10.29.2006

BIG NEWS

Ok. So life has been just a bit busy for us lately as you can see from our previous posts. I haven't updated in a while because all it would look like was ...

Blah blah blah...we are looking at houses...blah blah blah...we are both working...blah blah blah...Amber's in school...blah blah blah...

So you ask , " why are you updating now?" Well folks...(drumroll please)


WE HAVE FOUND A HOUSE AND OUR OFFER HAS BEEN ACCEPTED!!!!

We found this house on Saturday when we were looking at another home in the same area. Our realtor said that while we were over there we might as well check it out. We didn't have all the information on the home with us but we went for it. This was the first home that both of us AND our realtor looked at each other and said "this could be it". So we thought lets check more into it. Our first concern was to make sure it was within reach of our price range. IT WAS! The next concern was to see how long it had been on the market to know what kind of offer we should make. It had been on for about 4
months. We thought we had this one in the bag...no glitches. We were wrong!!!

Glitch number one: We get home from a teen hayride on Saturday night to an email from our realtor that said there was another offer on the table for this home.

Glitch number two: The selling agent let slip that the other offer was already at full price.

Glitch number three: We didn't know if we could get approved to be able to have some working room on our offer.

We called our realtor and our loan officer (mind you this is all at about 9 pm) and they both went into the office (bless their hearts) to work on the logistics. We finally found out at about a quarter to 10 that we were approved for enough to be able to give a stronger offer. We went to our realtors home to sign the papers and left there at about 10:45 Saturday night. All we had to do then was wait until 1pm on Sunday to find out if they accepted our offer.

Easier said than done. Amber didn't sleep a wink and both of us were pretty on edge the rest of the evening and into the morning. Well when we got home from church at about 12:30 we found out that the other potential buyers had upped their offer and we had to decide in about 15 minutes if we wanted to counter back. Oh the drama!!! We decided on a little more but said that would be all. Well...it was enough. We got a call at about 2:30 on Sunday afternoon and our realtor said they had accepted our offer. We signed the final offer and, pending an inspection, we have a home. We will close on November 30 and take possession that same day! We will be in our new house for Christmas. We am so excited, nervous, anxious, crazed that we can hardly contain myself! This module will be a tough one for Amber considering that we will be moving in the busiest time of the module. But we will labor through! Ok, below are a few pictures that we have of the place. This is off the Reece and Nichols website, so the belongings in the picture are not ours.






























The kitchen is quite large and opens up into the main family room. It is a dine in kitchen with room for a table. There is a lot of pantry and cabinet space so that will be a nice change from the apartment we are in now. One of the coolest things is the under-the-cabinet lighting that it has. I really liked that touch. The door in the kitchen leads to the back yard where there is a fenced yard with an additional dog run and a detached garage.
















This is the front of the home. There is a driveway on the right hand side and then in the back
yard on the left you can see the detached garage. Eventually we would like to put a driveway back there. There is a large gate that would allow a vehicle to get into the back yard. The front also has plenty of trees with two pine trees in the front. As cheesey as it sounds...it smells nice out there.















Here is the living room with the bay window. The window itself, although you can't see from this picture, has very pretty etching on it. This room once again opens up into the kitchen and makes it feel really open in the main living area.















This is the master bedroom. This is a king size bed that the previous owners have in it and this picture doesn't quite capture how much space is in this room. I couldn't believe how big this rooms was. The master bedroom is the only room in the house with carpeting...everywhere else it is wood floors.

These are the only pictures I have, however there are two other bedrooms, both really good sized. There are two bathrooms, one in the hall next to the bedrooms and then one in the master bedroom. The bath in the master bedroom has a whirlpool tub which is SUPER awesome!!! The master bedroom also has a walkin closet, which will come in handy for Amber's amazing cloths collection. Well this part of the search is over, however we still have a lot to do. This week alone we will have another walk through and the inspection. Then we will re-negotiate the contract based on what the inspectors find and then we will close at the end of the month. Ok...guys thats all for now. We love you and will keep you posted!

Amber and Ben

10.05.2006

Home Sweet Home

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Ben and I put in an offer on one of the houses yesterday that we looked at on Saturday. Evidently there is at least one other offer on it, so now we wait. AHHHHH it is so nerve racking, but if it is the house God wants us to have then we will....and if not it is back to the drawing board so to speak. IF we get it I will post pictures of it, otherwise I don't want to "jinx" it. :) But it I can tell you about it. It is 3 bedrooms, 3 baths. Front to back split with a finished basement. Two car garage. HUGE backyard with a privacy fence. TWO fireplaces (one upstairs and one downstairs). Anyway, that is a BRIEF description, but I will keep you updated as we find out what is going on!
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Ok ok... A new post by popular demand. Popular if you count Teniah asking me to update. This is Amber by the way. I am home on lunch break. Well let me see what is new.

1. Ben and I have decided to begin the process of buying our first home. So far we have been electronically approved (not quite sure what that means) and this Saturday we are going on our first homes tour. Now we aren't looking to get into anything huge or expensive we are just tired of renting and throwing away our money. Another reason we are looking into this is that about three weeks ago Chloe, our cat, had to move out. We found out that the apartment we are living in requires a pet deposit for BOTH animals and since we had only paid one, AND we don't have an additional $300 laying around (nor would we want to use it on a pet deposit for an apartment we will be living in only 3 more months) Chloe moved to live with my sister and her family for the time being. She is close, but it just isn't the same.

2. My schooling has come to a head...or at least this module. Last week I had two major projects due and was working my butt off CONSTANTLY trying to do them AND do them right. Just so you know, I was home, but I STILL didn't see my husband (Sorry Ben). I guess this is what I have signed up for for the next two years. But I really enjoy it....REALLY. It is so interesting how you find yourself as you are learning. I am just trying to enjoy the process and not spend the next two years wishing it were done. Who wants to "wish" their life away?

3. I was in the hospital last week for Kidney stones. For some of you, you may recall that I went to the emergency room a month or six weeks ago for the same kind of pain. It was diagnosed as kidney stones, however they simply sent me home and bade me good luck (with pain medication of course). This time however, the pain was much more intense and had moved to my right side. Once again we went to the emergency room and this time did multiple tests and exams to find the culprit. (the teeny tiny culprit) My stone is 3 millimeters in diameter...which doesn't seem that big until you think about trying to get it out (just visualize). The other problem...it is at the bottom of the kidney, almost to the bladder, and it is blocking my kidney. So they put me LOTS of different kinds of medication (All of which either make me nauseas, dizzy or sleepy). The stone is a no show as of now, but with the medication and LOTS of fluids, I am feeling much better.

SO, now you know why I haven't updated recently. I don't have time for pictures now....but they will come soon. I PROMISE. We will try to take pictures this weekend when we look at houses.

Love you all!
Amber