merry christmas! 2 days ago, we went hiking, ate lunch and dinner at nathan and andrea’s, played board games and ps3 sports games, visited anson’s uncles and aunts, etc…a very productive christmas! so, what else has been going on? well, we bought a house =) whaaa? how? when? where? how does it look? slow down! i’ll answer your questions one by one…
so, we’ve actually tried to put an offer on two other houses:
february: can’t remember much except that it had a nice entertainment room, think it had updated bathrooms and stood out…listing price was $599k, we bid $691k, it sold at $699k
june: on the busy benton street, nice open floor plan with an island kitchen, nice sized rooms with dual sinks in the master bath, but needed some repairs in the shower since it had water damage. listing price was $632k, we bid $713k, it sold at $751k
these two times kinda made us feel discouraged, so we stopped looking, but then, amy and eric, and daniel and kelly were able to buy a house in november, so it made us curious to look again. there were so many open houses in our price range that weekend. we went to five different open houses on saturday (dec 7). i had a really good impression of the seller agent and this house was actually my favorite even though some of the other houses might have been nicer. we went back the next day after church and asked for help to get a buyer agent. monday, we talked with susanna over the phone, wednesday, we drew up the offer, and thursday, susanna presented the offer…and it was accepted! yesterday, our loan had final approval, we will go to the bank this weekend to get money for down payment and sign docs later that week. close of escrow will be wednesday, 1/8/14.
the house was listed at $683.5k. we bid $755k. there were all together 14 offers and we were the second highest. the highest was $762k, but had a 7 day contigency. being that we’ve had experience trying to bid in the bay area, we knew that we had to do no contingencies. our offer was strong with a larger deposit, downpayment, excellent credit scores, and a personal touch including a letter to the seller and pictures of us as a family. it is a 3 bedroom 2 bath house with a living room and family room, dual pane windows, granite kitchen countertops, dishwasher (yay!), fresh inside and out paint, copper piping, etc. the seller had done $20k in repairs before selling, and documented all the work prior (over $50k!). the seller is disabled, so the house has some ramps which will be very useful if my parents need it someday…and also useful once we get older too!
i’m thankful that i worked at maxreal for a year. even though it was hard during that time, i know i learned a lot and it helped me know what to expect with getting our loan for the house. i expected the questions on the large deposits, rent verification, and gift letters my parents needed to sign. I really had a peace about this transaction that I didn’t have with the others. we prayed that this house would be used to minister to others and for God to use this place to further his kingdom. God has a plan in everything. Maxreal was in His plan, and His plan is good. the last year was a blessing in disguise…and now…time to go shopppping!!!