The Story of What Could be "The House"
Apr. 1st, 2008 01:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altarflameWhen we first found out how much and when we were getting the settlement, we started obsessively looking through real estate online. We thought, hmm, ok, we can get something tiny in a decent neighborhood down here (like a 1400sf 3/2), with a 1/4 acre or less of yard, or something HUGE, like 2 stories, 3000 sf, garden tub, island in the kitchen, loft, 2 car garage, etc etc - but with NO YARD AT ALL, with houses pressed so closely in on either side that they literally don't put windows on the sides of the houses at all. Either way, it would be like $300,000 or more.
The places we really wanted were out in the Redlands, which is a little more rural, but they run around a million dollars each now. Some are "as low as" $600,000 or so. It just wasn't a good option at all; we would have had to get a mortgage we might not even qualify for and then die a slow death in property taxes and home owner's insurance. Argh.
We made the mistake of looking at Jacksonville real estate, and realized we could get a 2500 sf house on a 1/2 acre in a good area, for $300,000. So much more for our money. We had this big grappling struggle to deal with whether or not I could stand to leave my sister, break up the cousins, drop our established social network to start fresh. I hated it and thought of all the unique things I love about here - like the Florida Keys, the Everglades and the unique cultural and educational opportunities for the kids as they grow - and finally I said, you know what? I'm not going up to Jacksonville. Period. I can't do it.
Laura was thrilled, we were ok with it, we started looking again. Then my mother sent me this place, though - this crazy ass ranch house. 3000 square feet on 5 acres (in Jacksonville). It was listed at 399k but we were talking the guy down. Pool. All this stuff, convenient to downtown. It meant leaving, but bunny patch, leaving, but growing all of our own vegetables, leaving, but blah blah blah.
As time passed and we worked out our budget, though, it was like...ok. Tything 10%. Giving about $25k to friends and family as repayment for help last year. $62k in debt to pay off. Buying a second vehicle outright. Retirement plans. Possibly me writing for a year while Grant takes off work. Either way, some amount of financial buffer, and we're gonna need more furniture and an extracurricular budget to pull from...we realized we really couldn't afford a house that cost $300,000, let alone more. Not if we wanted to pay closing costs, or had to renovate at all, or wanted to take a vacation...
Then we realized, with a pang of sadness, that we could get what we have available here - the huge house with no yard or small house with little yard in questionable area - for only $200,000 or less, up there. We felt resigned to go.
Then, we went for a walk to Spellbound Books last week. I joked as we set out that maybe we'd buy a house along the way to Game Night. A couple of blocks later, in a great neighborhood, I saw a For Sale sign on a house I've always looked at and thought was nice, over the years. It has a fenced back yard, and then also a separate fenced side yard that includes a HUGE raised, deck-like patio that spans the entire length of the house, and is deep in places too, with ceiling fans and shelving. Foreclosure and everything. I called, and found out some great things.
2500 sf, 4/2 with kitchen and dining room, living and family rooms, upgrades like garden tub and double sinks in bathrooms. Tons of windows and french doors letting in a ton of light. Listed at 235. WOW, I thought, I got all excited and when I got to the bookstore and unloaded everyone and everything I immediately called Grant, and my mother about it. G looked up some inside pics online and said it looked great inside, the kitchen was really big and nice and there are some great wood floors in certain rooms. It was also appraised at 277k and last sold for 305k!
We told his mom (a realtor) that we wanted to see the inside. She got the lockbox code but stuff kept happening - including her being hospitalized for a possible heart attack :/ Grant and Isaac spent a morning there with her, and all of us went over one afternoon. She seemed/seems fine, but it was really scary the night she called the ambulance. She's only 47 or 48, still works fulltime and is raising Mindy's kids. There have been many prayers. It has been reiterated a million times to her that she doesn't have to rush to showing us houses, but she seems genuinely excited and like it's something she's happy about - her husband pulled me aside and told me to just let her do it because it actually takes her mind off of other things that DO stress her out.
In the meantime, while we couldn't see the inside, we called and got more info - that one room was unfinished terrazzo floor because they had to pull out some carpet, that there were a couple of broken tiles where the previous owners pulled out an in-floor safe, and that we'd have to get a new oven and dishwasher. None of it is too big of a deal, especially at that price. I was thinking, this is going to be mediocre but acceptable. A good price for the square footage and location, and a way to stay in Homestead. We went over there twice and looked around outside, mentally mapping out the yard - above ground pool, shed and garden could go in the back, swing set, picnic table and trampoline on the side, and our old dining set that's on the back porch here (cheap, light wood, much smaller table) would be fine on the patio.
Tonight, we finally went over to look at the inside, with Teresa. When we got there, there was another realtor there showing it to some other people, which struck panic in my heart. The prior salesperson in me identifies this as "fear of loss"; realtors should plan these things on purpose. Anyway, they left before we went in.
WOW.
I love it. It surpassed my expectations about a million times over, inside.
When you first walk in, you're in what would be our library, with what would be our tv room to the right through sliding/pocket french doors, and what would be my office to the left. You're stepping through nice wooden double doors with decorative glass panels, the tv room has french doors to the big old patio. Windows everywhere. You keep walking straight, and the kitchen is on your left, dining room on the right. The kitchen is nice and big, plenty of room for helping kids - it has a granite bar to sit at, a giant pantry with shelves that roll out towards you, a spot for the double oven I'm dying to have, stainless steel KitchenAid refrigerator. There is a big box window popping out from the house above the kitchen sink, for an herb garden. The dining room has these huge, deep accordian-door storage closets full of organizational shelving, which is perfect for us as we currently keep all the homeschool supplies, arts and crafts stuff and board games in the dining room hanging out all over on bookcases. The dining rooms has french doors out to the patio, too.
Keep walking straight again, and you're in the hallway - you have the first bathroom on your left. First mini-room is oversized mirrors, double sinks, and shelving recessed into the wall, then there is the toilet and tub room. WAY nicer than the one bathroom we're sharing now. Across from it is the AC closet, which has room for storage.
Next to that bathroom is the laundry room, which has plenty of room for our mountains of laundry, the Ultra High Capacity washer and dryer we're buying, and an exterior door. Across from that is the first bedroom, which has a huge walk-in closet full of built in organizational shelving, buckling wood laminate flooring we'd have to replace, and french doors that go out to the patio.
Next the hallway splits left and right. To the left, you have a MASSIVE walk-in storage closet (it's like 8x8, at least, I thought it was a tiny bedroom at first) with that coated-wire shelving already installed all over. Go a little further, and you hit bedroom number 2, which is nice, windows, whatever.
Go right and you hit "the master suite". First it's another of those mini-bathroom-rooms with double sink, built in linen closet and plenty of mirror. There's a door to the main part of the bathroom, with a toilet and a GIANT GARDEN TUB WITH JACUZZI JETS and a portable shower head. The master bedroom has TWO big walk-in closets full of built in organizational shelving, double rods, etc, a window, and french doors out to the patio. Also very nice wood flooring. (What would be the fourth bedroom, way up by the front door, is what we're calling the office - it would be Annie and Aaron in one room, Isaac and Jake in one room, and Elise with us for at least awhile more).
I love it. I really love it. I love the layout, I love the size, I love the bathrooms, I love how unique it is to any other house I've been in, I love how outside-oriented and full of light it is. I love the incredible amount of storage, and the laundry room, and all of it. I forgot to mention that it has a security system installed already, and nice ceiling fans all over the place, and is freshly painted inside and out. A good yellow, outside.
I was all squinty eyed and suspicious about "those other people who were looking at our house". But I'll bet they don't have cash, bwahahaha.
*sigh*
Anyway, Teresa is doing the paperwork tonight to submit our offer of $201,014.75 cash, with an initial refundable deposit of $2500, pending an inspection and a survey, after which we'll give them like ten grand assuming all goes well, and then the rest at closing.
I am all on pins and needles and crazy giddy about this business. Will it work? Will they accept that offer, since it's a bank-owned foreclosure that needs a little work here and there? Or will they counter-offer? We told her our next offer would be 215, if so. Mainly I don't want somebody else to buy it out from under us. Most of the houses in that neighborhood have sold for $3-4 hundred thousand since about 2005, but of course that was a really big peak for the housing market down here, and the bubble has definitely burst. Our financial advisor thinks the real estate market is going to continue to drop for the next year before it turns around, so, surely the bank that owns this house also knows that. And it has to be a perk, when you've been burned on a mortgage, to have cash buyers available. The neighbors made a point of introducing themselves while we were there, and seemed nice - they have an 11 year old girl, a 9 year old boy and a 4 year old girl.
This all seems so crazy real to us. We're buying a house. Even if this one falls through, we're buying some house or other soon. We're actually going to walk through the display kitchens at Lowe's or wherever and say, we'd like this, and that and that. It kind of gives me the tense, anvil will drop out of the sky any second feeling I had in the weeks before my wedding, and it is definitely going to be weird leaving this house after being here longer than I've ever lived anywhere else in my life...but I'm thrilled.
PLEASE PLEASE THIS HOUSE!!! I know that if we don't get it, it'll be for some reason or other, opening a door when He closes a window or whatever, and I'll try to respect that, but for right now? I'd really like this house bad.
It's caddy-corner across the street from a guy with a HUMONGOUS leechy tree, who is so sweet that he goes in and gets a ladder and sheers and bucket to get you dozens himself, if you ask if you could maybe pick a couple. I know from years gone by when I'd walk around that area when Annie and Aaron were all I had. And we'd still be in easy walking distance of bringing Aracelia baked goods or A and A having a playdate with Isabel and Sydney or seeing Diane's latest baby birds (all neighbors here on this street). It's only about 4 blocks away, but definitely 4 blocks further into the really good part of the neighborhood, and 4 blocks further FROM the bike stealing, rock-throwing unattended kids around the corner from us in the other direction. It would be a longer but doable walk to the grocery store, and 4 blocks less to walk to get to the bookstore the other way.
Now I guess I'm supposed to go to sleep? HA!
The places we really wanted were out in the Redlands, which is a little more rural, but they run around a million dollars each now. Some are "as low as" $600,000 or so. It just wasn't a good option at all; we would have had to get a mortgage we might not even qualify for and then die a slow death in property taxes and home owner's insurance. Argh.
We made the mistake of looking at Jacksonville real estate, and realized we could get a 2500 sf house on a 1/2 acre in a good area, for $300,000. So much more for our money. We had this big grappling struggle to deal with whether or not I could stand to leave my sister, break up the cousins, drop our established social network to start fresh. I hated it and thought of all the unique things I love about here - like the Florida Keys, the Everglades and the unique cultural and educational opportunities for the kids as they grow - and finally I said, you know what? I'm not going up to Jacksonville. Period. I can't do it.
Laura was thrilled, we were ok with it, we started looking again. Then my mother sent me this place, though - this crazy ass ranch house. 3000 square feet on 5 acres (in Jacksonville). It was listed at 399k but we were talking the guy down. Pool. All this stuff, convenient to downtown. It meant leaving, but bunny patch, leaving, but growing all of our own vegetables, leaving, but blah blah blah.
As time passed and we worked out our budget, though, it was like...ok. Tything 10%. Giving about $25k to friends and family as repayment for help last year. $62k in debt to pay off. Buying a second vehicle outright. Retirement plans. Possibly me writing for a year while Grant takes off work. Either way, some amount of financial buffer, and we're gonna need more furniture and an extracurricular budget to pull from...we realized we really couldn't afford a house that cost $300,000, let alone more. Not if we wanted to pay closing costs, or had to renovate at all, or wanted to take a vacation...
Then we realized, with a pang of sadness, that we could get what we have available here - the huge house with no yard or small house with little yard in questionable area - for only $200,000 or less, up there. We felt resigned to go.
Then, we went for a walk to Spellbound Books last week. I joked as we set out that maybe we'd buy a house along the way to Game Night. A couple of blocks later, in a great neighborhood, I saw a For Sale sign on a house I've always looked at and thought was nice, over the years. It has a fenced back yard, and then also a separate fenced side yard that includes a HUGE raised, deck-like patio that spans the entire length of the house, and is deep in places too, with ceiling fans and shelving. Foreclosure and everything. I called, and found out some great things.
2500 sf, 4/2 with kitchen and dining room, living and family rooms, upgrades like garden tub and double sinks in bathrooms. Tons of windows and french doors letting in a ton of light. Listed at 235. WOW, I thought, I got all excited and when I got to the bookstore and unloaded everyone and everything I immediately called Grant, and my mother about it. G looked up some inside pics online and said it looked great inside, the kitchen was really big and nice and there are some great wood floors in certain rooms. It was also appraised at 277k and last sold for 305k!
We told his mom (a realtor) that we wanted to see the inside. She got the lockbox code but stuff kept happening - including her being hospitalized for a possible heart attack :/ Grant and Isaac spent a morning there with her, and all of us went over one afternoon. She seemed/seems fine, but it was really scary the night she called the ambulance. She's only 47 or 48, still works fulltime and is raising Mindy's kids. There have been many prayers. It has been reiterated a million times to her that she doesn't have to rush to showing us houses, but she seems genuinely excited and like it's something she's happy about - her husband pulled me aside and told me to just let her do it because it actually takes her mind off of other things that DO stress her out.
In the meantime, while we couldn't see the inside, we called and got more info - that one room was unfinished terrazzo floor because they had to pull out some carpet, that there were a couple of broken tiles where the previous owners pulled out an in-floor safe, and that we'd have to get a new oven and dishwasher. None of it is too big of a deal, especially at that price. I was thinking, this is going to be mediocre but acceptable. A good price for the square footage and location, and a way to stay in Homestead. We went over there twice and looked around outside, mentally mapping out the yard - above ground pool, shed and garden could go in the back, swing set, picnic table and trampoline on the side, and our old dining set that's on the back porch here (cheap, light wood, much smaller table) would be fine on the patio.
Tonight, we finally went over to look at the inside, with Teresa. When we got there, there was another realtor there showing it to some other people, which struck panic in my heart. The prior salesperson in me identifies this as "fear of loss"; realtors should plan these things on purpose. Anyway, they left before we went in.
WOW.
I love it. It surpassed my expectations about a million times over, inside.
When you first walk in, you're in what would be our library, with what would be our tv room to the right through sliding/pocket french doors, and what would be my office to the left. You're stepping through nice wooden double doors with decorative glass panels, the tv room has french doors to the big old patio. Windows everywhere. You keep walking straight, and the kitchen is on your left, dining room on the right. The kitchen is nice and big, plenty of room for helping kids - it has a granite bar to sit at, a giant pantry with shelves that roll out towards you, a spot for the double oven I'm dying to have, stainless steel KitchenAid refrigerator. There is a big box window popping out from the house above the kitchen sink, for an herb garden. The dining room has these huge, deep accordian-door storage closets full of organizational shelving, which is perfect for us as we currently keep all the homeschool supplies, arts and crafts stuff and board games in the dining room hanging out all over on bookcases. The dining rooms has french doors out to the patio, too.
Keep walking straight again, and you're in the hallway - you have the first bathroom on your left. First mini-room is oversized mirrors, double sinks, and shelving recessed into the wall, then there is the toilet and tub room. WAY nicer than the one bathroom we're sharing now. Across from it is the AC closet, which has room for storage.
Next to that bathroom is the laundry room, which has plenty of room for our mountains of laundry, the Ultra High Capacity washer and dryer we're buying, and an exterior door. Across from that is the first bedroom, which has a huge walk-in closet full of built in organizational shelving, buckling wood laminate flooring we'd have to replace, and french doors that go out to the patio.
Next the hallway splits left and right. To the left, you have a MASSIVE walk-in storage closet (it's like 8x8, at least, I thought it was a tiny bedroom at first) with that coated-wire shelving already installed all over. Go a little further, and you hit bedroom number 2, which is nice, windows, whatever.
Go right and you hit "the master suite". First it's another of those mini-bathroom-rooms with double sink, built in linen closet and plenty of mirror. There's a door to the main part of the bathroom, with a toilet and a GIANT GARDEN TUB WITH JACUZZI JETS and a portable shower head. The master bedroom has TWO big walk-in closets full of built in organizational shelving, double rods, etc, a window, and french doors out to the patio. Also very nice wood flooring. (What would be the fourth bedroom, way up by the front door, is what we're calling the office - it would be Annie and Aaron in one room, Isaac and Jake in one room, and Elise with us for at least awhile more).
I love it. I really love it. I love the layout, I love the size, I love the bathrooms, I love how unique it is to any other house I've been in, I love how outside-oriented and full of light it is. I love the incredible amount of storage, and the laundry room, and all of it. I forgot to mention that it has a security system installed already, and nice ceiling fans all over the place, and is freshly painted inside and out. A good yellow, outside.
I was all squinty eyed and suspicious about "those other people who were looking at our house". But I'll bet they don't have cash, bwahahaha.
*sigh*
Anyway, Teresa is doing the paperwork tonight to submit our offer of $201,014.75 cash, with an initial refundable deposit of $2500, pending an inspection and a survey, after which we'll give them like ten grand assuming all goes well, and then the rest at closing.
I am all on pins and needles and crazy giddy about this business. Will it work? Will they accept that offer, since it's a bank-owned foreclosure that needs a little work here and there? Or will they counter-offer? We told her our next offer would be 215, if so. Mainly I don't want somebody else to buy it out from under us. Most of the houses in that neighborhood have sold for $3-4 hundred thousand since about 2005, but of course that was a really big peak for the housing market down here, and the bubble has definitely burst. Our financial advisor thinks the real estate market is going to continue to drop for the next year before it turns around, so, surely the bank that owns this house also knows that. And it has to be a perk, when you've been burned on a mortgage, to have cash buyers available. The neighbors made a point of introducing themselves while we were there, and seemed nice - they have an 11 year old girl, a 9 year old boy and a 4 year old girl.
This all seems so crazy real to us. We're buying a house. Even if this one falls through, we're buying some house or other soon. We're actually going to walk through the display kitchens at Lowe's or wherever and say, we'd like this, and that and that. It kind of gives me the tense, anvil will drop out of the sky any second feeling I had in the weeks before my wedding, and it is definitely going to be weird leaving this house after being here longer than I've ever lived anywhere else in my life...but I'm thrilled.
PLEASE PLEASE THIS HOUSE!!! I know that if we don't get it, it'll be for some reason or other, opening a door when He closes a window or whatever, and I'll try to respect that, but for right now? I'd really like this house bad.
It's caddy-corner across the street from a guy with a HUMONGOUS leechy tree, who is so sweet that he goes in and gets a ladder and sheers and bucket to get you dozens himself, if you ask if you could maybe pick a couple. I know from years gone by when I'd walk around that area when Annie and Aaron were all I had. And we'd still be in easy walking distance of bringing Aracelia baked goods or A and A having a playdate with Isabel and Sydney or seeing Diane's latest baby birds (all neighbors here on this street). It's only about 4 blocks away, but definitely 4 blocks further into the really good part of the neighborhood, and 4 blocks further FROM the bike stealing, rock-throwing unattended kids around the corner from us in the other direction. It would be a longer but doable walk to the grocery store, and 4 blocks less to walk to get to the bookstore the other way.
Now I guess I'm supposed to go to sleep? HA!
