A long time coming

My heart and mind are at the new house.  I’m having a hard time focusing on anything else. 

Jon and I were willing to walk away.  There were issues that needed to be dealt with (specifically the roof) and we didn’t think the sellers were willing to negotiate any more.  But the very next day we found out that we could insure the house and roof under State Farm, as long as it was built Wind Storm Certified (which it was).  This was really good news, and we were back on track to buy this house. 

Later that day I went to get the foundation inspected.  He told me the whole house needed to be pier beamed, costing a total of $10,000!  What?  This caught us by surprised, as the foundation had been inspected recently and there were no problems.  Our OCD general inspector who spent 5 and a half hours focusing on every little detail wasn’t worried, so why was this guy saying we had damage?

We got a second opinion, and just as we suspected, the first guy lied.  OK, he didn’t lie as much as he exaggerated the truth.  We are in a 12 month drought, which causes the outside of the house to dry up and soil deep under the house stays wet, which causes movement in the house.  Our foundation is FINE, there is no movement, but the outside is dry and desperately needs to be maintained.  If it goes another 6 months without an owner taking care of it, there could be problems, but for now it’s in great condition.

So that gave us another bargaining chip.  The owners live out of state, and while they are willing to rent or sell the property, it’s been vacant for 6 months.  They need to sell that place before it really starts causing problems and costing money. 

We presented our amendment to the original contract, we raised our offer slightly but requested a brand new wind certified 25 year roof.  I didn’t think they would go for it.  They were taking a pretty good hit with our original offer.  But, to my surprise, they said YES!!!

I can’t believe it!  Not only are we getting a house in the neighborhood we want with a yard we want but a brand new roof as well! 

There are still plenty of other things that will need to be replaced soon.  The built in oven looks like it was made in 1950.  That needs to be replaced.  The air conditioner has a few years left on it.  The whole house needs little updates.  But the biggest, scariest problem, the roof, will be dealt with before we close. 

Now comes the fun part: Money.  But that’s Jon's department so I don’t have to do that much except be supportive and listen.  And I have to take care of the other fun part: Packing.  With an approximate closing date of February 17, I have to get moving.  Literally. 

I can’t tell you how excited and nervous I am.  This is a HUGE thing for us, I can’t believe we are actually buying a house.  With everything that has happened the last 5 years (including but not limited to adding 3 kids to the family) it seemed like it would take forever to get to a place where we could buy a house.  Every time we turned around there seemed to be a new expensive problem to deal with, a major set back that pushed our normal “American Dream” farther away.  And while I was content to be renter as long as it took, I’m so glad that phase is quickly coming to an end.

We haven’t made the big Facebook announcement yet.  I think we will wait a few weeks, until the Money part is all worked out.  Or mostly worked out.  I would hate to tell all 450 of my closest friends we are buying a house just to turn around and say “Just kidding, it didn’t happen!”.  That’s the worst.  But as soon as we feel more secure and sure about everything, I will post a virtual tour for you guys.  Thanks for all your help and support the past 2 weeks, it has been great to have you all to talk to about this.  I feel like I should warn you that I might go crazy in the next 31 days, but you already knew that.