So JR and I met with our realtor yesterday. First, I was excited that we were meeting at Starbucks. The coffee is expensive, so I rarely go - but I always think of it as a lovely treat. Second, our realtor was about 10 minutes late, and I started to get upset because I just thought that it set the tone, but JR explained that he was late because he stopped to talk with someone after his morning radio show. Then I was kind of impressed because I have heard his radio show before, he does a morning real estate show and is the #1 realtor in The Austin/South Austin area. After speaking with him, I felt completely confident in the home buying experience. I pretty much felt that, whatever JR and I didn't understand, he would explain and he is watching our backs so we dont get screwed over. Third, I was even more shocked to find out that after meeting, we were actually going to look at the three houses we had said were our top 3.
House #1 - TERRIBLE. I think JR picked the house because of the backyard. It had and okay deck, and the yard was huge, but it also has a built in outdoor fireplace. The inside on the otherhand needed MAJOR improvements, and the layout was just strange to me.
House #2 - Was the house that I posted before - It was our favorite. As of now the house is listed as pending, so he let us know that before going in. The house was pretty accurate with the pictures, however the carpeting upstairs was going to need to be replaced, and the kids rooms and guest room were going to be pretty small. The downstairs was awesome - but the upstairs was just okay...but I was definitely willing to go for it.
House #3 - The upstairs was good. Again the bedrooms were a little on the smaller side, but doable. The downstairs was just a mess. The layout was poorly executed - the half bath had CARPET in it, the dining room had carpet - which I know a lot of people with carpet in their dining room...but I guess having kids makes me NOT want it...and even without kids, I just find it strange to have carpet where you eat....not as strange as having carpet where you pee, but still. Our dining area now is carpeted, and I HATE IT! and I really dont want anything like that again.
From there, we went back to our old neighborhood where our Realtor talked with the neighboorhood sales office lady. We looked at their model home and fell in LOVE. So we have decided that we are going to build our own house. Everything will be brand new, and we get to pick what goes where and which design we want. She drove us over to the lot we wanted...we even got to pick that - due to how the sun rises and falls and what we like better - I seriously never thought about that before! LOL The lot is only a short distance from the park and pool. We only had to pay $1000 in earnest money to secure the lot and we will be signing paperwork tonight and from there they will apply for the building permits, and we will make an appointment with the studio to go pick out all the things we want...flooring type, appliances, doors...etc. I am so very excited. The house will be finished at the end of January or early February which is perfect timing for us. We are wanting to close in Feb. so that our first payment wont be due until April...that way we have the money we would have used on rent for March to use for some knick knacks and moving expenses! I feel like I'm living in a dream world right now! Who would have thunk it? Now I am just hoping JR and I can keep our upgrades to a minimum as far as cost goes, and hopefully, get everything we want for less than what we were approved for. I mean just because we were approved for it doesn't mean we need to use it! LOL
So our house will be 4 bedrooms, with a game room upstairs, we are still trying to decide whether to do 3 bathrooms or 2.5...its a $3,500 difference, and while it would be nice to have 3 full baths, I would rather use the $3,500 on floors or granite counter tops...so we are still working on that. The house will be almost 2240 sq. feet, and well, I don't even know how else to explain it...it's kind of a you have to see it. But, I can promise that I will be taking plenty of pictures through the building stage and the final product...and Logan's birthday is in March, so hopefully all our friends and family will be able to make it. I would love to have a house warming party before that when we first get in it...but too many of our loved ones live so far away and I think it would difficult for most people to travel all the way here twice in (basically) one month. So maybe we can just do a house warming/birthday party for Logan!
Sorry to tell you guys, but basically for the next 4 months this will be the majority of what I write about, so you will probably be thoroughly bored with me. I apologize in advance. I am just so excited!
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