Accepted!

The seller accepted our offer!  :)  After some negotiating back and forth (and pretty big sacrificing on our part) we are finally under contract!  We asked the seller to include the washer and dryer (which we can tell was recently purchased) but because of her financial situation, she was not able to include them since she is renting and not sure if her rental will include those.  She also excluded the home warranty (which we asked her to include) but again, because of her situation, she was unable to include that.  But we are not worried about that because the house is still young and if something were to happen, we definitely would not ask her to front the funds, anyway.  No chance!  We have some kind of heart! :)  But we are so relieved about finally getting the show on the road.  Now, the only things that need to be done are the home inspection and having an appraiser come to the home.  The tricky part is that with an FHA loan, the house must appraise for at least the purchase price . . . if it doesn't, the seller must lower her asking price to the appraisal value or we walk.  Boo.  We are praying that that doesn't happen.  If all goes well, hopefully we will close in about 30 days! Eeeeeek!!!! :)

We have already picked out all of the paint colors, too!  That was probably the easiest thing Josh and I have done.  Don't most couples have a hard time compromising with paint?  We had more issues registering haha! 

And just for kicks and giggles, I am going to show you our house!  There are 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, living room, family room, dining room, and unfinished basement.



The front of the house
 
Here is the formal living room


And the dining room

The kitchen
 
The family room and fireplace! :)

The master bedroom with a walk-in closet and full bathroom
 
This is one of the guest bedrooms (future nursery hey!!)

This is another guest bedroom (future nursery #2 heeeyyy!!)

This is the view from the kitchen/eating area to the backyard

And this is the backyard . . . big enough for our reception! ;)
 

Posted byAshley C. at 5:57 PM 2 Love Notes  

The offer

Josh and I have been house-shopping the last few weeks and finally found one that we could really see ourselves (and future family) in.  It's so beautiful!  It has 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, a living room, family room, dining room, unfinished basement, and really nice, big backyard.  The funny thing is that when that home was first scheduled for a walk-thru, I asked Josh and the realtor if we could just skip it; I didn't want to see it because the acreage that was listed was "too small;" but I'm beginning to think that that was a mistake because it is rather large! :)  I am so, so glad that we actually went to see it (twice!).  The first walk-thru, Josh whispered "this is the one" to me as we were walking up from the basement . . . that didn't happen with any other home. 
So, here we are three weeks later and we finally have been able to put our offer in.  The first offer we put in was Friday and was pretty low because we wanted to see what the seller would counter-offer.  We got a call back on Saturday morning from our realtor saying that the seller's husband recently passed away and that with her financial situation, she cannot go any lower than the listing price; we don't believe that for a single second.  Who lists their home at the lowest they are able to go?  On top of that, we have a paper saying that she refinanced her home about 5 years ago at $16,000 lower than her listing price.  We know that she is able to go that low.  So . . . Josh and I offered $5,000 lower than her listing price.  If she doesn't want that, we will walk away and find something else. 

Obviously, we are really praying that the seller accepts our offer. :)  We'd love for that house to be the one that we raise a big family in. ;)

Posted byAshley C. at 12:16 PM 0 Love Notes  

Forgetfulness

We landed in Hawaii and I realized that I forgot my dress.  My wedding dress.  How in the world did I forget that?  Well, must improvise, right?  Good thing I had a cute bathing suit that I could wear to the "alter" instead.  Although it was something sexy that I planned on wearing for the honeymoon, I thought that maybe I could pull it off . . . cellulite and all.  Oh well, I know that my soon-to-be husband would find it to be the best thing I've worn yet.  Then I looked down at my toes.  What the heck?  Chipped, pink toenail polish?!  What kind of bride forgets to get a pedicure especially with her wedding on the beach?!  It's okay . . . I'll just dig my toes in the sand while remembering to suck my tummy in and creatively hide my not-so-toned bottom.

I am so, so glad that my alarm went off at the moment.  I didn't think this was something I would have been able to pull off anyway.  At least this would have been easier to recover from than forgetting I had a newborn baby and not feeding it for a whole day!

Posted byAshley C. at 3:01 PM 2 Love Notes  

Sweet moments

I am throwing myself back into the blogging world because I have done some thinking and realized that the highlight of my life (since the last time we caught up) was that I was finally engaged.  When I first began my blog, I wanted to be sure that I was able to document that part of my life and for those of you that know me, you know how big that was for me! :)  But, I need to remind myself that every day is worth celebrating and documenting.  Every day is full of sweet moments; ones that I am going to love looking back at and laughing at.  Not to mention, it's amazing to be able to watch yourself transform into someone/something that you never thought you would be.
With that being said, I'm back.  I want to be able to look back at these crazy days ahead of me.  I am in the middle of finding a home, planning a wedding, dreaming about a big family, welcoming another nephew into my life, getting my photography business off the ground . . . moments that I never want to forget.  I guess this is when it is proven that "it's not about the destination but the journey getting there."  :) 

Well, since it's Cinco de Mayo, I've got someone to talk in to going to our favorite restaurant, Tacos el Norte! Yum!

Posted byAshley C. at 4:10 PM Post a comment (1) Love Notes