Tuesday, April 22, 2008

House Update

Things are moving fast. I've been reluctant to post about the house situation. I'm afraid to count my chickens before they hatch. So, I will put this disclaimer on what I'm about to write: BARRING ANY UN FOR SEEN EVENTS: Our house here is under contract and we have a contract on a house in South Carolina. Obviously, in this market, selling a house that quickly is a God thing. But, there is way more to it than that. Things have fallen into place so neatly that I can believe nothing less that it was God's hands putting it all in place. So where to start...

When we were visiting SC, I don't think that I was still quite believing that all of this would be a real possibility. However, I decided to look at some real estate "just in case". I remember thinking to myself that if we did end up moving there, I might just be crazy enough to buy a house long distance so that I didn't have to make another trip. Well, turns out that I am in fact crazy because that is exactly what we are doing. Adam and I both have looked at the house. And this is how that happened... I picked up a real estate book and starting flipping through and saw this house and thought it would be perfect for us. It has three bedrooms on one end of the house close to together. I have found that this is sometimes hard to find in newer houses. But, that is really what I wanted since the girls are so little. Then, there is a totally separate bedroom and bathroom in another part of the house. I have always wanted a place where guests could come and have privacy and feel comfortable. And this area will be perfect not only for people that we know well but also for those occasions that will come up where the church has a guest in that we don't know very well. It will be nice for them not to have to sleep in either our bedroom or in Emma's bedroom where they trip over toys as has happened in our current house. Anyway, I could go on and on about how it's perfect for us but instead, I'll just invite you to come see :). Let's just say that I LOVE IT! So, I thought it would be a good idea to ride around that neighborhood and check it out and low and behold... OPEN HOUSE. That's right, with 8760 hours that are in a year (yes I did use a calculator for that) they just happened to be having an open house for two hours. The girls were asleep in the car and so Adam stayed in the car with them while I ran in to have a look. Now granted my dreams aren't huge (as far as houses go) but it's my dream house and all I ever would want.. And, it was built in 2006 which is fitting because as much as Adam and I would like to be fixer upper kind of people... WE ARE SO NOT!

I still didn't think that we could possibly get this house. I still wasn't sure that we were moving there and I thought that if we did, we either wouldn't be able to afford it or it would sell before we got to that point. Well, we got back to WV and things moved along. Adam went back down to SC for a very quick trip and looked at the house while he was there and fell in love with it as well.

Ok, lets switch to selling our house here... When we moved to WV, we bought a very small house and financed it for 15 years so that we could build some equity and put it down on something bigger later. Now let me say that I have loved our little house and I could be fine living in one like it forever (I do think that love grows best in little houses). But, since we have added another child, we have been on top of each other (especially when we have company) and we'll still be living close because of the way the house is laid out so, I have to say, it will be nice to have the extra room. Anyway, we put our house on the market on Sat. and by Tuesday, we had an offer. By the following Sat., we had all the negotiating worked out and signed a contract. So in the mean time... On Friday, the real estate agent in SC called and told me that we had to get the house here under contract in 72 hours because they had gotten an offer on the one in SC. Not a big deal because I knew we were doing it the next day. But wow, I could but couldn't believe that the house had been just sitting there for months and then it got an offer the day after we made an offer. WOW!!
I did have a moment on Friday when we were trying to settle all the deals and I got kind of stressed out ended up getting a headache and throwing up.. I know what you are thinking.. I AM NOT PREGNANT. I got scared about that too and took a test. NEGATIVE! That is just what anxiety does to me. Even though the payment is just barely more than what we're paying now and this is exactly what we have been saving to do, I had a little bit of hard time believing that we are actually at that point. Anyway, if you would like to see the house. Email or comment me and I will send you a link to it. There is a picture of our "guest suite" that you will be staying in when you come visit us in beautiful, sunny South Carolina ;).

So last week inspections were done on both houses and everything looks good with them. We got a copy of our buyers pre-approval letter so hopefully, things will keep going smoothly... I do have to say that the packing isn't quite so smooth. I can't believe how Chloe is moving. The kid crawls like lightning and she is pulling up and walking around furniture. I'm afraid that she might be walking before she turns eight months old. She's into everything and Emma really never got out of being into everything either. My goal is to pack at least two boxes a day. I did get one box packed this morning but it looks like my best time to get things done is going to be after the girls get to bed. Which means I need to get off of here and get to that.

My parents made a quick trip up here this past weekend. I was going to try to do a quick post on that and the things that the girls are doing but I'm afraid that would get lost in my rambling about the house so I'll try to make that post soon.

Thank you all for your prayers! He's listening.

Blessings,
Dana