We started working with our real estate agent, Cole, about a week ago. He started sending us listings right away, so we could pick houses we wanted to take a look at. We found a few that seemed viable, and had Cole set up appointments to tour. This conversation went back-and-forth over several days, and included one of the houses being contracted before we even got to see it.
On Tuesday, I was looking at houses on Zillow. (Really useful site, by the way.) Now, James and I had discussed our price range for our house, and settled on how much we wanted to spend, and how much was our absolute maximum. So, I was looking for house in our range, when I stumbled across a house that I really liked the look of. It met all of our house-hunting criteria (see below), and I loved all the pictures. But it was outside of the want-to-spend range (though still below the absolute-max) so I did nothing with it that day.
Cole had sent us a few more listings, which all seemed okay, but nothing that really said, "Pick me! I'm the one!" On Wednesday, I was on Zillow again looking to see if there was anything new, when again I found this one house. I loved it all over again, and I felt really strongly like we should look at it. So I emailed it to James while he was at school. I acknowledged that it was higher than we had discussed, but told him that I really liked it. He wrote back and said we should definitely take a look. So I sent it to Cole, and he set up an appointment for us the next day.
As we were house-hunting, we had a few hard-and-fast criteria that we were looking for:
-At least 3, no more than 4 bedrooms.
-At least 2 bathrooms.
-Located somewhere between the studio and BYU.
-Price.
In addition, there were a few more ephemeral things we hoped to find:
-A private, fenced yard that was well-cared for, and easy to care for. (James wants to only have to mow the lawn. I think I can care for a few flowers/plants, but any more than that, and I will probably kill them.)
-A separate master bathroom (didn't get this one)
-No wood paneling (that nasty stuff from what, the 70's? I know it's simple enough to remove, but I despite the stuff.)
-No weird colors, inside or outside. (Yellow house? No thank you!)
-Nice neighborhood
-In Orem (we were willing to look at Provo and maybe other places, but I always preferred Orem)
-Not a lot of fixing-up needed. We wanted something ready to live in.
So, Thursday. The other houses that we looked at fell into this last category: lots of fixing-up needed. Actually, one house that we looked at (which was in Provo...) was a pretty nice house, with an updated kitchen and a spacious yard, but I felt overwhelmed by how much work it would need to really be livable. Another house we looked at was in a really cute neighborhood in Orem, but the inside had just been trashed. So sad.
When we arrived at the house I'd found on Zillow, I immediately felt at home. While Cole retrieved the keys, James and I explored the yard--and I fell in love. The property has been well-cared for, and it was the perfect balance: a decent size, with a few trees and flowers, but nothing major that needs to be tended. James told me I wasn't allowed to fall in love until we'd been inside! But that wasn't a problem--we loved the inside too. Though there were a few funny little things, they were little, and easily remedied. The house was clean, spacious, obviously well-cared for, and exactly what we wanted. It was like going check-check-check down our list (except the master bath...alas).
Cole advised us that houses like this were not lasting long on the market, and he expected that it would not last another day. He looked it up, and found that there had already been two other offers. That made me a little anxious, because I felt so strongly, even then, that this was home.
We went to look at another house (blech), and then stopped at my mother's house to use her printer. Cole was hoping to find more properties for us to look at. While he worked on the computer, James and I stepped into the other room to speak privately.
We loved the house. We felt like it was right for us, and if that was the case, we didn't want to miss our opportunity by waiting. So we knelt and prayed, then and there. The confirmation was very clear to us both. We stepped back into the office and announced that we wanted to make an offer on the house.
Cole went through all the paperwork with us (my poor mother, with her computer taken over!) and we submitted our offer that afternoon. Then James and I headed to the studio, and the waiting game began.
Have I ever mentioned how much I despise waiting?
We finally heard back on Friday night--a counter-offer. We had offered the listing price, but asked the seller to pay all the closing costs. Their counter-offer was that they would pay half the closing costs. We agreed, and signed that night.
James and I were absolutely jubilant. We kept looking over at each other, and one of us would say, "House!" and we both would grin. So silly, so excited.
Of course, now the games have truly begun. We have so much paperwork to get done, for our mortgage, getting the appraisals and inspections and everything done. We are set to close on July 18th--we needed that time, with everything we have going on in the next few weeks! This weekend we compete at the Utah Summer Games in Cedar City, next week is testing at the studio, then we're off to Chicago for a week and a half for Nationals, and as soon as we get back, we have Leadership Conference. Crazy busy time--and buying a house on top of it all! But we are incredibly excited, and most importantly, we know that it is the right house and the right time. What a blessing!!!
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