Big News!!!!! and NO I'm not pregnant

We are buying a house!!!!! I'm so thrilled. I will post pictures soon but if I wait until I have pictures ready, I'll never get this post written.

Last Wednesday, a friend from the neighborhood called me (she has taken it upon herself to keep me in the neighborhood) and let me know she has "found my house". She saw it with her MIL (who wasn't interested because it was too big) and knew immediately she needed to call me. The house is owned by a bank and it was being drastically reduced because it has been vacant for a year or so.

Brad and I arranged to see it that night with the seller's agent. I really liked it. Brad wasn't as thrilled. The house has 5,031 square feet (HUGE) and 9 (nine) bedrooms! It is a rambler style. The main floor has 4 bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms, a living room, family room, kitchen, lovely laundry room and large mud room with a drinking fountain! Oh, and yes, a time out room. A TIME-OUT room-a small room 3'x6' with a built in bench and a windowed door. I hear the previous owners had a difficult daughter. But, my kids favorite thing about the house is that it has a slide from the kitchen to a playroom downstairs.

The downstairs has 4 bedrooms (including the playroom), 2 full bathrooms, an exercise room (which could be another bedroom) that has a drinking fountain in it as well, a HUGE, HUGE food storage room with a direct staircase to the kitchen, a "little library", and an unfinished theater room. Oh, and a dungeon. Okay, not really a dungeon just a 4'x6' concrete room (probably a cold storage room) but I didn't let my kids know that-hee, hee.

The house is on a HUGE lot (I keep using the word HUGE, don't I). It is 0.81 acre. It has a covered patio which is sheltered by the house. This is a big plus since it is sooo windy in our part of Idaho. It also has a trampoline pit-cool huh! There are a couple of garden boxes established, I'm told by the neighbors, and a large RV pad next to the 3 car garage.

Can I tell you again how excited I am?! There are a lot of weird things about this house (i.e. time-out room) and wasted space especially downstairs. But we are buying the house at a steal and so we will (should) have money to make some changes.

Let me tell you the house buying drama. I'll be as brief as I know how (which isn't too brief).
I got the call on Wednesday afternoon. We saw the house at 7:00. It took until after 8:00 to look at it. I was supposed to go to book club but I thought it was too late until I noticed people arriving at the house next door. I realized that was probably book club and joined them. I got the "scoop" on the house. Coincidence, huh

The next morning, Thursday, I met with our realtor (actually our landlord, Jake) and I went through it again with a friend. I loved it even more in the daylight and they had dropped the price $5,000. I told Jake I was very interested and to let them know so no offers would be accepted until we made one. He didn't think that would be necessary since this house has had NO INTEREST. But will do it anyway.

Brad got a call from Jake around 3:00 or so to let us know that someone already made an offer but because the bank is on the East Coast they had not looked at it yet. We went to see it again at 6:15 with Brad, Steve, and Jake. We notice about 8 realtor cards on the counter that were not there that morning. We decide to make an offer. Jake pumped the other realtor to find out any info but with no luck. We make an offer for $1,000 over last listing price. We sign the offer that evening and Jake promises to get it in ASAP the next morning once our pre-approval letter is faxed (it was just waiting for documentation).

On Friday we find out that a total of 4 offers have been received-I'm dying!!!!. All Realtors have been instructed to bring back their client's best offer. By this point I am so anxious I have made myself physically ill (I do that when I am very anxious). Brad and Jake work out the details ($10,000 more than original offer and an earlier closing date) and I just sign my name. We head out for Utah to see my brand-new nephew and to take my mind off my house. I'm still anxious. I have already mentally moved into that house. It is mine!

All weekend I think about the house; I can't sleep at night. We drive home and discover more water in the basement. Not much but the carpet pad is soaked and the carpet is damp in the corner of the toy room where we have had previous water problems. We think about the comparison between the two houses. Our offer was actually less than what we could buy the house we are renting. We call our realtor and ask if we can increase our offer. He checks on Monday and is told it is too late. The bank is already reviewing the offers. We are waiting to find out what the bank is deciding. The agony!!!

About 11:30 am Brad calls and lets me know that the HOUSE IS OURS!!!!! It turns our that there was a cash offer for $6,000 less than ours and the other offer was actually $4,000 more than ours but had "strings attached" that the bank didn't like so they went with our offer which was clean and no strings (the 4th offer never countered).

Needless to say I am thrilled. Every time I go back to the house I like it more. We went back tonight with someone who helped build the house and we told him some of our ideas of what we wanted to change/improve. He is going to let us know how much it costs.

We close on March 17th so we plan on making the improvements before we move in. Our lease runs until June 1st so it should all work out. The house is in our neighborhood, just a few blocks back. It is a great location. I didn't think I wanted to stay in the neighborhood but now that I am getting to know a few people, I am feeling more comfortable.

I'll post some pictures soon. Unfortunately, I didn't take many and I'm not sure when we'll go back through the house. It was a quick decision but it is just what we are looking for!