Thursday, August 16, 2007

The Jury is in...

and the verdict is...

To start, I felt better after Stac made her comment about how she was nervous also, but how seamless it seemed to go, and not to think of it as a permanent change (even if it actually might be), but just as a stepping stone.

Then D made her comment about listening to my gut, and not to rush it...

That made me realize that, yes we could have lived in the yellow house, but maybe it wasn't quite right. I loved the living room and the master bedroom's sizes, the full bathroom was a good size, and even the half bath was nice. The kitchen was a little small, and would need a little updating, and the dining room was...well...way too small. I also didn't like the way the driveway sloped at such an angle, and the outside would have to be painted. I liked it, but maybe I was settling after all...I had a strange feeling of needing to be reassured that we were making the right decision, and not being to hasty.

So, since we haven't technically been pre-qualified yet anyhow, I decided to do one more search...I was sick of looking at houses to tell the truth...over 20 houses at that point...but I came up with 5 more to look at. I almost threw one out, because it is 1032 SqFt, when the yellow is 1087, but I decided, "Ah, what the hell's it gonna hurt to look at it?" When I called the realtor he talked to me about 2 of them, and I threw them out. So, at 4pm, we met up with him again (Bruce Gibson, btw, if you're interested. He's an excellent guy, really very helpful and super friendly) to look at the remaining 3 and take one more once over of the yellow one. We started with one, it was cute, but right off of 21st street and across the street from the High School, it would need a little updating, a new AC unit, and a lot of good scrubbing...plus, the asking price was almost $2,000 more than the yellow, so we threw it out.

Then went to one that was pretty much around the corner from the yellow house, this one being the one I *almost* threw out. We didn't even want to see the third one after seeing this one. It was it, "our house" We both loved it, and even my mom was impressed.
**side note** The realtor talked us into going ahead and looking at the third house, and it was trash. *laughs*

So!! We found it! Our home. *grins broadly* The layout is very similar, but I like it better. Like I said before it is 1032 SqFt, 3 bedrooms, only one bathroom, attic fan, dishwasher, disposal, range/oven. The windows are storm windows that are brand new, still white. The kitchen has been remodeled very recently, and has expensive ceramic tiles. The Roof, heating and AC unit, hotwater heater, driveway, garage door, carpet, privacy fence, tile and paint have all been replaced within the last 5 years. It's within walking distance of McClure Park (click link, then scroll down left side menu, to McClure, if you're interested), and the taxes are almost $200 cheaper than the yellow house. There is a little hill/hump in the backyard, that I don't like, but who cares? *grins* It can be dug out, if I wanted to.

Anywho, here are the pics that I took, again, not very good, but it's hard to show a house with only pictures, you know?

The front:
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Roger, looking out the front door, in the living room. I'm standing in the dining room:
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The realtor, Bruce, on the other side of the living room (notice that I split the big window. One half next to Roger, the other next to Bruce. That's a decent living room size):
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I'm standing in the living room, looking into the kitchen/dining room:
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Standing in the dining room, looking into the kitchen (the door to the garage is right next to the oven/range):
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Standing in the kitchen, looking into the dining room:
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I'm standing in the living room, just where the hall starts. Roger's at the very end of the hall. The first room, closest to me, on my right is a bedroom, then the master bedroom. Across the hall from the master, is another room, and then the bathroom (on my left, closest to me). All that make sense? *grins*
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These are the rooms, in the order listed above:
First room:
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Master bedroom:
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Room across from MB:
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And the bathroom (haha!! don't laugh at my poor husband):
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This is the back of the House:
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And the back yard, in two halves:
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and (notice the incline/hill I mentioned?):
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

All pic'ed out yet? :oD

On another note, we might be getting a new car as well. My aunt and uncle are moving to Germany (He's being stationed there), and they needed to sell their car. They would need to use it up until they actually left, and to that I said that there was most definately not a problem in that. So, it's a 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix, with 108,000 miles on it, a V6 engine, and gets approximately 32 Mpg. Definately better than the gas hog we have now, and would be *a lot* newer.

5 Comments:

Blogger Dawn Allenbach said...

OH MY GOODNESS!!! I love the vibe of this house so much more than the other one! If I had that back yard, I'd put a meditation spot right under that cedar in the corner where it hangs over the fence. A water fountain or something -- I got goosebumps (good ones) looking at that corner. It's a power spot for sure! The whole back yard, for that matter.

I think you and Roger are going to be very happy there. Email me your address after you move, OK?

4:44 PM  
Blogger Amanda said...

*Laughs* So far, that is the overall agreement. *smiles*

Even got another comment from my older sister's best friend about this one:
"This house is much prettier than the other one! I like it."

And Stacey said her piece, "It feels 'warmer' than the other, somehow."

It's funny to me how the other has more appeal size wise, but this one just sings pleasantries out to those that can hear it's call. And even those who don't, feel the difference somehow, but can't quite put their finger on how or why.

Bruce, for example, fought tooth and nail for us (I'll update the story a little, when I know for sure of the outcome), but I don't think he 'heard' the song. I think he felt it, but didn't have a clue as to why it felt different than the 10 or so houses that we looked at. He just couldn't believe that a house like that was going for such a good price.

I don't know anything about the previous owner, but I'm almost certain there was at least one child (baby stroller in the garage, and little crayon doodles on the garage door). We're fairly certain that the updates were done to the house to accomodate a wheel chair (the driveway paved the way it is, and the sink in the bathroom is small and lower to the floor than most sinks). And, I do think that that child may have left a little of it's happy essence behind. I've heard that a house can pick up and store things like that, like a battery, and I think this one did.

Anywho!! Of course you'll get the new address, once it's for certain that it is ours. I plan on sending out a bunch of letters, to everyone I know, announcing our new home. :oD *giggles happily*

Just cross your fingers, everyone!! It's not ours yet.

6:04 AM  
Blogger Dawn Allenbach said...

I'm a firm believer that you KNOW when it's right, and size has nothing to do with it.

And places DO absorb energies. Some very happy people have lived there, and now you get to add your energies.

12:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congrats on finding the house. I'm really happy for you guys (and I love all of the pics of Roger posing in the rooms, lol). ::hugs::

1:17 PM  
Blogger Amanda said...

Hopefully we will be able to add to the happy energies, and not take away from it. :ob

Aww..thanks! *hugs back* We're just happy the seller accepted our bid (without the pre-qualifications still..) and not the other bidder's.

I made him do that, btw. He didn't really want to, but I asked very sweetly, and he couldn't refuse. :oD It's a little easier to get sizes of rooms, if someone is actually in them, or at least I thought so.

2:14 PM  

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