Thankful :)

I'm writing this from the living room of my parents' house. Mom and Jenn are on their way to Tuscaloosa for the Iron Bowl. Dad is at Granny's house. And Travis is sleeping upstairs.

Yesterday was a fun day! We had Thanksgiving lunch at Granny's with the Palmers. Gran came along too, so that was nice. We ate too much good food, watched football, and looked through the Black Friday ads. Travis and I decided not to get out with the crazies this morning to shop. He did find some movies online that he may order later, but that will probably be the extent of our shopping for today. 

For a few minutes, I'm going to try to take a step back from The House Hunt to be reminded of how blessed I am. It's too easy to be consumed/stressed out about finding the perfect house for the perfect price. But we wouldn't even be house hunting at this point if Baugay hadn't been generous enough to let us live with her for a little while. We are so thankful for you, Baugay! And we also wouldn't be house hunting if we both didn't have good jobs right after graduation. I'm thankful to have a nursing job where I don't have to work nights, weekends, or holidays. We've both got awesome families and friends that encourage us and inspire us to be better people. We have each other. We're going on 3 years of being married, and I still am convinced that I couldn't have found a better guy. And, most of all, we've got a great God watching over us and taking care of us. 

So, when I'm obsessing/stressing over finding a house, please remind me of how much I have to be thankful for!

Just a few updates on the house hunt, in case you're wondering...


1. We got pre-approved for a loan on Wednesday! We also found out that we would qualify for twice the loan amount that we'll probably need...now that's crazy! The pre-approval lasts until February 22nd, so if we don't buy before then, we'll have to get pre-approved again.


2. I think we've ruled out two of the four houses from my last post. We went back to see two of the four on Wednesday afternoon, and that helped us cross one of them off the list. 

So long! :(

Now, I loved this house from the first time I saw it. It's got great curb appeal and a great yard, and it's in a great neighborhood. However, it has some downsides. The owner lives in Virginia, and the house has been a rental house. The home is 9 years old and has the original appliances, roof, HVAC, and hot water heater. It has new carpet and paint, but the paint looks like it was slopped on the walls without any care at all. There is water damage in the master bathroom and possibly in the guest bath. And there are other minor things that would need to be fixed before we moved in. The owner is supposedly "very motivated", but even if we got a great deal, I'm just afraid all the fixing up we'd have to do would cost a lot more than we planned for. 

Bye, bye!

This house is in great shape, but it's a lot smaller than the others (only 1650 sq ft). The biggest negative to this house, though, is the neighborhood. I'm afraid we would have a hard time re-selling it in the future. 

As for the other two...

Maybe??

 

 I still like this house a lot. It has been meticulously maintained. I'm talking...new roof, stove, microwave, fridge, carpet, paint, HVAC, vinyl windows, hot water heater, insulated garage door, kitchen sink, dishwasher, vinyl flooring, bath countertops/lighting/mirrors/fixtures, etc. It is practically a new house that just happens to be 16 years old! The only things we would need to do would be re-paint (for personal preferences) and fix a couple of other minor things. 
 

Dream home = reality??

But, as of today, I think we're leaning toward this house. It's probably in the best location of the four. It's brand new, which is really appealing. It's my favorite from the outside, and it has a great view of the mountains. We think it would probably re-sell the best. We LOVE the floorplan. It has a sitting room in the master bedroom and a huge laundry room. It's slightly more expensive than the others, but not by a whole lot. 


We'll see. I'm not going to stress! Repeat, I'm not going to stress! Whatever we end up in will be awesome, I'm sure. 


Ok, time to get ready to watch the Iron Bowl!! Roll tide!!