The 5th Try

We are on house number 5 and it looks like we will finally be able to sign closing papers! We started looking for a house nearly 6 months ago, before we were even married. We made an offer (too high) and it was accepted. During the inspection we discovered that the gazebo in the backyard was being moved away...the $10,000 gazebo. So we were out of that deal. We decided to wait until after the wedding (October 18th) to try again.

The end of November we found the most beautiful old, needs lots of updates house. We offered very low this time and the counter offer was great. So we accepted. The inspection went great, I bought new dog tags for the dogs so that as soon as we moved they would have the right address. And then the appraisal...we are getting an FHA loan so the appraisal came back with lots of repairs that needed to be done before our bank would be able to loan us the money. One of these was a new roof. The owner refused to put on a new roof, and we of course couldn't afford to. So that deal was off.

House number three was way out of our price range but we offered anyway and got a big fat NO WAY with our obviously low offer.

House four was just fine. Nothing spectacular but would work for us. It needed minimal work but didn't have a garage. So we offered pretty low. And the owner came back with the decision to lease it to somebody else. So there went that house.

Here is where we change Realtors.

Now on to house number 5...
House number five is in a beautiful neighborhood where every house is way out of our price range, except this one. Because it is repossessed. It is the newest house we have been able to look at, it's the nicest neighborhood we have looked at and it has everything we wanted, including an attached garage and walk-in closet! Because it is being repossessed there is a lot of work to be done. The carpets will have to go and the whole thing needs painted. New light fixtures, molding, painting outside, fence fixing, kitchen re-modeling. Adding appliances.

So now we will go through the stressful process of closing the deal...and then the real fun begins!