Crossing Our Fingers!

Dan and I had so much fun looking at houses today! Our Realtor was totally on the ball this time around and well prepared. He very much redeemed himself from our last visit! We saw some horribly falling apart houses, some houses with the perfect layout but too many "fixer-upper" needs, and then we saw a couple houses that we were really drawn to and sure we'd be more than content with -- but as the afternoon progressed, we decided not to consider any foreclosure/short-sales because we don't want the pressure and worry of the sale falling through and being left with nothing come August. Eliminating short-sales drastically reduced our options to pretty much . . . nothing.

So on a whim, we thought maybe we needed to consider raising our price range a bit just to see what was out there. Our Realtor plugged in our updated criteria and three houses popped up, so we went to check out this first one. From the moment we walked in, this home definitely had the "WOW-factor" and captured our hearts instantly! These pictures are off the website. I took pictures but these view points are better.

The neighborhood is very clean (and not gated, which is a plus!) and within a good school district.

 Double-door entryway that leads into a formal room/dining room.

 Nice big, open kitchen with a double-oven! Don't love the white tile, but that can be fixed eventually.

 Family room adjacent to the kitchen

 Cute little yard that could fit a pool in the far-off future, if we want. But I love the nicely groomed grass area! Those glass doors to the far right lead into the kitchen.

 Spacious Master Bedroom . . .

 with a shower, tub, double-sinks, separate toilet room, and walk-in closet. Here's the CRAZY part: There is one master bedroom/bath upstairs AND downstairs, both the same size! The downstairs would be our guest room so you can all come visit us. = )

Huge upstairs loft next to the master bedroom, which is Dan's favorite part.

The best part is that while it was built in 2004, it feels brand new. The owner/investor flipped the house so it's newly carpeted and painted and just feels so clean and fresh. It's bigger than we intended at 3320 sq ft with 5 bedrooms and 3 1/2 bath, and a 3 car garage with TONS of storage space with tall, built-in cabinets inside the garage.  It's two-story and we love the openness of it. All the bedrooms are upstairs, except for the guest master-bedroom suite downstairs. Dan and I feel a little silly buying a house with this many bedrooms, but obviously, we're hoping to fill it up with 3-4 kids and guests stopping through, and would plan to live in this home for the next ten years or more. You never know what the future will bring but this could be a very long-term investment and we certainly woudn't need to upgrade. I'd be happy not to have to move again any time soon!

So anyway, we're hoping to get pre-approved for a loan next week, and then will put in our offer ASAP. Dan and I both immediately felt good about this house, especially because it's not much more than our original price-range and is definitely within our budget, which is really important to us. We shall see what happens!