Third time is the charm

The first offer we made on a new to us house was an offer that was contingent on us selling our condo and the offer had a 24 hour bump clause which said that if someone made a cash offer or an offer that was not contingent on them selling their house then we had 24 hours to match that offer or we'd lose the house. Wouldn't you know it, we lost that house because someone made an offer that was not contingent on them selling their place so we lost the first place we made an offer on about a month and a half ago.

The second place we made an offer on was the place with the nice hardwood floors and the French doors. I posted a bunch of pictures of it after we made the offer. We both really liked the house and the neighborhood but we had issues with the small galley style kitchen. So we planned to move the kitchen into another room and knock out a wall and make the living/dining room a lot bigger, but all that was predicated on whether the house would pass inspection or not. It turns out it didn't pass inspection. The house had some big cracks in the foundation and some other major problems that I won't go into, so we didn't buy the house.

We got that bad news over a week ago and since we have sold our condo and we are due to close on it the 30th of this month we had to get our asses in gear and find something or face the choice of putting most of our stuff into storage and renting a place while we looked further.

Thankfully our realtor kept plugging away and showing us house after house and finally she showed us one that Sparky had seen but had thought would be too expensive for us. It turns out that this house, which is in a great neighborhood which will always stay residential, had had it's price reduced. So we went and looked at it. We both loved it. It's got plenty of room for us, it's in a good section of town, and it was built in a time when craftsmanship meant something and when houses were built to last.

So we bit the bullet and made an offer. Then the owner countered our offer. We then countered her counter and she accepted. Of course we were happy but once again the offer was predicated on the house passing inspection. So we called the same guy who inspected the other house for us, we liked his honesty, and he set yesterday as the day for his inspection.

We waited all day long for him to finish. We were tense and jittery all day as we waited to hear from him. If it didn't pass then I'm sure my head would have exploded and Sparky's might have as well. But finally he called us, we met, and the long and short of it is that the house passed. There is nothing wrong with the roof, the foundation, or the heat pump. There a a few minor repairs we need to make but there is nothing earth shatteringly wrong with the house. So after tying up all of our summer with the selling of our condo and the buying of a house, it looks like we've found a new to us house. Yay!

Next up is closing on selling our condo and then closing on buying the new house and then we can move in and make it ours. Both of us feel a huge sense of relief, especially Sparky, and we're looking forward to moving in to our new place. Thank you to those of you who wished us well and for your words of encouragement when the last house didn't work out.

Oh yeah, D Cup, before you ask, there's plenty of room for the Spawn, and for you and Mathman as well, if you want to leave them at home and come up for a visit after we get settled in.

Spend a little, save a lot

Without going too much into it, the house we made an offer on did not pass inspection. It turns out that the money we spent on getting it inspected may well be the best investment we ever made.

Be very very quiet, we're hunting houses

The search for a new abode goes on. We've been perusing some of the homes for sale in the neighborhoods on our list and we've seen some good places, some bad places, and some places where the previous owners should be beaten for having such wildly horrible taste. But this time around, unlike when we first got our current condo, we're not rushed and every month we stay here our equity goes up, so basically we can take our time and look around until we find a place we like, like this place:Awww, who am I kidding? We could win a $300 million Powerball Jackpot and that still wouldn't be enough to buy Biltmore House. It might however get us a few thousand of those cute little nearly naked cherubs. Nothing classes up a joint like nearly naked cherubs, well that and maybe a statue of blind justice with her tits covered up, at least that what John Ashcroft says anyway.

Until we win the Powerball or Mega Millions jackpot, or both while I'm dreaming, we'll keep looking at houses in our price range. We'll keep looking at fixer uppers:
At cottage-esque bungalows:
And maybe, just maybe, if we keep our fingers crossed and if we're living right, we might find a nice three bedroom two bath home that doesn't need a shitload of work right away and has a level backyard so I can put in a garden. And maybe it'll be on a tree lined street close to Sparky's work so she can come home for lunch during the week. Maybe we'll find a house like that and maybe it will look like this:
While we're looking for a house like that one we're in the process of fixing up our condo so it will sell quickly and get us the figure we want for it. We're getting new carpet in two thirds of our place and we're replacing the counter tops and the faucet in the kitchen. We've also hired a guy to repaint the whole place, from the ceilings on down to the baseboards, and do some minor repairs to some other stuff around here. He starts next Tuesday or Wednesday, so there may be days when I don't post as much, especially on the days when he repaints the room where I keep my computer.

We're both excited about finding a bigger place and having a house instead of a condo but like I said before, we're in no hurry and we can take our time. And if we don't find anything that we both like, and more importantly, can afford, then we can just stay here in our current place and with all the repairs and the new paint job, kitchen counter tops, and carpet, it'll seem like a new place to us.