"The" House

With our house sold, we knew we needed to find something fast. Our buyers wanted a 30 day close, so time was tight. Our agent told us that it would be nearly impossible for us to find something so quickly. She said that when houses are occupied, owners need at least 45-60 days before close so that they can find new housing. We were going to have to hope that we could quickly find something that was already vacant. Otherwise, we would be stuck in temp housing.

Rick was given the task to look at more houses with Jan. One evening after they had been out looking, Rick called me saying that he found "the house". He said it was amazing. He said that it was more than amazing. I could hear Jan echoing her approval in the background. They said I needed to get to Colorado fast to see the house because it wasn't going to last.

At this point, I was at my mom's house. It was the day of our most awesome day ever. You know, the one were we picked blueberries, went to Remlinger Farms, and went to Snoqualmie Falls? I was tired at this point, but after talking to my mom, I went online and booked a ticket for two mornings later. She was sweet and said she would watch the girls. My mom rocks.

Not long after my phone rang again. This time it was our selling agent. Our buyers wanted to do the house inspection the very next morning. It hadn't expected this. Mutual acceptance had only been two days before. Even worse, the house wasn't exactly in viewing condition. I had slacked a little knowing it was sold. There was a little cleaning to be done and some small maintenance items to take care of to ensure we impressed the inspector. Even worse, I was in Renton- an hour away from home. It was 10 at night and I needed everything ready by 11 am the next day.

My mom couldn't watch the girls, so I brought them with me up to the house. On the way, I called my amazing friend Leah who offered to watch the girls last minute while I took care of the house.

For two hours I sweated my guts out while frantically cleaning, changing air filters, vaccuuming exhaust fans, and fixing a leaky built-in soap dispenser at the kitchen sink. I finished in the knick of time.

I brought the girls over to Bob and Cathy's and they played with the girls while I made arrangements to have dinner brought in to a friend who just had a baby. After the inspection was over, I went back over to turn off the lights and close the blinds. I also grabbed a few extra things for the girls and some items I would need for my trip.

I also turned off the oven, which the inspector had left on BROIL. It was piping hot. Seriously, how negligent! He's lucky he didn't burn my house down. He's extra-lucky I decided to come home after the inspection, otherwise my oven would have been on broil until I got back from my trip.

Anyhoo...completely exhausted, we went back to my mom's house and I got the girls to bed.

The next morning (Friday) I was up at the crack of dawn for a 6 am flight and met up with my agent to look at "the" house plus a few others since I was there.

The verdict? I hated "the house". I loved the floor plan, but everything was outdated. Plus, the carpet was nasty and needed to be replaced asap. I also didn't like how it backed to an elementary school. Who wants to hear bells, buses, and kids yelling all day? Also, there would be the traffic to deal with.

I flew home that same afternoon exhausted and disappointed.

But, we did get some interesting news. There was another house on the market just like the nasty one. It was the same floorplan and same builder, but in a different neighborhood. It was already on the market, but they weren't going to let anybody look at it until that coming Tuesday. Rick and Jan made plans to look at the house on Tuesday along with some other ones that I sort of liked on the trip.

Tuesday rolled around and Rick and Jan called me again. This house was "it". They were sure of it this time. It was in much better condition and on a street littered with kids. They said we needed to make an offer asap and I agreed only having these pictures and a virtual tour as a reference....

Livingroom

Diningroom

Main floor Den

Kitchen

Family Room

Master Bedroom

Master ClosetBedroom #1

Bedroom #2

Bedroom #3

House at Night

I also knew from the listing that the house has 4 bedrooms upstairs and a den on the mainfloor. It is 2714 square feet (about 500 less than our current one), but has a 934 square foot unfinished basement, which we could later finish down the line. It has a large yard almost twice the size of ours with built in sprinklers.

Late that same night we made an offer for 10k less than asking price with our fingers crossed. Houses in Highlands Ranch are always in demand, so we knew that it wasn't likely that we would get it for less than asking on the first day it shows. But, it doesn't hurt to ask, right?

The very next morning they responded. They accepted our offer outright! We were shocked and elated. By the end of the day, our agent said that they were already getting requests from people wanting to put in back-up offers. Jan couldn't understand why the accepted ours so quickly. It was meant to be, plain and simple.

Not wanting any hold ups, the sellers already had an inspection and made all the repairs found in the report. A few days later, Rick met with the inspector to follow-up on the items in questions and everything looked great.

The best part was that they already moved and wanted to do a quick close. Everything was falling neatly into place. All there was to do now was wait. I think our agent was mightly pleased to. The poor lady must have shown us at least 60 houses.

It's still crazy to think that we bought a house I had never seen before...