Sunday, May 1, 2011

Whoo Hoo...No more rent!!! I hope!

Closing....Closing....Closed!!!



Our new house hunting started in February this year....the search started online with pictures and descriptions galore....eventually it all narrowed down to one but not before we looked at hundreds of houses online....drove to another 30 to 40 houses and looked at them on the outside...set appointments and went to see another 10 to 15 inside and out (some even without our agent)...bid on 3 I think...offered on another maybe 3 and finally settled on one!!! We looked at homes online and in person in Ft. Worth, Arlington, Grand Prairie, Irving, Haltom City, Grapevine, North Richland Hills, Richland Hills, and Hurst....we will settle in ..... drum roll please.....










Not this one....
This was the first house we looked at in person I believe...it's been a little while now...no, I remember now...this was the third one and the second with our agent...this one was very old...2 story, 3 bedroom, 2 bathrooms and lots of problems...foundation, electrical, drainage, carpet, walls, doors...ummmmm...no thanks..I did love the green kitchen though!




This one was if I remember correctly built in 1985. Three bedrooms all upstairs...2 and 1/2 baths...coverted garage (we wanted a real one), a formal dining room, kitchen nook and lovely vaulted ceilings, wonderful fireplace...Piter loved this house and yard...I wasn't feeling it but we tried...he wanted a 2 story house and I wasn't against it but wanted a home with a homey feel to it...alas...we found termite and water damage evidence (I was glad to let it go!!) ...I think it's still on the market...it is in what I called a puzzle piece neighborhood....the culdesacs all look more like jigsaw puzzles where 4 houses share one drive in...it's a little strange and the community mailbox is down the street!





Loved loved loved the look of this house and really wanted it. It felt so great when I found it online...1986, perfect right, 3 bedrooms, 2 story, 2 bathrooms, dining room, vaulted ceilings, lovely Wainscott, fireplace, enough room for a pool and garden and even came with it's own painted picture on the wall....but someone beat us out:( Okay, not ours!!!


Again...1985. This house was nice and cozy...someone snapped it up first....
Had 3 bedrooms 2 bathrooms, 2 car garage, enough room for a garden..not enough for a pool, but landscaped beautifully...
This house built in 1986 was an absolute dream....but alas...someone got to it a day before us:(


We seemed to always be just a step behind and I felt like I had the minus touch...they were all going at the touch of our interest!!! again 3 bed 2 bath 1 car garage...enough room for garden and pool (but lots of trees). This one also had a park across the street and you could see the Beach street church building from the park...Oh well, again not ours!





This was the newest house we looked at built in 1987 and while very lovely on the outside....the inside needed some work and some shelving...anything not nailed down was removed...well...if it was nailed down some of it was still removed....the carpet had been shampoo'd and unfortunately the furniture either got moved back before it dried or wasn't moved and water got under it....for a new house it was also poorly designed...not even a door to the air/heat unit...only a panel screwed on and in the living room no less. It looked like someone had it built to their own interests...it even had a wine rack built into the kitchen cabinets....Not for us again....



This cozy little house has a bay windows with a window seat...

The living room leads out to a brick stone patio...Nice!



Love the vaulted ceilings...don't mind the black look of it...it's only shadows!!!
The cloth draw blinds on the sliding glass door are nice as well as the faux wood 2 inch slated venitian blinds for the window.



I absolutely love the trim here!!!! This is the dining room to kitchen and living room view!!!


It's open on both sides of the kitchen so you can enter or exit from either room....this is where the window seat bay window is...


This kitchen has a built in Microwave cart it's there on the left or just extra counter space and it has pull out shelves which is always handy!!!! The counter also extends further on the other side of the dishwasher! Of course I am thrilled with the lazy susan in the corner bottom cabinet!!!!! Awesome!
The garage is just to the left of the kitchen...it's deep enough for washer, drier, and work bench!



The first door on the left is a huge walk-in closet decked with shelves!


The second is the lady's room!!! This is one view of the master bedroom.


The master bedroom has Jack and Jill sinks, a nice vanity, vaulted ceiling, and two closets!!!


This is the guest room!!!! We might have to make it a play room and put the pool table in there and a sofa bed in the living room...hmmm...have to wait and see...come on over!


There are 2 bathrooms!!! Piter said he'd clean his and I'd clean mine...I said deal...I'll use yours!!! LOL!!! Love the blue rose flowers on the floor!!!


Yep...thats the view from the back end of the yard!!!


I think there is plenty of room for our garden and a pool!!!!
Just in case you haven't yet figured it out...yes...we bought this one!!! So.....where will we live? If all goes according to plan and the inspection is good (huge if the way things have been going) our new place will be...

...Drum roll continued.....Arlington, Texas.....our new hometown!

We did it!!! Thank you Heavenly Father!!!! Getting this home took some work on our part but mostly Heavenly Fathers blessing. We would not have it today if it weren't for Him....it's a miracle we got it and we are very grateful!
We have had one delay after another, one setback after another, one piece of unexpected information after another, and every time we just kept our heads up and plowed forward...this house was no different...the roof had to get replaced, the elements burned up in the water heater, the electricity wasn't on for the first 2 set inspection dates, we even got locked out for the structual analysis when someone locked a doorknob that not even the agent had a key for...software glitches at the bank, delays in getting our certificate. We had to have the certificate to get the loan, but to get the certificate they need the documents that the bank's software is glitching on... Oh Satan...get thee behind me....what is it about this home or place that you don't want us to have or do? But then again...the blessings and answers to our prayers just kept on flowing, one right after the other (a wonderful, patient, understanding, LDS agent (Thank you Andrea), new roof, small repairs, lower loan % rate, lower taxes, good inspection and structure reports, plenty of helpful Wells Fargo employees, kind and helpful sellers and the list goes on...)and now we are getting our home!!! Of course Satan had one more problem for us before we got inside...After signing all the documents, the seller signing all the documents, the loan companies getting the funding where it belonged...we finally got our key, signed one more paper that was missed and off we went to enter our new home as homeowners....unfortunately...the key did not work!!!! As I mentioned before they fixed the locks after the structure analysis so the only key that worked was the one in the lock box and of course that was locked! We called to find out what to do now and our lovely agent Andrea after feeding the missionaries came and got us in and gave us the right key...Whew...what a ride!!! We are now waiting for the garage door opener to be found and returned...they said they fixed it? Hmmmmm...I'm sure it will show up...The Lord has really blessed us so much!


Our journey in house hunting....well really it is HOME hunting is finally over (I hope)....Between working full time as in 10 hour days, 4 days a week, and trying to take only minimal time off in the busiest time of the year...we finally closed on June 8th and with the help of some wonderful friends in both Ward we will be moving this weekend (Happy Birthday Piter)!!!!! Of course Piter will do most of the setting up of our new home since I still need to be at work but, we love our new place and learned a lot....We searched and prayed and fasted and searched some more but when we were finally able to go to the Temple and pray again we were shown this place....(Piter's calling kept him tied up every Saturday morning for about 4 months so we hadn't been in a while and didn't realize how long until we got to go again!!!) Time just flies by!!! We got to go the last day they were open, before closing for two weeks of maintenance...what an awesome blessing!!! We can definitely see how the Lord was working with us the whole time and feel this is where we need to be and we are very grateful!!!! The day we looked at this house the previous contract was falling through so we got this one just in the nick of time...I am grateful I took that day off!!! Now on to the new adventure of being a homeowner...very exciting and scary at the same time! Another awesome blessing we found is that my very first Bishop in my very first Stake and Ward will be my very first Bishop in my new Stake and Ward...what are the odds?!!! I am so excited!!! Thank you again Heavenly Father!!!!