house

A little more than a month ago, we were heading to the store and there happened to be an open house about a block from here. We stopped just out of curiosity. We'd been to open houses before but since none of the houses really interested us, we didn't do anything about it. This time, though, we really liked the house. The realtor lady that was showing the house asked us if we were pre-qualified and told us what we'd have to do to start the house buying process. So, it started. The first thing we did was get qualified which was what I was excited about in the last post. After that we knew what our price range was and figured out what we wanted our payments to be. We decided that we wanted a house on this side of town, the number of rooms we wanted and all the things that we wanted to be looking for. That's what's been keeping me away from blog world for so long. Our realtor lady worked really hard for us and we did a lot of looking on our own. We've been to look at houses practically every day since. Oh, and we ended up not going anywhere on Memorial day weekend since we had several appointments. That same weekend we went to see the only house we liked on the other side of town and immediately fell in love with it. Houses on the east side of El Paso are priced a whole lot less than on the west side which is where we live. We were sooooo surprised. We thought long about the drive, about Brianna changing schools again, about moving and when we decided to finally bid on that house, someone else already had. I was really disappointed because it was the only house that I'd really loved. After that we went through a blur of houses. I'm so glad I took notes because I can't even remember which is which anymore. Rodrigo and I spent countless hours going through real estate sites, newspapers, driving around taking down phone numbers, setting up appointments with people that weren't working with realtors, calling millions of people, researching every property we saw, making spreadsheets, ugh, you name it. After a while I was willing to just give up and stay here longer. We saw another house on the eastside which was definately pretty but much smaller than what we wanted. The price was good, the house was cute, we would have to drive a lot more and change schools but we thought it was a good deal. We told the owner that we were interested and were taking my mom to show her the house (because I want her approval). That night we were at the grocery store and our realtor lady called. She told us that one of the houses that we'd first asked about was available again. The contract fell through for the buyer. We had been interested in this house but never even saw it because a contract was already pending. She asked if we could go over and we rushed over. It was after 9:00 pm when we got there and there was no light. We went around the house with our cell phones lighting the way and left the doors open trying to let some light in. Even though we saw it in the dark, we knew we loved it! It was exactly what we wanted. We'd finally found a house with the amount of space we wanted, on the side of town we wanted, and for the price we wanted. We went back to the realtor's office and wrote up a contract. This was at about 11 at night. It seemed that for any other house we'd be settling for something. I mean, the price would be good but it was too far. Or it was a little more than we wanted to pay, but it was in this area. Or it was a little too small or it needed a little too much work. I'm so glad we didn't go with a house that we only had lukewarm feelings about. It was funny because that afternoon I'd told my co-workers that I was burned out and we weren't going to see any houses that night. One of them said that one day we'd see one and just know that would be the one. Well, it happened. We went back yesterday morning and took a real look at it with daylight this time. :) You can take a look at some of the pictures here. Yesterday someone else placed an offer but it seems that ours is still better. So, they're supposed to let us know today who gets it and the rest is just paperwork and time. Anyway, so wish me luck and I'll keep you posted on the news.

feeling: nervous
listening to: Coldplay (Speed of Sound)
what I should be doing instead of blogging: ironing clothes