Episode 7: Hope & intrigue

Friday the 13th was good to me! Hooray! Here's how it went down, as the young folks used to say.

1. I took our pre-approval application forms to the mortgage broker lady. About an hour later she called & said that we easily qualified! We're pre-approved! And that's without checking international credit. Wee! This is important because this is that tiny bit o' official documentation that we need before we can actually make an offer on a house. And we also have a very good idea of how much the banks will allow us to borrow & how much we need to have for a down payment. These numbers weren't a big surprise, though, because I did my homework. Sometimes it's good to be addicted to the internets.

2. Shortly before 6pm we toured a house. This is the blue house that costs almost exactly the same as the Mauve House, but is on a prettier, more private lot & it does not need any rennovations. No paint, no gutters, no flooring, no nothin'. It's in perfect shape. It's also about 25% smaller. Hmm. We thought it was worth a look. And it was really adorable inside. Truly.
But the bathrooms.
It's always about the bathrooms with us, isn't it. I think if we were able to spend 25K more, we'd be able to get a house with Tim's dream bath. As it is, we're just looking for something that doesn't make us claustrophobic or suicidal. The baths in this house were tiny & cramped (only a thin shower in the master) so Tim's nose wrinkled. And that was that. Honestly, there were a couple other things wrong ... like the strange, tacked-on breakfast room that overlooked the parking pad (?!). A total waste of space for us.
The best things about this house, though, were the 2 cats that live there. Simply put, these were my dream cats. There was a marmalade kitty and a smaller tuxedo kitten. And they were the sweetest, friendliest, most lovey-dovey kitties on the planet! LOVED them! Too bad the cats don't come with the house or they might've had a sale. But since that isn't the case, we moved on.

3. Between dropping off paperwork with Mortgage Lady and touring the cutesy blue house with the amazing cats, I went on a little drive around the neighborhood. I won't name it here in the interest of privacy, but in many ways the name does not matter. There is only one neighborhood for me. And honestly I suppose we should call it a "community" because of the size of it and all of the ammenities, but that sounds rather soulless. "Neighborhood" is better. And I love this neighborhood. I decided about a week ago that I am no longer interested in looking at any houses outside of this particular neighborhood. It just feels right. So when anyhing goes on the market in it, I wanna know.
Anyway, I was driving along, checking out some houses that Jim the Realtor had e-mailed to me when I saw a sign out of the corner of my eye.
For Sale By Owner
Hmmmmmm ...
I turned around & pulled into the cul-de-sac. And oooooh my. Ooooh my. So pretty. I would have taken a photo, but the neighbors across the street were doing yardwork & I thought I would look too suspicious. Here are the basics:
Two stories. Very pretty lot with oodles of trees and shrubbery. And the exterior of the house looks very nice, too. It isn't a cookie-cutter house, but it still looks classic. Me likey.
"But certainly we can't afford it," I thought. "It'll be just outside of our price range. Oh, but look! Fliers!" I parked the car, walked around to the sign and took a flier.
The house is in our price range.
EEEE!!!!!
The square footage is the same as the mauve house BUT it's on a much prettier, much more private lot! Just what I wanted!!! And the floor plan was printed on the flier, so I can tell that the layout looks very promising.
Phone calls were made. We can't tour it this weekend (the husband is out of town & I guess wifey doesn't feel comfortable showing it before he comes back), but we will be touring it Monday evening.
EEEEE!!!!
The house isn't listed on Realtor.com or anything like that, so there's very little competition at this point. This is good. I feel very good about this. Can't wait until Monday!!!