Almost a Year Later...

I can't believe the last time I posted something was almost a year ago! This will probably be a long one...

We sold our condo and moved out the 2nd week of October 2013. I was thinking up to the last minute that something would go wrong and the offer on our condo would fall through. I was literally packing up to the last minute! We had wonderful friends that helped us pack, wrap and move everything to my moms and into storage. THANK YOU TO THE TRANS! We'd be totally lost without them!

My family of three moved into a tiny 10' x 10' room in my parents house! I went from a king size bed to sharing a queen with my daughter too. My husband complained of back pain after just one night. I couldn't find some of my clothes. I wasn't able to find my winter coat until well into December!

It was perfect timing that my parents tenants purchased a house and were moving mid November. Once they moved out we remodeled the bathroom and moved in by the end of the month.

My husband saw a moving truck while driving and gave them a call. To move all our stuff from storage was just $350! What a steal. There were 2 movers and it took them just under 1 hour to pack up their truck and move things into our place. Seriously what a steal! I hope my husband kept their number for the next time we move!

In the mean time we were looking at houses like mad. Every few days we'll look at houses. I think we were feeling a bit desperate. We decided to expand our search for multi-families with my sister. Every house we saw that we liked, we were out-bid. I swear people just have buckets and buckets of cash laying around or something. I felt like we would never find a place.

Then I saw a listing for a cute looking house. They were doing showings on Sunday but by appointment only. I went in and thought the house was really charming but very old. The house had 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. I went upstairs saw the first two bedrooms and then I looked at the third bedroom and it was TINY! I thought, "Oh c'mon! You call that a bedroom!" It would have been considered a tiny office! When  I walked in, I see another opening which lead to another HUGE bedroom and another bathroom. A master suite!

After being spoiled having a huge master bedroom at my condo, I didn't expect to find a big master in an old house. I started to feel like this could be MY house. The ceilings were pretty high for an old house, so it felt bigger than it was. I called my husband who was at a casino and told him he had to come back and see the house.

A few hours later, he saw the house. I saw lots of potential in the house. The house was located in a nicer area our condo was in. My realtor said if the house was updated, it could be possibly worth $200k more. A couple of townhouses across the street were being listed for $625k. For a townhouse! There were also 2 new houses next to those townhouses being built and rumor was that they were going to be listed for around $800k. This neighborhood definitely seemed to be worth paying for.

We went right over to the realtor's house and put together an offer. We wrote a letter telling the seller about our family and how we felt when we were in the house. I can't remember if we heard back that same night or the next day but the seller got a better offer. I was a bit sad but I was getting used to getting turned down.

A few weeks later still thinking about the house, I sent my realtor a text to see if the deal on the house was moving forward. I got a reply that it was going forward. Bummer.

That same night my realtor sends me a text saying I must be psychic or something. The buyer pulled out of the offer! The seller wanted to know if we were still interested in the house and would give us an opportunity to put in an offer before the house was put back on the market! What are the chances?? The last buyers was a young family with a young child with another baby on the way. The house needed a lot of updates and they didn't think they could handle that especially with the new baby. I heard the wife was devastated. I know I would be too.

We put in and offer and it went back and forth a few times but we reached an agreement! I couldn't believe it. We had an inspection and had a plumber, electrician and structural engineer look at the house. (It was built in 1884!!) There were a few issues that would need to addressed so we renegotiated on the price. We were able to get $7500 off! All the realtors involved were shocked that the seller agreed on that!

We closed mid December and I met the seller and her daughter. The seller is one of the sweetest ladies I've ever met. Utterly adorable. She would be renting from us at least until March. She had been in the house for about 50 years! So she had tons of things she had to sort and pack.

For the few months the seller rented from us, I would see her every couple of weeks and we'd chat and get to know each other. Once she moved out, we sort of missed each other. I went to visit her in her new place a few months ago, I think its time to call her soon.

We decided that we would renovate the house before we moved in. A good architect friend of ours had been working on the new layout with us. It took some but it was finally done last month. Our contractor took the plans and our permit was approved a few weeks ago. YAY!

Yesterday the dumpster was delivered. It crushed the raspberry bushes...but demo started today! I've been waiting for this day for so long. 5 WHOLE FREAKING MONTHS!

We also decided on what appliances we want. Shopped around for the best prices and will be buying them this tax free weekend! Fridge, 36" professional range with FREE hood!, wall oven, dishwasher,washer, and dryer. After mail in rebates, everything would have cost us less than $10k!   Getting things done!!

We have another friend helping with our kitchen cabinets. Next up: figuring out what will go into the bathrooms. I'll try to post the progress about our renovations. I've heard renovations never go as planned or within budget, hopefully things go relatively smoothly. WISH US LUCK!