House Hunting

So, we're looking for a house. We've been to a number of open houses to try and figure out what part of town we would like to live in, what kinds of things we like in houses, with an eye to seriously looking in January to put an offer on a house then, so that timing would be nice for when our apartment lease is up, and I'd also know what my new salary would be (pay reviews happen in January).

Some of the houses have been nice, some not so nice. Some experiences have been... interesting. One Sunday we looked at 7 houses, and that was exhausting.

Last Sunday, we had 4 houses to look at. But I didn't really feel like going. However, Karyn really wanted to go, so I sighed, and agreed to go. As we set off, I remembered that some friends of ours, J&M, had recently said they were selling their house. So while on our way to the first place, I called J and mentioned we were looking at open houses, and could we perhaps come and have a look at theirs that evening when we were done. Just for interests' sake. He said they were having an open house right then, and their Seller's Agent (who is also our Buyer's Agent) was there, and that that would probably be the most ideal way to do it, especially as they were busy in the evening.

So, we decided that we'd skip the first on our list (partly because it wasn't really in our price range) and go and see their house instead. We'd been there before, several times, but never while looking for a house. You look at things differently then. We arrived, gave our Agent a surprise by turning up, because she wasn't really expecting us, and started looking around. We liked it. Two beds, one bath, unfinished basement, open porch, sunroom, unfinished basement, HUGE back yard. Not just that, but it was within our price range, possibly even without taking the potential pay rise into account. We looked around, asked lots of questions, and told our agent that we'd like to talk more!

We took so long looking around, that we blew off another two houses we were going to look at, but went to house number 4. That had some cute features, but was certainly not for us.

Yesterday, we went to see our agent. We walked through all the bits and pieces. We'd got a pre-approval from our lender, so that was great. We looked at our options, and we decided to put an offer on the property. We signed our bits of the paperwork, and then left, so the Agent could go and talk with J&M, the sellers. Within the hour, we had a call saying they had accepted our offer! Wow!

So, we're buying a house! Closing and taking possession January 31, and it's all very exciting! We have quite a bit of paperwork to get done, but it shouldn't be too big a problem!

My sister-in-law, Kris, was the first family member to hear the news, because she and my brother live in a time zone that meant it wasn't too late to call. When I told her, she gave a huge "CONGRATULATIONS" down the phone. Shortly after I'd given a few details, she passed me to Simon, my brother. "So, what is it you have to tell me?" he asked. I told him. His response: "Well, given Kris' reaction, I figured it was either that or Karyn's pregnant!" Thanks, bro. Oh, and for the avoidance of doubt, no, she isn't pregnant.

So, there we are. It's going to be an interesting few months. A very exciting few months. A very hectic few months!