House #20

House #20

Friday, November 30, 2012

Aaaaand we are on house #20!!

Holy smokes, this search feels like it is going to last forever.

City: Rosemont

Listing Price: $199,000

4 bed/2 bath, 1725 sqft

Front of house.

I think it's so cute!

And definitely well-maintained, right?

Formal living room/dining room.

But I think I would just use it as a great room because I really have no purpose for an dining room.

Okay, I have to be honest that it's not as big as it looks like this picture but it really is BIG!

I just love those corner windows.

Living room again.

Love the window.

...and again.

This also gives you a good view of the layout of the house.

The family room is through the opening on the left

and the kitchen has the two entrances.

Then if you go down the hall before the kitchen it takes you to the bedrooms and bathrooms.

Family room.

Fireplace. Love!

Vaulted ceilings! This might be the first place we've seen with vaulted ceilings. I love them!

Family room with view of kitchen...which is an eat-in! Love!

Family room again.

Kitchen.

Kitchen.

Granite counters but I really dislike black granite.

But they will have to do.

I think I would replace the cabinets with cherry-wood cabinets.

[eventually, at least. Not right away because this house is too expensive to do it right away.]

Oh, and that kitchen light would definitely have to go...immediately.

Don't you just love those vaulted ceilings?

Okay these pictures are from the listing.

I normally do not take pictures of the same room from a million angles

but since they took the time to do it I'll post them.

I guess you do get a better feel for the flow of the house.

Family room...again.

Master bedroom.

Notice ceiling fan :]

Also notice slider to backyard :[

Master.

So this is kind of a strange layout because there is one sink outside of the actual bathroom and then there's another one inside the bathroom. I don't know that I like it but it's not a big deal.

Closet on the right which is a walk-in.

Master bath.

Guest bedroom #1

Guest bedroom #2

Guest bedroom #3

Guest bath.

Granite again! Even though it's still black I do love it.

Backyard.

Okay, this backyard is awesome.

This little covered patio has shades and a fan.

It's the perfect outdoor dinner space.

...imagine patio furniture.

The grass is so green!

PROS

4 bedrooms!

2 separate living spaces

Kitchen overlooks family room

The whole house has been very well maintained.

Beautifully landscaped backyard.

[with 8ft fences, by the way, which allows for a ton of privacy!]

Large master bedroom

Double sinks

Walk-in closet

Ceiling fans throughout

Built-in shelving in ALL the closets!! I seriously LOVE it.

Cupboard space in kitchen.

Fireplace

Good flow

Indoor laundry room

CONS

A few fixtures need updating

...but I don't even think I would consider this a con because it means I get to choose stuff myself and have it be my own style.

Basically, I love this house.

More than I've loved any other house we've seen.

Maybe 20 is our lucky number??

We just had to make an offer on this house even though it's listed at the peak of our price range.

We decided if we could live here we'd be okay with being house-poor for the next 7ish months until T gets his raise.

We offered $210,000.

We upped our usual deposit of $1,000 to $3,000 to make our offer a little bit stronger.

Because these are the original owners and they probably have emotional ties to the house we included a letter about ourselves and how much we love their house and hope they pick us.

We also included a family picture because who can say no to baby Jack?

I'm really praying we get this one, I absolutely LOVE it!!!

I think I might cry if we don't get this one.  So far I've never been so bummed about a house that it brings me to tears.  But this one just might do that. I might cry if we get it too. I really love it that much.

I'm thinking we'll find out on Monday-ish.

They are having an open house on Sunday so I'd think they'd make a decision shortly after that.

This is offer #8 and the 4th offer we currently have in.

Still waiting to hear back on numbers 17, 18, and 19.

Update: This house sold for the asking price of $199,000.

We don't understand how it sold for less than what we offered...

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House #19

House #19

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Welcome to House #19

City: Rancho Cordova

Listing Price: $169,000

3 bed/2 bath, 1344 sqft

Front of house. Cute, right? I think I would paint that front door a cute color.

Red maybe?

Kitchen.

Ahhh, I'm in love. The color of the granite is gorgeous.

Love that there's an island.

Love the cherry cabinets.

Love the spacious feel and the cupboard space.

Love the cutout to the family room.

Basically, I just love it all.

Notice granite color.

Family room.

Fireplace!

Family room view from other side.

Guest bedroom #1

Guest Bedroom #2

Master bath.

Okay, I didn't take any pictures of this house because I figured the listing had enough to show what it looked like. I guess I didn't realize there wasn't one of the guest bath but oh well.  It looks pretty similar to the master bath but bigger and with a tub and not a pedestal sink.

PROS

In our ideal city

It's a flip so everything is completely updated not to mention absolutely gorgeous

Granite counters

Large eat-in kitchen

Fireplace

Good size family room

Cute backyard - perfect size with lemon & orange trees

Storage space in kitchen

Coat closet + storage closet + linen closet!

Good sized bedrooms

[the master is a little smaller than I'd hoped for but it's not bad].

CONS

Pedestal sink in master bath.

I hate pedestal sinks for the fact that you lose storage.

PLUS do you see how there is absolutely no storage in that bathroom? There is not even a medicine cabinet. Where do they expect you to put your toothbrush or toothpaste or the other million things you normally keep in your bathroom?

We would have to install a cupboard over the toilet.

Small master bath.

Laundry in garage. Boo :[

No walk-in closet in master [but it is quite large]

No ceiling fans!

That is a new must have with Jack Jack.

When it's nap time he will lay on our bed and watch the ceiling fan go around and around and around for up to an hour until he falls asleep.  It's great.

Overall, I loved this house.

T didn't get to come with because he had to work but these pictures pretty much do it justice.

He likes it too.

So we made an offer!

We offered $182,000.

I wanted to offer more just to be sure but our agent said if you start offering crazy high then they think you're just playing games. So we stuck with his advice of offering $182,000.  But if we lose this one I will not be happy. And next time I'll be offering whatever I want to offer.

Fingers crossed!

This is offer #7.

And it's the third offer we currently have in.  

Still waiting to hear back on house #17 and house #18.

Update: This house sold for $182,500.

$500 over our offer. How much does that STINK?!

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Rice cereal.

Rice cereal.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Somebody sure is happy about that yummy rice cereal!

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House #18

House #18

Monday, November 26, 2012

City: Rancho Cordova

Stone Creek subdivision

Listing Price: $206,585

3 bed/2 bath, 1344 sqft

Front of house. So cute!

Eat-in kitchen. Walk in the front door and this is directly to your right. This picture is taken facing the front door.

Kitchen. Ahhhh :]

Kitchen opens to family room

Family room

View of kitchen/eat-in from family room

Master bedroom

Master bath

Master bath

Guest bath

Guest bedroom #1

Guest bedroom #2

Laundry room

Garage

Backyard

Okay so this house is kind of tricky.  Here's the deal.  This house came through in an email about a month ago and was listed at $180,000.  We wanted to see it but our agent called and they said they were waiting for a short-sale pre-approval price from the bank.  The agent said we'd keep an eye on it and once the price changed we would know it was ready to be shown.  Well.  It came through a few weeks later at $206,585 but already showed it was pending. Boo.

Then.  On Saturday when we were looking at some other houses, our agent showed us a map of our ideal area to show us how there were only 3 total active homes (in any price range!).  He clicked through them and this house was showing active!  So the last offer must have fallen through somewhere along the lines and we didn't get it back through our email since we are set to only get homes up to $200,000 and this was listed $6,585 above that.

Well since Tom consolodated his student loans we can now afford a little more than before so we wanted to see it.  The showing instructions said you had to give at least a 2 hour notice.  Our agent called the listing agent and we were able to set an appointment to see the house this afternoon.

I was so excited to see this house and seriously anticipating it.  It was all I could think about this morning.  And then.  An hour before we were supposed to see the house our agent texted me and said as he was about to print the paperwork for our showing he noticed it was "sale pending." WHAT!? Ahhh!!! I'm so frustrated because we should have just gone to see in on Saturday night, not to mention the listing agent never even called our agent to tell him not to bother to bring us by since they already accepted another offer!  And anyway, why would the listing agent keep scheduling appointments for people to view the property when the seller is already going to accept an offer?

Super lame.

But guess what?

We put an offer in anyway [#6].  Just as a backup.  Just in case.

We offered asking since the bank has already pre-approved that amount for the short-sale.

If the other offer falls through we might be in business.  But I'm not banking on it.

Oh PS. These pictures clearly aren't mine since we didn't actually see the house. These are the listing pictures.

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