So much to tell since my last post here. I ran 3 half marathons, the Gate River Run, first save on a cardiac arrest and Billy and I decided to buy a house.
WHAT?!
Yep, Billy and I are buying our first house together. Well, technically, second house, but this one doesn't have wheels under it. Not that there was ever anything wrong with our sweet little mobile home, we have just gotten to the point where we have outgrown it.
We've been talking about it for a few months, but not really that seriously. I've never bought a house before and didn't really know what to do first - do you find a house you like and then try to get a loan, or do you get the loan and then find a house? Well, we were visiting my cousin in Tampa and her hubby is a realtor, so we talked with him and he gave us a better idea of what we needed to do. Then he showed us a website that they use to locate homes and there was one in Kanapaha Pines in southwest Gainesville that was a good price and a good neighborhood. After we got back to town, we drove by and I thought it looked nice, so we contacted the realtor listed on the sign and told him that we were interested in the property. A week later, he had still not called us back, so I left him another message and told him that we wanted to inquire about the property. Still, no call. My cousin advised that we contact the office, so I did just that. I spoke with another realtor and told him that if this guy was too busy to try and sell a house, I understood, but a call back would have been nice.
He assured me that is NOT the way that they operate and said that he would have that realtor or his partner contact me. Not 3 minutes after hanging up the phone, I received a call from Joe, the partner. I explained about the property and he regrettably told me that the property was sold. He then sent me an email describing who he was and how many houses he had sold. He included his information and said he would love to work with us.
Well, in the meantime, Billy and I went to the credit union where we do our banking to get pre-approved for a mortgage. After filling out all the paperwork and providing all of our financials, they pre-approved us for $175K at a whopping 7.375% interest rate!! Now, admittedly, I have not had the best credit in my lifetime, but I am happy to admit that I have an outstanding credit score at this time and I was floored with that rate.
The next week after our visit to the credit union was Billy's birthday. I had been searching on "Craig's List" for homes in our price range and found a few that we decided to drive by and take a look at to see if they had curb appeal. Some did, some didn't. There was one house that was listed by the same company that Joe worked for, so we contacted him to set up a viewing at 1pm. One house, was located in the Northwood subdivision, which is made up of homes built in the 70's - two story, in-ground pool, HUGE yard. We drove by and decided to contact the owner to take a look. We set up a time of 3pm and drove around the neighborhood. Around the corner from this house, we found another house for sale. This one was on a corner lot, fenced in yard with only a few trees, but a good amount of shade and lots of grass! (These things were appealing to me) It was also listed with the same company that Joe worked for. :-)
We met Joe at the first house, built in the 1950's and full of a quirkiness that was just too quirky for us. It had some good qualities, but more bad qualities than we cared for. While we were there, we mentioned this other house we had seen over in the Northwood area. Joe asked if we wanted to take a look and we said, "Yes!"
We followed him over, past the two story house with the pool, to the house on the corner lot. We parked and as we walked up to the door, he said, "Wow! This place looks nice!" I had to agree. From the outside it appeared to be very well kept. He unlocked the door and stepped aside to let us in.
All I can say is when I walked across the threshold, I knew I was home. I believe my first comment was, "This living room is entirely too small!" Stated with complete sarcasm, as this living room was as big as our entire home we live in now. The entire house was tiled with 16" tiles, fresh paint, new double-paned windows, fenced in back yard with shed, screened in porch and additional brick patio. With 4 bedrooms and two baths, this place is about 3 times larger than our "Home on the Range"
From here, things just turned whirlwind. We put a contract on the house, met with a mortgage company, and negotiated a new roof. I was extremely pleased with the rate that the mortgage company gave us - 4.75%. It all seems so surreal and I was very afraid to mention anything when we first started because if it didn't go through, I would have been so devastated. We originally planned on closing on my birthday (Happy Birthday to ME!) But, I think that we might actually get to close earlier, so I could be moving into my new home over Memorial Day weekend!
Now, we just need some furniture to fill it up!
As for the evil credit union with their insanely high interest rate - I got an email yesterday from the lady asking if we were still shopping for a new home. I replied back that we would be closing on our new home next week :-)
PS - check the next blog for pictures of the "Hacienda"
