jon spent monday and tuesday [somewhat frantically] house hunting with our realtor. we went in with a list... that quickly diminished. it's amazing how different a home can look in person than in pictures. and the way in which so many houses are kept! if this is how they look when they're on the market, i can't imagine what they look like when they aren't on it.
it's been a little bit of a roller coaster. monday was jon's day to say "WHAT are we DOING?!?" and yesterday was mine :)
highlights of house hunting INCLUDE: a home that was perfect. beautiful, updated, everything on our list we were wanting + more. backed up to shawnee mission park. just lovely!
...and then jon and becky [our fabulous realtor] walked down to the basement. the flooded basement. that had water dripping from a lightswitch. the snow was melting, and there was literally water coming in through the sheetrock and onto the electrical wires, flooding the basement. no indoors pools for us, please and thank you. NEXT.
they looked at a house we had been excited about for several weeks. awesome location, lots of potential, a great sitting area & fireplace in the master as a bonus. but as they looked around, it was obvious that wi-fi cameras were set up around the house, literally watching them tour live! this basement included a duct-taped closed door, as well as several duct-taped lightswitches. overall: creepy and not folks we're interested in working through a house contract with. wonder if the duct-tape is included in the sales price?
today was day 3. 33 days until buyers close on our home. we both went into this morning feeling positive about the potential this day could bring. we strongly believe that God wouldn't have put us in a situation with our house selling so quickly, if He didn't have a faithful plan for our swift relocation.
with lucy in tow, we started at a house in blue valley [not in our initial plan] that we had just come across yesterday. gorgeous exterior, gorgeous pictures of the interior, great size- we were both excited about it. and even when we pulled in the driveway, we were still hopeful. but all i could think while we were in this house was "we could make this work..." it just didn't feel right. the neighborhood was a little bit older- the crown victoria parked next door was a bit of a giveaway. i got the feeling that the neighborhood was filled with kids maybe 10 years ago, but those kids have grown up. i'm sure there are still be some young families, but definitely not a guarantee. SO despite the spacious master and master bath, and great jack & jill bedroom suite for the girls, i just wasn't sure i could completely envision our family growing there. so onward we went.
the next house was one jon had looked at yesterday. i wasn't thrilled about the pictures online, but still jon spent all last night trying to convince to just take a look- "the pictures don't do it justice". and oh my WORD was he ever right! it just felt good driving up to it. it's in the neighborhood we initially had our sights set on, and it's clear that it's a family 'hood. basketball hoops and playsets are abundant, the elementary school is right up the street, and each street is a cul-de-sac. we have friends who live in this neighborhood, and talk often of their neighborhood get-togethers with all 20 kids living on their street- something we've been missing. we loved the interior as well- space for us to expand, big master and master bath with his & her closets, jack & jill suite, nice open kitchen, large finished basement with big windows and lots of playspace, and some ideas of projects that jon's twirling around in his head. the big thing is the paint. easy fix i know, but it caused the pictures to underwhelm me. i'm not a blue gal- i'm drawn to warmer colors, and have no vision of how things could be [i'd make a terrible interior decorator]. so this had thrown me off, and with a promise of new paint within the first month, along we went.
we had one more to see. it wasn't too far- up the street and around the corner- and it was a new construction. it's 30 days from completion, and has lots of charm. beautiful wood flooring, great kitchen with a big island, awesome master & master bath... but after seeing that second house, we knew where our heart was. this new construction had fantastic new features, but was 1000 sq ft smaller, and didn't include a finished basement, cul-de-sac location, or deck. we just couldn't quite see the benefit of lesser space for newer.
and so the fun begins. we've put in an offer. fingers crossed!! i'm giddy thinking about the possibilities :)
i hear more snow may be headed our way. in the meantime, lucy's not having any fun with the the snow [or as she says "issssse!"] that's already fallen :)
-ivy
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