They accepted our offer!!

Ours was actually the second offer they received, the first being from an investor with a low bid. I'm glad we moved as quickly as we did, and I wonder whether meeting the owner tipped the scales in our favor.

Clearly nothing's final, but they want to close by October 23rd. Unless we get someone eager to take over our jobs as managers here, we probably won't move until the end of November so we can take our time painting and moving stuff, deciding what to take and what to sell.

I couldn't sleep last night, so I sketched out a furniture arrangement for the living room. Of course it requires selling our current couches, so we'll see if James buys into my ideas. We could move in with what we have, though, and that's a nice feeling.

But first we have to inspect the house and actually get a loan. One step at a time, Heidi. :)

House Update 2

Long story short: we made an offer on a house. It feels a little sudden, but we and our realtor (Tim) feel good about it.

Long story long: I walked through the "cute but small and overpriced" house with Tim yesterday. (The previous contract fell through.) I promised James I'd go with a critical eye, and I did. It's small. It's old. The wallpaper is bubbling, and the bathroom is cramped and inconveniently located. I'm still in love with the dining room, but seeing the current residents' stuff crammed into every closet made me rethink the lack of storage space. Then last night we talked about our desire to stay in the ward. We have good friends here who seem like they'll be around for a while, but there is so much turnover here that it's a big risk to stay for people who very likely could leave in the next 10 years. 

After dinner we decided to drive by a house I've been looking at in Rose Park. It's been recently remodeled, but when Tim tried to make an appointment he found out that a break in the sprinkler line had flooded the basement, so the house is off the market until that gets fixed. A little further south on the same street was another house for sale, so James got out to get a flier. The man in the yard next door came over and told him that he had just put his house (this white one) on the market Thursday, and he asked us to consider it. Atticus was asleep in the car, so we didn't go inside, but I got the MLS # and called Tim. Standing on that street at dusk felt very comfortable, compared to how I felt on the other street with sketchy houses and big dogs. It could be nice to have actual neighbors.

This morning we all walked through the cute but small house so James could see it, then drove over to see this house. What a contrast! It's not huge, but it's a nice layout, and the basement is fully finished. It's listed as a 4 bedroom, but there are really only three that I'd consider bedrooms. The real clincher is the second bathroom downstairs and the price. The house we picked up a flier for has two bedrooms and 3/4 of a bath (shower, no tub) and a shelf basement for the same price. It has a newer roof and kitchen, but for our needs that doesn't compensate for the smaller house.

The back yard has three mature trees, one that looks great for climbing, and a nice-sized garden space. You can't tell very well in the photos, but the neighbors have an AMAZING garden. I wonder if they'd be willing to mentor us??

Tim was a little concerned that this was only the second house we'd looked at, but I've been watching real estate online for a couple years, so I know what houses generally cost and how much work a lower-cost house usually would need, even just cosmetically. But with this house, we wouldn't need to do anything before moving in. We'd want to repaint the pink bedroom, but that's really it. Everything else is lovely. I'd like to have a bigger dining space, but we will fit in the kitchen.

Anyway, we will know tomorrow night or Monday morning whether they accept our offer, and if all goes well we'll close by the end of October. It makes me giddy to think how low our mortgage will be compared to what we were willing to spend. And how we'll still have a good chunk of savings left over when we're done with all initial costs.

I keep reminding myself that they still have to accept our offer, and that this all may fall through pending inspection etc. I'm ok with that. There are other houses. And the next one might have a dining room. We're in no hurry, but this was too good to pass up. I'll keep you posted.