So, as you can tell we have a new home. We finally took the plunge, and it feels good to say this one belongs to us! I tell you that buying a home is not that hard, just a little nerve racking....but what isn't. Below you will find the beginning of our home-ownership story....
We arrived here in Cheyenne at the end of January 2008. We wanted to see what kind of housing was available, and once we were told that there was at least a years wait for base housing, we solidified out decesion to buy. We contacted USAA and they hooked us up with a realtor (Liz Burgen, in case you were wondering) and we began our home search. The first day we saw 17 homes and the next day we saw 13....I think it was 13 anyway. We say homes ranging from really nice to eeeeewwweeee, why would anyone want to live here. Liz took us all around town, and even as far as 10 miles out of the city....not that far, but factor in the snow and ice that falls here and the commute could be way too long. Then we found it....the one (or so we thought). We put an offer on a home that we really liked! We started taking measurements and pictures to decide how we would do things throughout the house. Within a few hours we heard back from the sellers with a counter-offer. So we in turn countered. It seemed like things were going smoothly, and then within the last hour they had to respond, we heard that they pulled out of the deal because they got another offer......that was better than ours......poopie!
So we were a little upset. But then Liz said she had a few houses she wanted us to take a look at. So we loaded up the car and met her. The first house was....well....really lived in. The second, was too small. The third was perfect. Liz said she didn't know why she hadn't taken us to see this house before, but here we were. The rooms were good sized, the kitchen was a little small, but had potential. There's a play set
and a dog run
. Ok this could work. We could put in a few cabinets and make the kitchen a little more liveable. The garage is HUGE! We could park both cars inside and still have room for manville. Ok off to the basement. We were looking at the laundry room and we heard Emily from another room saying "Look, Veggie tales". We said no we can't watch the movie at the moment, but maybe later. But she kept saying "Look, Veggie tales". So as we moved on to look at more rooms, we realized what Emily was talking about. There was a room decorated with Veggie Tales wallpaper. That was it. The house was sold as far as Emily was concerned. Once we finished looking at all of the rooms, we felt the same way. There were enough rooms for each of us to have our own space, as well as room for LOTS of visitors. So we went back to Liz's office and filled out paperwork for an offer. A couple of days later we heard that our offer was accepted. Yippie! We scheduled our inspections and waited for things to happen.....you know normal things that happen when you buy a home. There is a lot of waiting and wondering....and more waiting! But then came closing day. February 28th 2008. The BIG day. We arrive at 8 am to sign papers. It takes about 45 minutes, then we are done. We closed! We own a home! So we headed out to the house with our bread basket in hand (from Liz). We got there and the son in law was still taking things out of the house. So we wondered why. Once we walked around the house we realized they had not cleaned. We headed to TLF to gather our stuff and gave Liz a call to let her know what shape the house was in. Then the phone call came. We were about 15 minutes from checking out of TLF, and Liz said there was a problem and the previous owners didn't close. That was all the info she had for us at that time, and told us she would call back. A couple hours of waiting and we finally heard from her. Aparently the sellers were not aware of the amount of money it was going to take to close their deal (they had crappy agents!!). So we were worried. We had 2 days left before TLF kicked us out and no other place to turn. Liz told us that things would work out, and that we just needed to give it some time. About 4pm, Liz called us to tell us that the finally closed! What a relief! We couldn't wait to get to the house! But then Liz reminded us that part of our contract was that we would close on Thursday, but couldn't move in until Friday....giving the sellers a chance to clean once their things were out of the house....it all made sense! Friday morning came and we were so excited...again! It was ours. We finally had a place to knock down walls and paint...or whatever we wanted to do! Horray!
Thus far in homeownership, things have gone well. We have had a couple of issues, but we are in the middle of correcting them. So until next time, have a great day!
