House Palooza

The end of 2011/start of 2012 has been a little crazy for us.  In addition to all of the regular holiday bustle, midwife appointments and Christmas parties, Ian and I have been searching for a new home.  We've been meeting with a mortgage adviser and real estate agent (who are AMAZING, btw!! If you need either one, I would highly highly recommend them... there's no way we could have done any of this without Lyndsay or Rosa!) for the last several months.  Our lease is up at the end of February, but even more importantly, we really don't want to push the move-in date too close to the baby's due date.  So, we've been actively looking at houses every week, and all last weekend.  Whew!

It has been quite an adventure, really.  After reviewing many houses online, and then going to see about 8, we decided to put an offer on one that we really liked!!  It was a killer deal in a great neighborhood (if you know the area, it was north of Mill Creek, near Pioneer Trails).  We saw the house a second time to confirm, and were discussing price on the way home, when we got a call from Lyndsay...

"I'm so sorry to bring you sad news, but the sellers just got an offer, and they are accepting it!  They don't even want any other offers, which is a bummer, since I know how much you liked the house."

Aww.  Well, we had been praying that if God had something else in store, that he would just close the door.  Maybe this was God saying, "Nope, not yet!"

The next morning we got another call from Lyndsay.

"The owners are very sorry for dismissing you so quickly!  The other offer ended up falling through because of financials.  They promise not to look at any other offers until you submit yours."

Wow!  Maybe it was an open door after all!  We crunched some numbers and put in a strong, fair offer as quickly as we could.  Now, the waiting game.

After a day of waiting... the bad news.  They did wait to see our offer, and were pleased with it.  But, just a little while later, they got another offer... almost identical... but with CASH.  Considering that the other sale had fallen through because of financials, they took the sure thing.  Slam!  Door closed.

Bummer!  But, I don't really blame them.  You can't compete with cash.  It was amazing, however, that they got 3 offers in about 2 to 3 days... after the house had been on the market for 2 months!  In this economy, that's a Christmas miracle for the sellers!

So, feeling a bit disappointed, we talked with our agent, Lyndsay, and decided to jump right back into the search.  After we reviewed some houses she sent us online along with our own supplemental search, we headed out that evening to see what else was available.  Sometimes that's the best way to move on.

And lo!  We found this awesome foreclosure that was in need of some TLC, but just right for us.  Even better than the previous house, with a bigger yard, walk in pantry and quieter neighborhood (Seattle Hill, near Larimers Corner).  We checked it out again the next morning so we could see it in the daylight.  (Yes, at this point we had been dealing with house stuff for 4 days straight. Whew!)  After doing some checks (ie: the bank has no other offers and is desperate to get rid of it!) we put in an offer.

And that was 2 days ago.  Oh, the anticipation!