Closing on the House in MAY

We found out on Saturday that the 2nd mortgage on the new house will require us to close by May 25th instead of our previously arranged date the middle of June, so I've got lots of work ahead of me getting this house packed and cleaned.

House Update Part 3

This past Friday we were very discouraged when the bank rejected our offer and countered it $14,000 higher.  Troy was in NYC that day and was exhausted after traveling out to Utah to go through the temple with Doug, so we asked for the weekend to decide what to do.  On Sunday we decided to counter offer the bank even though we had been told $310,000 was their final offer.

Yesterday we heard back from the bank and they decided to accept $303,000 - YAY!  The paperwork is signed on our part and hopefully the bank with sign off on it today.  Then we should be able to close within a month or two.

House Update...

The seller's lender had a BPO done and it said the value of the house was $340,000.  So their bank wanted us to raise our price to that value.  The seller argued with their bank and got the price down to $317,000, but still wasn't happy with that.  So we had our mortgage officer order our appraisal.  It came back at $296,000.  I'm so glad it wasn't higher than that :)  I haven't gotten to see the appraisal yet, but just got the amount over the phone.

House Hunting Part 2

Our Realtor has let us know that the banks on the first house aren't even working to come to an agreement, so we started looking around for other options.  I am really excited about what we found.

It is about 3 miles further from Troy's office than our current house, but the ward and schools will still be the same and all of the kids will be bused to school.  This house fits our family's long term needs better than the first one.  The sellers have 2 other offers that they are considering...  hopefully they make the right choice :)  I had a tough time sleeping last night because I was so excited.  Everyone is anxious to hear...  It is more $/SF than the other houses we have considered, but includes a long lap pool and screened enclosure as well as 1.24 acres of land at the end of a cul-de-sac in a beautiful neighborhood.  

There is only one step into the house!  

It will be a great house for years to come!  It is almost 2900 SF with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.  It is set up in a U shape with the 2nd master on the left side with the laundry room and garage and the main master on the right with 2 other bedrooms and an additional bath.  You can see from the front door straight through the living room out to the pool.  All of the common area has hardwood flooring - yay!

Wood burning fireplace in Living Room

The main area of the home is formed in a circle around the kitchen.

It has 2 master bedrooms, so the girls will get one and they are really excited!

Main master bedroom with bath to the right, hall to the left and pool area ahead

Master Bathroom

2nd Master with laundry room across the hall
All of the bedrooms have walk-in closets :) 

2nd Master Bath/Pool Bath

2nd Master Bath other half with door out to pool

The kitchen has high quality appliances and granite countertops and back splashes.  

The kids are all hoping we get the house because they fell in love with it too!  The pool is heated by solar panels and the house has a well, so our utility bills will be low.

The wall by the door to the 2nd master bath is plumbed for a sink.  There's a shower around the corner from that.

They neighborhood HOA fee is small and includes mosquito abatement and a playground with a volleyball court.

House Update

Our realtor called yesterday and filled us in on the delay from the bank...  There are 3 parties who want a share of the sale price.  The first two have agreed, but the third (mortgage insurance company) is demanding the seller bring lots of cash to closing and sign a note to pay even more since the first two mortgages won't agree to share any of the proceeds with them. We'll see how long the negotiations take.  At least we haven't gotten a no.

Operation Negotiation

The bank countered our offer already.  I thought they'd move fast, but I'm really surprised it was so quick!  Unfortunately, they only dropped the price $2k :(  We'll see what we can work out.

Our realtor just called back and it sounds like the bank will approve our counter at $1k over our original offer.  YAY!  I should know pretty quick.  Troy and the seller have to sign the updated price.

Now it's been almost a week and we haven't heard anything...  I'll post again when we do.

House Pics

Hopefully this will be our next house!

View from dining room toward front entry way

Formal living room

Dining room

Desk in kitchen

Half of kitchen

View from kitchen sink

Sliding door in kitchen

DOUBLE HUGE PANTRY

Intercom system

2nd sink/serving area

Family room with exit to back porch

Downstairs bedroom

Downstairs bathroom

Downstairs shower

Laundry room

3 car garage :)

UPSTAIRS

Master shower

Master tub

Master bath

His closet

Her closet

Master bedroom

Bedroom with sliding doors to balcony

Upstairs bathroom

I didn't take a picture of the bonus room over the garage.  I'll have to get one next time we go through the house.

View from balcony

Back yard

We Have a Signed Contract!!!!!

I have been using my nervous energy to get my house clean today while waiting to hear from my realtor.  So now that I know it is done I can relax and hopefully nap.  As soon as the offer is accepted by the bank, I'm going to go over to the house again make plans.  I can't wait for the kids to get a chance to see it.

I Hope I Get an Answer Soon!

After our original offer on the rambler was countered, we were very disappointed that they weren't willing to send it to the bank to decide.  They countered back $10k below the listing price, so we countered $20k below the listing price and they told our realtor today that they would accept our last offer...

However, while we were waiting on them to decide what they would do, another house became an active listing again because the buyer decided to "think about it" long enough to let the contract lapse.  Our realtor was great to come show us the house within a few hours of it being active again.  We wrote up the offer before leaving the house last night so we wouldn't miss out on it.  It isn't a rambler, but almost everything else about the house is better.  It is 4100 SF with .3 acres in a beautiful area at the end of a cul de sac in our neighborhood.  The only thing it needs is a screen for the back deck and some lights in the bedrooms.  Alyssa has been really upset at the thought of moving, but even she is excited about the new house.  The crazy thing is that we can buy this house for about what the other one would have cost us after replacing windows and the lawn, and its resale value should be much higher.  We should hear back on our offer tonight or tomorrow morning and the waiting is driving me nuts!  I could hardly sleep last night and have been getting more excited by the minute.

House Hunting :)

We have decided to start our search for a home here in Orlando and I'm pretty excited.  We are going to try to purchase a short sale home and we'll see how that goes.  We have toured 8 homes already and narrowed it down to one depending on the bank's willingness to meet our offer.  We are hoping to get a rambler and stay in our elementary school zone and current neighborhood, so that severely limits the possible candidates.