I assume the decision to buy a house is always a bit exciting. Nate and I had attempted a few years ago in the A, but after numerous failures, we took it as a sign that maybe it just wasn't the right time. Hindsight is always 20-20, and I now know it definitely wasn't the right time. Fast forward a few years and an extra kid, we are in desperate need for a new place.
I had always said I wanted to end up back in Charleston. Nate jokes it was the one condition on my unconditional love for him. (I will neither confirm nor deny that.) Numerous factors played into our decision to uproot the family, but mostly we were ready for a change and completely out of space. Poor Clare (catholic pun!) didn't even have a room--or more importantly a closet--in our house in Atlanta. And girlfriend has some clothes... So yes, basically we're buying a house for our daughter's clothes.
We decided that Nate would start looking for a new job once Clare arrived. Around Christmas time he was offered a job and you know I was all up on zillow .6 seconds after he told me.
By the time I had us a realtor (Thanks USAA!!), we had a nice long list of houses we wanted to go see. After a few days of riding around with the realtor (or following him in our car because a certain girl baby was going through an anti-car phase and we didn't want to torture the man anymore than we already were,) we had found our house. I would say there were a few "signs from God" that were comparable to Moses parting the Red Sea that lead us to our final decision.
First, I knew the second we walked in the house because I got what I call "the warm fuzzies." It's a scientific term for when your gut and heart just tell your head how it's going to be. Nate has no clue what I'm talking about.
Next, it had many things on our "Must Have" list along with quite a few "Nice to Have" things. It's two stories, with 3 bedrooms, a bonus room over the garage, formal dining room, two living rooms, and 2.5 baths. It also has an eat-in kitchen and a two car garage. Thankfully it also has a fenced in backyard which is great for the fuzz.
Lastly, it was in an area we liked, in our price range, and seemingly well-maintained. It's dated. It's had one owner since the 70s and it shows. But this one owner loved the house and took great care of it so now it's our turn to bring it into the modern day. And that's exactly what Nate and I wanted. Sure a brand new shiny home would be lovely, but we really wanted something we could work on ourselves. Some good design and DIY on a house that's actually ours--it's been our dream since day two of renting a house.
I will say the going under contract part has not been the easiest. The owner is elderly and so it's requiring a bit of patience on our end as she works through things with her family. It's also been difficult buying a house while in a different state. We've managed to finally agree on a price and we've done the inspection (more on that later.) Now we have to work out the ever changing details with the mortgage company and pray that we can close on time.
And I won't even start on how packing is going... (or really, how it isn't going...)
