Well.

We done bought a house!

We are under a purchase agreement and everything is signed and ready to go. Crazy.

A lot has happened since I last updated. Obviously. We did the following:
12/13: talked to our realtor
12/17: went out and looked at houses (cut short by a sick Rowan who was headachey and nauseous due to what turned out to be strep throat!)
12/18: switched mortgage people
12/21: got turned down by one mortgage person AND pre-approved by the new one — within an hour of each other (the first person was bad at her job and did not seem to understand the idea of a seller paying closing costs and the new guy is AMAZING and not only understands the market but has all kinds of ideas about how we can pay off the mortgage more quickly, which is great)
12/22: looked at houses again and made an offer that night
12/23: countered and figured everything out
12/26: had an inspection and signed the final counter-offer

Today, we got the finalized purchase agreement contract and everything is moving forward. We will close on 2/16.

We have this tendency to…..move rather quickly once we make up our minds to do something. Both Steve and I are that way. Though, I must say that this moved more quickly than I thought it would. Not that that is bad, just that we now have a lot to do in the coming days/weeks.

The house is in the neighborhood that we want and it probably doubles our usable square footage. It’s a nice 4 bedroom rambler in excellent condition. Hardwood floors upstairs, finished basement with brand new carpet in the basement. Tons of storage. A nice kitchen. A fenced in yard. A brand new roof. We’re incredibly excited.

So, this process has kind of overtaken everything else these last few weeks. It has been a roller coaster, especially considering the nightmare of the first (bad) mortgage person. She made me feel like we were completely incapable of doing this even though, as Steve said, we have the three C’s – credit, capability (to pay), and character – that banks look for. She really irritated me and I am glad we’ve moved ahead with this other guy. So long, lady!

Christmas was really nice, as well, though again, it was kind of overshadowed by the house process. Everything is overshadowed by that.

Here are some pictures, since I can’t think of anything else to say (plus, I need to stop my lunch hour and get back to work):

Living room of new house

Kitchen/into dining room. I do not like the linoleum floor, but that is something that can easily be replaced. Steve knows how to lay tile!

Bathroom.

Rowan’s room. The room that stood out to me on the online listing that made me say, “OH, I WANT THAT HOUSE!”

And then we went ahead and GOT THAT HOUSE.

Downstairs family room. The basement also has a bedroom (that will be used as a playroom), a finished office, a second bathroom, and a huge room that looks like it can be used as a closet for all our off-season clothes.