Here goes nothing

I know a few of you have been waiting for this (*Chelle*Brenda* this is for you). I was getting some more information on one of the "issues" and by the time we put our offer in there was another offer on the house.
So...we got roped into a multiple offer situation, which is really common right now for houses in our price range. We had to submit our highest and best offer, which we did (BLAH), and it was accepted (with a couple changes, for which we are now living off Top Ramen until...when? Okay slight over exaggeration).

It was somewhat crazy to believe. Scary. Hyperventilation inducing event.

Right. So. Anyway. We had the house inspection last Saturday, which went...alright. We're waiting to hear what the bank is going to fix. You know, foreclosures are usually AS-IS, or whatever, but there were a couple things that must be done so that we don't become the Roasted Coxes in the summer, the Ice Cube Coxes in the winter, and the totally without a bath Coxes all year round. And they usually fix things that are needed to make the place habitable. We're still waiting on what they are going to do....

While at our inspection I took video for you (well, really for my dad) which I cannot seem to load on here (it is seven minutes long) so you are getting the pictures from my video camera. They aren't the best pictures ever (only 1 mega pixel people), but I know you wanted a look. OH! but you don't get to see the yard until I work out the video. Sorry. I'll keep you updated on the progress, but this is the house we are supposed to be buying!

Living Room (a corner of it)

Kitchen (one side anyway)



Kitchen/Breakfast area of kitchen

Dining Room

Bedroom

Bedroom

Laundry room. Lovely I know.

Master bath

Master bath-tub

Master bed looking in

Master bed looking out

Bonus room/Bedroom4

Miri on the stairs! Who could resist?

We've got ants.

Ugh.

Does this post look familiar to anyone else? Didn't we just talk about fleas?

So ants are making their way into our house. We've found just a few in Miriams bathroom the other day. Then three days ago they came in with a vengance into our bathroom to eat the cats food. I moved his food bowl(and relocated the rest that was left in into Ziploc bags). My relocation lasted all of -oh - one day and this morning there was a line of ants from the laundry room into the cats food dish in the kitchen.

So I need some ant traps.

I would call the office and ask for some ant traps except WELL...

Tecchnically we haven't told the office about our cat yet because, you see, we were supposed to have been gone from here by now...

Buying my own ant stuff is of course not a big deal (thank heavens they are not FIRE ANTS). Have to do that in a house anyway. It would be even less of a big deal however if I had not just shelled out a crazy amount in earnest money.

Oh yeah - did you want to hear about houses?

Bill says: Banks are stupid-heads.

That about sums up our experience in the last couple of months with regard to houses.

After I spent all that time bringing you up to speed on our house hunting, I pretty much let it fall by the wayside while I went to Washington. And of course Washington ended up taking up my entire month of June (which I still haven't finished posting about). Our first offer died. The day after I got home we went out again (for the WHOLE DAY) and found another house to offer on. BUST (they didn't want to pay closing and we didn't offer them quite their asking price. When I say they I mean the bank. We're looking at several foreclosures).

After that we took a week off and then went out yesterday to look again. Pending further information we may make an offer on this house. . .? . . .! . . . . That is about all the excitement I can muster at this point. This house has 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a large kitchen, lots of closet space, a nice yard and a few issues.

Knowing what I know now that is all the information I am going to give you about this house. And besides, there is no "other house" for you to vote on this time. Sorry.

Give me a break!

Wow! I had so much to write about after the first two weeks of June. We were just finishing up our whirlwind trip to Washington. Visit to Neah Bay, visit to Tri-Cities, I still owe you Forks pictures, story about being pulled over in my Grandmas car...
It's all coming. However, I ended up extending my trip because: WE GOT BURGLARIZED AGAIN. Just in case there was some doubt about us being watched before, there is no question now. Since Bill had a trip coming up, I decided to stay in good ol' Washington for a little while longer.
House update: Although we have never heard anything back from the bank/other agent with regard to our offer, two days ago the MLS listing on the house we made an offer on changed. They have re-listed 21,000 dollars higher than before. So, yeah, not making any moves there. Our offer is the same. I can't help but hope the property goes into foreclosure and the bank loses more money on it.
When I get home we will be picking up the house search again. So you'll likely be getting more posts about it this summer.
Next time, I'll tell you something slightly more interesting, like about my grandmas car. :)

House Hunting, fun+interesting+totally DRAINING

You asked for more information and here it comes. Turns out that both the houses on my poll are in the same neighborhood. I have NO sense of direction, which I did not know until I left the place I lived for 26 years. I get so turned around here that I just SMILE and NOD. In my defense, we saw them on different days.

So these houses are the same in terms of neighborhood and school district. Just different places in the subdivision. One is a larger house (700 more sq.ft.), the other is a larger yard. They are only 27,000 different in price. One is a foreclosure, one is a short sale. But enough of that HERE:

The above layout was a house we saw as a good investment so to speak. Because it is a foreclosure and an *ahem* extremely good price. Also, if we get stuck here in Georgia for a long time, we could grow into this house. We wouldn't need another one. Of course we knew it was way more house then we currently need and there were some features we were looking for that were missing. Truth be told, all I could think of later was the prophets counsel to live in a modest home. So moving on....

NO comments from the peanut gallery about how I forgot to draw in the kitchen. It sits in the bottom right corner of what is labeled as the Main room. Right next to both "dining rooms" (okay hard to explain, but the extra room totally looks like another dining room). Also on top of THAT next to the laundry (and pantry which is also missing) is the "breakfast area." It is 1900 square feet and, in my opinion, only lacking in closet space. They are around, they could just be bigger. At least there is some storage in the garage. It's one story, a corner lot and has some bright paint and Bamboo wallpaper. Easily remedied.

Since posting my poll we also ran into 4bd/2.5bath house with new carpet and appliances with a really wide staircase (that Miriam loved). We asked for our realtor to look into it for us. There were already 5 offers on the house and the other agent was having trouble getting in touch with the seller. The neighborhood/schools weren't as good so we decided not to get tangled in that mess.

So...we may or may not have made an offer like an hour ago. But I can't talk about that right now, I might break into a cold sweat...

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