Exciting News

No. I'm not pregnant. Repeat, I AM NOT PREGNANT. Whew.

But...

We are buying our first home!

Zach and I knew we did not want to be in our apartment for another year. It definitely has enough space for us, but with Preston getting older, we were sick of apartment life. It sounds trivial, but I wanted to own some grass for Preston to play on. Eventually we want a dog. We want to be able to paint, and do all sorts of stuff you just can't do in an apartment. Not to mention, we are sick of the shady people that live around us.... and the chain smokers that make it impossible to open the windows or enjoy our balcony. I digress.

We started seriously looking for houses a few months ago. Zach makes fun of me, but real estate is one of my hobbies. I love looking on real estate websites and driving down random roads to see what kinds of houses are for sale. I had my eye on a particular house that I knew was way above our price range. I had been keeping an eye on it for a few months, pining away at the pictures. In the back of my mind, I knew it was silly to keep looking at the house, but a girl can dream right? It was the perfect picturesque house every girl wants when they are little--complete with a white picket fence. But alas, too much money.

In September, the price of the house dropped, but still out of our reach. Sigh.

In October the price of the house dropped again. Still out of our price range. Double sigh.

In November, we decided to look at the house anyway. We hadn't had any luck with houses thus far, and I really wanted to see inside the house in person. It was even better than the pictures online and I instantly knew we had made a mistake. We couldn't afford this house, and now I had become emotionally attached to a fantasy. The house had a deck overlooking a huge back yard for Preston, all new appliances in the kitchen, a big master suite, tons of storage, a quiet neighborhood, etc. We looked at the house about three times I think. The house had been on the market for about 6 months, so we thought maaaaayyyybeeeee the sellers would come down on their price? We still knew it was a long shot though. We decided to make an offer anyway.

Later that night, our realtor called us to say somebody beat us to it. Another family had already made an offer on the house and it looked like a done deal. If I hadn't been around family when I got the news, I probably would have burst into tears. I was crushed.

So the next week, we focused on more houses. We saw probably 10-ish, and then found one we liked second best. It was a foreclosure, good schools, good ward, nice yard, tons of storage, etc... so we made an offer. We finally heard back after several days. The bank countered our offer, so we were trying to decide what to do. In the midst of this, our realtor called and said that the deal on our dream house had fallen through and it was still available. AND THEY HAD DROPPED THE PRICE AGAIN. This time if fell in our budget. We frantically got everything together and made an offer on it that day. We heard back the next day that our offer had been accepted. Done, son! We got all the final paperwork together and are planning to close on the house before the end of the year.

So, to recap. In the last year and a half, I have fallen in love, gotten married, had a baby, and am now buying a house. I feel like I have run a marathon. Actually, I wouldn't be able to make it through a marathon, but I can't think of another good analogy. Anyway, if all goes according to plans, we will close December 30th. We don't have to be our of our apartment until February so we will be able to gradually move some stuff over and take our time. This time I will actually have to help move because I am not pregnant. Dang it.

We are so excited!!