The House and How We Came to Buy It

I started this post waaaay back.
I was hoping to get it done before the end of the year
so it would make it into my 2011 blog book.
did. not. happen. then.
Happening. now. though.

When we moved to Washington, Eric and I always said that we would rent until the right house came along. Occasionally, we would check on Zillow or Redfin just to see what was out there. After the first year, we got a little more serious about looking, but it was off and on. One week I wouldn't even think about househunting, but then the next week I'd check Redfin five times a day. Eventually, we talked with a realtor and got pre-approved. Then we abandoned all house hunting for a few months. In July, I got interested again and actually made a short list of possible houses. E called up our realtor, the amazing Buzz, and we went ahead and set up a day to look at them.

He showed us 4 or 5 houses that day. Our house was one of them. It was dirty and dog-haired with backyard weeds past our knees. But the bones of the house met our criteria, and then some. It just felt right. We came back to see it again a few days later. And then we made an offer. (we must have been in some kind of mood that day because we ended up buying a mini-van later that evening!).

It was a short sale so we waited and waited to hear from the bank. Looking back, it went pretty quickly, but at the time it wasn't fun not knowing what would happen. We eventually closed three and half months later. I can not say enough good things about our realtor. Buzz is good!

One of our concerns when we made the offer was that we still had six more months on our lease. We had heard that our landlords had been picky with previous renters about things. However, our landlords kindly released us from the contract, and they found someone else to take our place right away. Everything works out if it's supposed to.

In the closing stages and even right after we bought it, I worried if we had made the right decision. I worried and worried because that's what I do. And because the house was really dirty. And because our bank account had significantly shrunk. I don't really think that any house is "perfect", but now that we are settling down into our home, there are many many things we love about it and that fit our family well.

The Wonderfulness of Our Home: A Short List
gas range
LOVE the cul de sac
good size backyard with plans for Eric's "farm"
office/library downstairs (as soon as I get it cleaned up)
loft area upstairs for my preschool
bigger master closet
3 car garage (of course we are still only fitting one car in it right now)

We are not too far from our old house so the boys can finish out the year at the school they started in. We are in the same ward at church. The boys now share a room, and they are learning to make it work. We are happy here!