Saturday, May 15, 2010

House Hunting in AL

With a little over 2 weeks left to be moved out of our house here in Jackson, we finally were able to go down to Alabama Friday and do some house hunting. We met at our realtor’s office and went over what we were looking for and, of course, you know I made a few lists.

List #1 “Necessities”
1.      4 bedrooms
2.      2 bathrooms
3.      Nice size closets
4.      Centrally located to the 3 hospitals John David will be working at
5.      Somewhat updated Appliances
6.      Nice backyard
7.      NO – OLD – HOUSES !!!

List #2 “Things we would love to have, but we can live without if we have to”
1.      Fenced Backyard
2.      Garage
3.      Pool
4.      Stainless steel appliances
5.      Granite Countertops

We saw about 15 houses that were a wide range of our price list. We knew we wanted to be close to the hospitals, but for the great location you rarely get a lot for your money. A few things we didn’t like with most houses:

1. Tiny backyards – if any. This is one thing we’ve lived without for almost 3 years and Bella made the executive decision that she MUST have a back yard.
2.   Homes that were at the top of our price range and still needed work: removing wallpaper, painting, updating appliances, replacing carpet, etc. We just don’t have the time or patience to do these kinds of updates.
3.  Too small for our growing family. We’ll be here for 5 years. We want something we can grow into, not something that is the same size we have now.

While house hunting online, I noticed a house that didn’t look like much on the outside but the inside had completely been renovated - plus, it had a pool. I was real unsure about it, but went ahead and added it to my list of what we wanted to see.

After viewing at least 8 or 10 other houses and feeling like we would never find everything we were looking for, we finally stumbled on this particular house. We walked inside and immediately it was love at first sight for me. This house had everything we were looking for. Gorgeous wood floors, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, brand new carpet in all FOUR bedrooms, updated bathrooms with tile-encased tubs, a great size backyard completely fenced in, a covered parking area in the back, AND a huge in-ground pool. The house is also in a great neighborhood centrally located to all 3 hospitals (and Walmart- HA). The ONLY problem was the curb appeal, but the wheels were already turning in me planning to fix that.

After a long (HOT) day of house hunting, we knew we had found what we were looking for. We made an offer on “the ugly house” as John David calls it. I spent the next 15 hours planning out where all our furniture would go in the house and biting my nails waiting to hear back from the seller. Finally we got the call and after some negotiating, he accepted our offer. Final sale, of course, is contingent on the home inspection, which will be done sometime this week.

Another perk to this house is we are able to close fast and will be able to move in on June 2, only one day after the closing on Whitworth.

I don’t think this moving process could have went any better for us. Things have really just fallen into place and God continues to keep opening doors for us. It’s been exciting, nerve-wracking, fun, and painful all at the same time. We couldn’t be any happier how everything has turned out and just continue to pray for a smooth transition.

We’ve got an extremely busy schedule over the next two weeks but like I have been saying, “we’re taking it one day at a time!” Stay posted for pictures of everything upcoming and I’ll get some pictures of the house on here soon.

Love you guys. Thanks for reading. : )

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