knowing that this will be the last time i move for a long time.  thinking about unpacking ALL of my boxes, getting rid of a BUNCH of stuff i don’t even know i still have, settling in and staying someplace longer than 22 months.  incredible.  what a relaxing thought!

here are the final photos of my house!  enjoy!!

{office}

the french doors lead to the front porch.  you can JUST about see them in the photos of the front of the house.  eventually i’ll probably end up putting in a wall bed for guests.

{2nd bedroom}

i love that it has a walk in closet!  i like the two windows and how the wall kind of juts in.

So that is the house.  Feel free to leave comments, thanks for reading!!