I Think We Just Bought a House

I've been trying not to get excited in case anything falls through, but I think we bought a house last week! Every time I check the listing online, I see this fabulous red "Pending Sale" sign over the pictures and it makes me giddy like a little school girl.

Here's the gorgeous home we're under contract with!

Home hunting for me has been.... exhausting. Everybody told me how fun and exciting it would be, but I was just overwhelmed most of the time. Comparing options and shopping for a home with a wonderful man who has a completely different style preference than I do wasn't easy. At one point we were parked on the side of the street looking at lots to build a house on and I started crying because my anxiety was causing me panic and feel unsure about every decision we were making.

We decided to build a home because it was the only option we looked at that offered enough of what both of us wanted to make sure neither of us regretted the decision later. Unfortunately it was taking them weeks to get the process started after we paid the deposit. First they didn't know if they could build on our lot because of a gas line issue. Then they said they could build but we would have a much smaller backyard because they would have to build behind the gas line that runs through the property. While we were trying to schedule our lot-walk to see what they were planning on doing, they changed their minds AGAIN and said it looked like they couldn't build there. Luckily Stephen put a stipulation on our contract with them that said we could back out of building a home with them if there were any issues with our lot walk-through so we were able to get the deposit back and start looking at the market again.

While we were waiting on the home builders to make a decision we met with our realtor to look a few more homes and we both fell in love with this one. We decided we both really wanted to buy this home the very same day we saw it. Unfortunately we were still under contract to build our home so went home to talk about it some more while Rhondi, our realtor looked at the comparable homes in the neighborhood to help us determine our offer on the home we just saw. When we received news that they didn't think they could build on our lot it was such a relief. It felt like this home that we we had fallen in love with in the mean time was meant to be and we could go ahead and move forward, leaving the idea of building a home behind us.

This beauty has a gorgeous two story foyer when you walk in and four bedrooms. The kitchen is in dire need of some updating but it's entirely cosmetic so we probably won't do that for quite some time. We agreed that we love the green paint in the sitting area we would make the dining room- complete with a big farmhouse table that I've been lusting after. We will definitely be changing the beigey-dark yellow color in the living room though. I hate beige with a passion. Luckily, Stephen agrees to changing the color.

We both fell in love with the curb appeal from the front of the home. A gorgeous small white porch with the American flag against the brick facade- it fits us perfectly. It's got a great back yard- just big enough to fit my desire for a vegetable garden and an area for the dogs to run around. It's got enough space/rooms for me to have a craft room and a nice office space for focusing on my photography business. Stephen will also have his own man-office space. We will have one full guest bedroom along with the addition of a daybed in the craft room for more company to visit. We both have a lot of friends/family that live out of state so having space for them was essential. All of this is pending on the deal going through though!

We are so excited about this new home. We spent two days negotiating then finally accepted one of their counter offers. I love that this home was an easy decision for the both of us. No stress trying to decide if it was the right one, we both agreed we wanted it!

Right now we're trying not to show our excitement because the comparable homes in the neighborhood are listed far below the offer we accepted on this home... While we are comfortable paying the accepted amount for this home, we can only do that if the home is worth that price. So right now everything is weighing on the appraisal which should happen in the next 3 weeks. We are hoping with fingers crossed that the home appraises for the offer we accepted so we can move forward. If not, the sellers are going to have to decide if they are going to bring down the price of the home to what it's worth, otherwise we will have to walk away. So please send all your good juju our way and hope all goes well :)

What was your first home buying experience like?