What they don't show you on House Hunters

We have seen virtually every episode of house searching show out there. It always looks like so much fun! I am sure you're wondering, what happened - I thought you were going to rent the place in the museum district? Well, that is what we thought, however when we really got down to it we were ready to buy a home and have a feeling like we are settled. We went out on the hunt with our realtor, who we LOVE, and found a great house. The home is on a great block. The day that we went to see it there were people out and about, a kid selling his sisters stuffed animals on the sidewalk (we thought this was hiliarious, we're not sure who's stuffed animals they were but it was cute). The house is on a corner lot, on a tree-lined street and has great charm. It all sounds great so far...

We got through the initial negotiations rather quickly and moved on to the inspection. Our seller was not willing to fix, well anything, and we had to walk away (insert sniffle here). It's not that the house needed a whole heck of a lot of stuff but that we knew the house needs TLC. It needs a new kitchen (eventually) as well as landscaping, paint on all the walls and ceilings and furnishings, don't forget we have some furniture needs! We thought it was back to the drawing board until our realtor worked her magic and we were able to approach the seller with a different deal. Now we are getting a new roof, expanding the house by 250 sqft (because of a heating and cooling unit being added to the den addition) and getting a major wall repair made. Barring any additional hiccups we are slated to close on August 25 and move in on August 31!

We feel so fortunate to have had a realtor who has taken care of our best interests and is a true advocate for us. This is one of the most stressful experiences I think Elliott and I have endured, imagine the budget conversations magnified by 100... serious. My hubby has spent more time in excel spreadsheets exploring all of the different scenarios and it is a wonder he has not had a nervous breakdown yet. Everything happens for a reason; because we walked away, our loan app was closed out at the end of July. When we re-hashed the deal we reapplied for the loan and found out that rates had dropped almost 0.25%. We are saving about $75 a month with a lower rate which makes us VERY happy. Dooley, by the way, is ecstatic about his yard. We look forward to sharing our home improvement projects and adventures as homeowners! Love to all!