House Hunter

Looking for a house starts out as an exciting venture. It is great to think about your dream house and for David and I, the OUR house. But, then the search turns to a frustrating and a daunting task.  Cost, value, a bad market and the results of angry foreclosed people are frustrating bumps.

I am on this journey.

Digging through the options and figuring out our “must haves” is a draining and revealing task.  We really want to stay in Gilbert and stay close to our current location. We really like it here. Our current house is David’s bachelor house and is a patio home.  It is too small for us both. Especially since he lived there alone for 6 years and I lived in 900+ square foot apartments. Plus, a guest bedroom is something we really need. Pools, hot tubs, carpets and 2 stories are huge disinterests to us.  Despite our love for the DIY network we also do not want a fixer upper. These features are common and limit our search.

Naming the houses we looked at made it easier for me to remember. I have seen the Scary house(cracked windows, fist sized holes in the drywall and only concrete left for flooring), the Lindsey house(power lines in back yard, backyard facing the busy Lindsey road and “hood rats” hanging on the curb)the  Purple house( poorly painted faux finish walls, cheap kitchen and every room a shade of purple), the Speaker house(2 stories, more bedrooms that we need, integrated speaker system and wonderful renovations), a cubby house(wood floors, plantation shutters, granite counters, new earth tone painting throughout the house and an open den with wall cut outs), dozens of web listings and many programs on HGTV and DIY.

The cubby house was a great fit. Several other offers were made but ours was excepted! I was so excited I went out and bought a refrigerator to go with the house’s new stainless steel stove and dishwasher.

When you find a house you want and your offer is accepted there is paperwork and hoop jumping to wade through. I did not expect this. In fact All of this is new to me.  The waiting and hoop jumping are the most frustrating parts of the process. Okay so far. Offer acceptance and pre-loan approval does not mean the house is yours. Along this paper trail there are opportunities for things to go a miss.

And they did.

The appraisal was Way off. Our loan can only be for the appraisal amount.  We do not have 20 grand to pay the difference. Even the lender thought the appraisal was wrong. After reading the report there were several items missing or just incorrect. Al the interior upgrades, like granite, we not added. A new appraisal was done. The second appraisal was within 5 grand.  Still too big a gap, when we thought of down payment and closing costs. After a few back in forths with the seller a new deal has been made.

As of right now we are drafting another contract for the cubby house.  It hopefully will all go well and we will close Thanksgiving week.

My future home?