Signed, Sealed, Delivered

I have been nervously anticipating writing this post.  Now I can finally say it.  My dear readers, we are under contract on a house!

I can't believe how fast this happened.  Less than a week ago, we were still trying to get preapproved for a mortgage.  We didn't get a good impression from the first broker or a lender we contacted, so we didn't pursue either of them.  We asked our realtor, whom we totally trust and have worked with before, for a referral.  He recommended a different broker in the area.  Bruce talked to her and was completely impressed.  She is thorough, clear, and really listens.  She teaches seminars on mortgages and writes a mortgage blog.  She understands that I had a baby and therefore lost income in 2012, or that we moved from the city in 2010, so my work history out here is short.  She said to me, "Hey, that's life! We move, we change jobs, we have children!"  The other guys didn't care about my 'story' at all.  We were just numbers.

While we were working on getting the paperwork to her, a house popped up on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) that we knew we had to see right away.  It is a duplex with three bedrooms and two and a half baths, a surprisingly large fenced in backyard, a huge walk-in master closet, and - get this - a finished basement!  I once made a wish list for my dream home.  This house has everything!

Even our realtor knew it was a good one.  The last house we went to see didn't have a basement.  It was really nice, though, and I started to question our chance of success.  I was almost ready to concede.  "Are you willing to take 90% of what you want?" My realtor challenged.  "Because I believe you can get all the things you really want." That proved to us that he wasn't trying to get a quick sale.  When we saw this house, he knew we had to act quickly.  It has every major feature we desired.  Nothing's gross or needs repair; in fact, everything looks well-kept.  It's move-in ready.  Plus, the price is right.  He said to us, "It's going to be hard to beat this place."

Emmie's new home?

I started taking pictures.  Bruce and I smiled at each other as Emmie ran around on the new carpet.  She tried to pull open one of the kitchen cabinet doors, but couldn't because they're babyproofed!  The sellers are a family with two young children.  The bedroom that would be Emmie's has double rods on which to hang her small clothes.  We knew this was the place.

We talked it over with our realtor and decided on a price we thought was reasonable.  We signed the paperwork, but he couldn't submit it yet.  We didn't have a preapproval letter.  Part of me worried that we were rushing into something.  Most people I know who've bought a house took months!  I emailed and faxed everything over to the broker.  She called me and asked about the house.  Because we are going to get an FHA loan, we'll get our maximum spending power with a place that doesn't include any homeowner's association fees or assessments.  This place doesn't have any.  "I will work on it this afternoon," our broker told me.  "I want you to put in a bid on this place."  Our conversation confirmed my instincts that the accelerated pace just meant we could be homeowners sooner.  We got the preapproval letter a few hours later - for 15% more than we were approved for last year. 

The one concern I had was about the location and the 'look' of the house.  It's in a town just beyond our ideal area.  It's easy to get to, but practically in the boonies.  However, the town is expanding rapidly and has up-and-coming schools.  The house itself is nice looking, but it has virtually no front yard.  It's just driveway.  A positive aspect is that it's on a cul-de-sac, but a negative one is that the side of our house is bordered by a driveway to an old quad apartment building.  Within our circle there are mainly duplexes, but handful of quad apartments surround it.  It's in town - you can see the Taco Bell.  My reservations concerned me, so I drove Bruce to work so that I could use the car on Friday.  Emmie and I drove around the town and neighborhood to get a better feel.  All I saw was families and old people, a comforting sign.  Later, we drove back with Bruce and went to the nearby Aldi.  Everyone smiled at everyone.  Everyone was friendly.  Earlier, Bruce's boss told him that she hoped to move to that town someday, because of how nice it is (right now she lives 20 minutes farther out in the country).

You know, they say you're not going to get absolutely everything you want in a first home.  Just look at the buyers on any of those HGTV shows.  They're always making compromises.  The area has a reputation for being safe.  Bruce and I are within half an hour of our jobs.  The backyard more than makes up for lack of a front yard.  Who hangs out in their front yard nowadays, anyway?  Inside, it is everything we hoped for.  It's likely to have good resale value, despite its lack of curb appeal.  We submitted our offer!

The sellers counteroffered, which freaked us out.  Our realtor suggested a course of action, but I needed to sleep on it.  The next morning, Saturday, Bruce and I woke up with a plan.  The realtor gave them our counteroffer, and they accepted!  The three of us hugged and kissed and jumped for joy.  We're getting a house! 

We told Bruce's parents.  They're both happy for us, but Bruce's mom admitted she's a little sad.  They keep telling us that we can come over and visit Emmie any time we want.  My family has been excited and supportive.  So have our friends.  I can't wait to have them over!

The past two days, we've been waiting on pins and needles for the sellers to sign the contract.  We were afraid they'd receive another offer before we could make it official.  This morning, our realtor got the paperwork back.  It's really happening!

The next step is to arrange the home inspection.  I'm trying to remain cautiously optimistic.  A number of things could still go wrong.  There's this flutter inside me, though, that tells me our future is right in front of us.  We aren't going to live in Bruce's parents' house forever.  This was all worth it.  Our home is waiting for us.