Tough week

Ok, it's been a tough week.  We never did put the bid in on the house.  My husband's work has to cut staff.  Until things are more firm in the area of which direction we are going, we are waiting on buying a house.  I have started looking at apartments.  Went to visit two.  Man is it going to be tough going from a 3 bedroom townhouse with a den, garage and an attic to a two bedroom apartment.  We are also looking at houses to rent. 

We are trying again

I haven't written in a couple of days because we are trying to firm up some information on a house that we saw last week.  We like it.  It is affordable.  It is in a good school district.  I don't want to give away to much until our offer is accepted.  But if it is, we need to have a major garage sale.  Anyone want a chest freezer?

Going to see a house this coming weekend

After taking some time off to celebrate the wedding of my wonderful Sis-in-Law, we are diving back into house hunting.  Each night I receive an e-mail from my realtor that lists the new houses.  Last night this cute little one showed up.  It looked familiar.  This was the first house we saw with Gary, our current realtor.  It was listed back then for $80,000 more than now.  WOW!  So we I called Gary today and he is going to set up the appointment for us to see it on Saturday.  I can't wait. 

On another little bit, about a year ago, there was an ad in the newspaper for couples who are house hunting to be on House Hunters.  I submitted all the required stuff.  We were picked but for one point.  We needed to have a contract on a house.  I wonder if they are still looking for house hunters?

Time off from house searching for a wedding!

Yesterday, my Great Lil-Sis-in-Law got married to a wonderful man.  Friday, the day before, we had the rehearsal.  My oldest daughter was the flower girl.  She had a blast!  She had to hang out with her Aunt the entire time!  It was too cute!  The day of the wedding she was an angel!  She did a superb job as the flower girl.  My sis-in-law was the most beautiful bride that I ever saw!  WOW!  The wedding was fantastic! 

I am keeping this blog short today because I am tired.  My daughter decided she didn't want to sleep last night.  I will be digging back in to house searching tomorrow.

Counter offer is declined

Our realtor just called.  The seller isn't willing or able to budge from the counter offer they offered us.  This really stinks. 

For the last few days my husband hasn't slept and I haven't been able to relax.  I am so tired of looking for a house.  I just say let's rent something until we can afford more.  In 3 years we will no longer have day care expenses, both cars will be paid off and our debt loan will be close to being paid off. 

What to do?

Our history of searching for a house

My husband and I have been looking for a house now for 2 1/2 years. Needless to say, we are tired of looking. What is nice is, where we currently are living, our landlords are wonderful. I am not obligated to say that, though they are my in-laws. They have let us live here for almost 7 years for next to nothing. They would like to enjoy their retirement years now and would like to sell this house to finance it. They sure do deserve it.

My husband and I started looking with our first agent 2 1/2 years ago. That only last 6 months. She kept trying to show us homes WAY out of our market. We switched to our current agent 2 years ago. He is the best! He sold our landlords the house we are renting. He is patient and understanding. He understands are financial situation. We talk almost everyday. I feel like I should invite him over for Thanksgiving dinner.

I should mention that we also have two wonderful little daughters! They usually go with us when we look at houses. They love running around the empty rooms! We originally wanted to go with 3 bedrooms so that they could each have their own. Well, we have realized that is not really in our budget. They don't seem to disappointed to have to share a room. Time will tell if that changes.

During the past two years with Gary, our agent, we have put in a number of bids. Usually we are low balling. We are not doing this to be jerks but it is what we can afford. Gary has been wonderful and willing to submit the bids for us. Of course, every bid we put in has been flatly refused.

Just recently, last week actually, we saw two houses. Both are cute and in the same town my husband grew up in. Now, I will say, I am not from this area. I am from the midwest. Homes out here on the East Coast are a LITTLE more expensive! I just don't get it. But hey, who am I to complain. Both of the homes we saw are affordable. Both have isssues. The first one is on a major road. It also has almost an acre of land that used to be a contractors lot that needs to be cleaned up before we could get an FHA loan. The second home, is cute, small, but cute. 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, kitchen (eat-in), living room and a dirt floor basement. I am not a fan of dirt floor basements. But it is what we can afford, so I go with it. There is a full attic. This would be great for storage. A large backyard, rounds out the property. We decide after some discussion, to put in the bid.

I will admit, the bid wasn't as high as the asking price. My agent even gave me a slightly hard time about that. Then he called me back after we discussed it. LOL, seems the house was recently listed for close to that price. There was a new agent who when they relisted the house increased the price by $10,000. The house needs work to get an FHA loan. So we submitted the bid asking for closing assistance and for them to take care of repairs for the FHA. So we go and fill out paperwork for over an hour at our agent's office. For the last few days I have beenliving with an elephant sitting on my chest, the stress. Heard today from our agent that the seller's have countered for $10,000 more than our bid. So we talk and we counter that. Now we are waiting again.

Everyday it is an adventure in looking for a house.