And so it begins....

Today we had the inspection on our house and it passed with flying colors! This is exciting because we don't have to spend money fixing things or decrease the price in our house. After asking for our microwave that was not on display, the buyer had the nerve to also ask for the mario bros wall decals I had purchased for my husband. Uh, no, they are freaking awesome and I paid 60 bucks for them. Here is the website you can purchase them from if you really like them that much.
We also went to look at 3 more houses today. The last one we saw we fell in love with. 1600 square feet, 3 huge bedrooms with lots of closet space, 1.5 baths, huge living room with built in half wall to display pictures, candles, etc. gorgeous dining room, huge kitchen, great fenced in yard. The thing that we were concerned with was the area. It is 6 blocks down from the contender we looked at yesterday. The house has been on the market for over a year, and there have been a lot of listings in that neighborhood. As gorgeous and perfect the house is, we needed to stick with our guns and put an offer in on a house that is in the right neighborhood. After discussing everything with the realtor, we chose to make an offer on a house that is in a desired neighborhood. It's 300 square feet smaller but that does not include the fully finished basement which has awesome plush carpet which I can assure you the dog is definately not allowed downstairs. There are plenty of modernizing updated that can be done, but it is pretty much move in ready.
The house has only been on the market for 11 days, it is in a desirable location, which makes it difficult to give a lowball offer. We also are looking for 6% concessions from the sellers to help with our closing cost. So we made an offer of list price with 6% concessions with appliances included, and we will take it from there. We are willing to go a little over list price to get 6% concessions if need be, but we can't go much higher.
The other house that we looked at today is second on our list and will be our fallback. It's not occupied, it's been on the market for a long period of time, so we could definately get the seller down in price and are more likely to get 6% concessions. Here's to hoping we hear an answer soon!

The Hunt Begins

Today is the day that we begin looking at prospects for our next house. I am excited, and a little scared at the same time. This is going to be the house that we are going to spend at least the next ten years in, raise our children in. We are going to invest a lot of time and money into this house hoping to turn out some sort of investment by the time we sell it. We really need to focus in on location, school, neighbors, and look at trends. There are some really nice affordable houses on this one street, but many of them have started going on the market..why is this? This somewhat scares me, and if we are really interested in one of these houses, I would want to do some research into why this is occuring....
I am not sure what my husband will be thinking, but here is what I will be looking for:
-Ceilings and walls have no cracks with water damage.
-Windows are sealed and there is little to no draft.
-2 bathrooms are a must. If there is 1 bathroom, I would like to be able to add another one to it. This   will increase the resale value of the house.
-Fireplace or preferably a wood stove insert to save on heating bills in the winter.
-3 Bedrooms.
-Fully fenced yard.
-character is a must...i'm tired of looking at housing tracks...how boring!

I know Joshua will be looking for a bonus room to transform into a lounge room where he can install a bar...other then that, wish us luck! I will be blogging details of each house we see and pondering what kind of potential they have.

Sale Pending

Sunday was full of much anticipation, anxiety, and exhaustion. We were lucky enough to have a friends house to bring the kids to. We had good food, beer, and got to hang out with their adorable baby which helped alleviate some of that anxiety. We went home to find a note that there were 15 groups through, 4 of which had already been through the house, and 2 that loved the house. We got a much awaited for phone call from the realtor saying that we had an offer. Only 3 grand under our asking price, no concessions. It was something we were definately not expecting and couldn't say no! So our house is sale pending inspection, and I really hope everything goes ok. The inspection is on Saturday morning, of course I have to work again, so it will be up to the hubby to make sure the kids are taken care of again.Then when I get home, we get to go start looking for our new home! This is the exciting part!
We have compiled a list of homes in the area that we want. Some of them are move in ready, some of them our fixer uppers. Some houses have only one bathroom, which isn't ideal for me, others have 2. The ones that only have one bathroom, I really want to see the area of the house we have to work with because we may be able to install a second bathroom. I really don't want a complete fixer upper, but we saw this house as move in ready, and let me tell you that after we moved in, we found a lot of things that needed to be done and not just aesthetically. So I guess I really have to wait and see until I see the houses.

City Living Sunday

Today is the big day where we are wishing, hoping, and praying that someone will want to buy our house. I had to work yesterday, so it was my husbands responsibility to make some last minute cleanups and to pack the kids in the car. And by kids, I mean our three rats, green cheeked conure, and pitbull who is known as Indiana PuppyDogO'Brien.

We had two showings, one at 9am and one at 1pm, two groups of people who our realtor said were "very excited about getting in to see the house before Rochester City Living, " and was pretty sure our "house was going to pop this weekend." After an afternoon of stressing out, we have heard nothing about what these people thought or any bids. I am extremely dissapointed and I feel like they probably should have just waited until today to come see it instead of inconveniancing us and wasting our time. But life goes on, and we are hoping that we have at least one offer today. I gotta say, I'm not too hopeful.

When being in this position of selling a house and waiting to buy a new one, it is ok to start looking to get an idea of what you want, but I implore you not to have your mind set on just one house. Chances are, the house may not be available when you actually want to put in an offer. My husband gets his mind set on a certain property, thinks of all of these great ideas to improve it, and then is heartbroken when he sees sale pending on the website.

Open houses are a great way to start looking. You don't have to take time off of work, and you can actually talk to the realtor that is selling the house and get a feel for the area including the neighbors, the school district, the traffic, etc. I have found that inexperienced realtors are not very helpful. I have asked these questions and they have just sort of gave me a puzzled look like I have snakes bursting out of my skull. But these are all very important questions to ask. You are making an investment in a home for a number of years, and if you don't get along with your neighbors, it puts you in a very awkward situation.

If you know months ahead of time that you are going to be moving to, start surfing mls listings. A tip is to first choose an area you want to live in and then go from there. Don't just look everywhere for a particular house that you want. Your dream house does not exist to be move in ready unless you are willing to dish out wads of cash. Keep track of homes that you are interested in and  see if they go down in price. Also, find out from your realtor how many days that house has been on the market. If it is something that has been up for quite a long time, the seller may be more motivated to come down in price to move it.

Just remember to work in your budget. Kitchens and bathrooms can always be upgraded, rooms can always be painted. DIY projects are cost effective, fun, and a great way for you to spend time and have a hobby with your significant other. Plus you can brag to everyone that you did all of the work yourself, and you should because it's hard work!

Drylock

So today on my day off, I worked on drylocking the mechanical side of our basement. As time consuming as it is, It makes the room look a little more welcoming and regardless of the negative reviews I have heard of using it on concrete block, it really has done wonders in preventing moisture from seeping through. We do have a dehumidifier set up that runs water to the sump pump, which also helps. With spring coming, I'm sure it will start working overtime.
For our current purposes of trying to make the house more aesthetically pleasing for buyers, we chose to use just plain old white drylock, but there are many colors that you can get to brighten up that scary dark dungeon.

Take this for example:

 

The colors are warm and inviting and I actually love that they installed the shelving units for storage over the front loading washer and dryer, making everything you need easily accessible.

 

 

I really like two toned areas, and I never thought that you can turn that area into a little crafting corner or even a nicer looking workshop for those days that you can't saw anything outside because it is raining.

 

 

Have little ones running around the house and don't have a large house like we do? You can convert the area into a cute little playroom and use stencils to present a playful atmosphere.

 

If you go to: http://www.drylok.com/room-ideas/, they will show you the products they offer, project ideas, and step by step instructions on how you can start turning that dungeon into a space that you can start utilizing without running for your life after throwing the laundry into that washer.

 

Tuesday March 19, 2013

After spending the better half of Saturday doing chores and tidying up the house, we recieved a phone call from the realtor saying that another person wanted to see the house. Only problem was that it was St. Patty's day and the showings were three hours apart. Everytime we show the house, we have to pack our dog, bird, and pet rats in a car and drive around for about an hour until we can go home. Not only that, but by time the second showing is over, there is no time to make cornbeef and cabbage, and no time to relax. My weekend was pretty much shot.
We haven't heard back from the first showing, but the guy from the second showing really liked our house. If all of these people are really liking our house and are not giving any negative feedback, what can we do to expediate the sale of our house? As per our realtor, nothing. They all say that the price is too high. Ok, well, if you really like the house, you make a lower offer. I feel like either these people don't know how to play the game or they are trying to just make us drop the price. Our house has been on the market for two weeks, not going to happen anytime soon.
This Sunday is Rochester's city living Sunday on the east side, which makes it a pretty big day for us and possibly the best chance we have of selling this house. Got a call from the realtor this morning saying there is someone that wants to come see the house on Saturday morning to see the house before Sunday and sound very excited about it. I would like to have a positive mindset, but I don't really want to get my hopes up. How cool would it be if we had a bidding war on this house? Pretty darn cool. So I am crossing my fingers that we will get an offer this weekend =)
In other news, I am thinking about spring and gardening, thanks to the Lowe's home and garden magazine that I recieve.

How cute are the these little planter boxes with trellises attached to the back?! You can plant something that winds up the trellis. They would make a decorative addition to any front porch, back porch, patio, or garden.

I love the idea of this Trellis surrounded by all of the bright vegetation. I travelled to Paris with my Aunt last fall and it kind of reminds me of the eifel tower. Add a bird bath and some plants that attract butterflies, and you have created yourself one peaceful little oasis.

 

There is this one house that my husband and I have our eyes on, and the one bedroom off the back of the house has windows surrounding the entire room and let in a lot of light. This screen would look wonderful in a corner. The only thing I might add to it are some decorative candles coming out of it. A small cafe table with some chairs, and a rug would make it a cute room to hang out in on a Saturday morning while having a cup of coffee with the man. Well, at least on Saturdays where I don't have to work!

 

 

 

Saturday March 16, 2013-

Upon much contemplation, I have decided to start my very first blog as an outlet for any creativity that I have left, especially since I don't have much outside of my job and working on our money pit of a house with my husband.
We purchased our first home in 2008, and let me tell you, it was quite the fixer upper. When we looked at it, we felt that it would be move in ready..little did we know, that the people who bought this house tried to flip it and failed greatly at many things. It seemed perfect! It was in what we thought was a great neighborhood, partially fenced in, 4 bedrooms, one bath, great starter home. Almost 5 years later, many thousands of  dollars and hours spent on updates, we are ready to sell our house and start anew. Our house has been on the market for two weeks this monday, and we have had one open house so far and two showings this week. We have two showings scheduled for tomorrow, 4 hours apart from one another. Not that I would have a problem with it, but we have some pets, and it always involves me packing them into the car, and driving around. Not only that, but it is St.Pattys day, we had plans, and now we can't really do what we wanted to do. I know that I shouldn't be complaining, and when you put your house on the market, you are making comprimises. It's kind of like a marriage. A really bad one at that.
My goal of this blog is to kind of take everyone through the process of buying/selling a house, and then as my husband and I start anew in a house, any projects that need to be tackled, materials used and how we do them, etc. I really hope that we are able to get a few bites soon, because i looooove to garden and I can not wait to get my hands dirty. So sit tight and enjoy the ride!