We Found Our Castle....

March 2010

 

Josh and I spent a few weeks using every available internet hour to search for houses.  Houses were going in days and we were not going to be beat out.  We had now seen 11 houses and none seemed worth putting an offer in.  In desperation, we were tempted to put in an offer on a move-in ready bungalow.  But it was close to the interstate (you could hear it with the windows open) and the few improvements we would have made would not change the fact that you were still 2 blocks from a 6 lane highway. 

Then, our little house posted on a rainy Thursday in March.  We did a drive-by on Friday and told our real estate agent we wanted to take a look.  The roof was shot, the plants were over grown.  But gosh darn it, it had the cutest hobbit door. The neighborhood was not in our first round of options, mostly because it was older, respected, kid-friendly, expensive... so pretty much everything Josh and I were currently not. Overlook will win you over in seconds, with it's pretty yards, kids on bikes, and people who actually say Hi to you.  We knew that it would be a 'great investment' even if we were a couple more blocks from the 'hip' part of town.  Our agent suggested we try to see the house early Saturday before the Open House.  That way we could decide if we liked it and then see if there were a lot of offers. 

 

 

The owner took us through and that is actually the best way to see a house!  He had lived there for 40 years and he had some great stories and information.  The house was beat up, had a big 70's vibe and smelled a good deal like cat pee.  However, it was: priced well, not visibly falling down, did not have drugs in it, and appeared to have everything we wanted on our list (minus a bath tub).  That night we put in an offer and a day later we had bought a house....

Except, if you have ever bought a house you know that this is the best part.  It is literally all down hill from here.  Now you have home inspections, appraisals, bickering over repairs, general doubts, and other horrible misgivings.  But since this is now a year away, I will gloss over them and say we bought a house.  On May 5, 2010 we got the keys and the real story of our Castle began.