Graduating and moving on

Monday, April 29, 2013

An early wake up and an hour drive all to see my younger sister Tara graduate. I unfortunately wasn't able to make her last graduation from the University of Florida, but I made it for her masters degree from Florida International University. A 2 hour ceremony and a bunch of pictures later, she is done. . . unless she decides to go back for her PHD. 

It is becoming a bitter sweet time for me as Tara and I go our separate ways, her to Orange Park and me to Fort Myers. If I think about it too much, I'll just break down crying. Just trying to stay positive about the situation and think of all the blessings coming our way.

Jason was unable to make Tara's graduation ceremony. He went to Fort Myers for the home inspection on our new house. The seller was present at the inspection and questioned why Jason didn't bring Taylor this time. How cute??? I wish I were able to go. Jason said the house is better than he even originally thought. The seller does everything herself, i.e. cut the grass, trim the bushes, clean the AC unit, etc. The inspector only mentioned 4 very minor recommended things in the home. No termites, good roof, and overall a great house. I am so excited! Our appraisal is tomorrow. I need everyone to cross their fingers that the house appraises for the offered amount.

2 little kids on Christmas

Friday, April 26, 2013

We begin the motions again. Offer, contract, inspection, appraisal, etc. With my sister Tara graduating with her master's degree, I will be attending her ceremony on Monday while Jason will head straight to the new house from work for the inspection. June 4th is our official closing date. I don't know if I am more nervous or excited. I know for sure that I am excited to get in the house and start decorating. I look at Pinterest every day for ideas. I do however feel a bit nervous for some reason. Not sure if it's because we will be home owners again or because when we sold our house, we sold a majority of our furniture. I am a tad concerned with the amount of money we will need to replace all of those items. Couches, a television, a mattress, a lawnmower, a grill, patio furniture, even dishes (we gave our set to Tara and Justin for their new apartment).

I have so many decorating ideas. Browsing the countless number of blogs inspires me, but also discourages me at the same time. Can I duplicate a room as beautiful as they did? I hope so. I guess these are the "starting out" stories our parent's talked about. We were so spoiled with the first house. Our moms gave us their hammy down couches. My mom gave us our grill, patio furniture, lawnmower, fire pit, etc. We inherited a countless number of kitchen gadgets that were eventually reduced over the last 3 years. Now we are basically starting from scratch and having to work our way up.

I grow more and more appreciative as the days go by and we get closer to closing. I look at the pictures online and can't believe the house we bought. How did we get so lucky to find something so perfect for us? Jason and I are going to act like two little kids on Christmas morning when we get those keys.

Thursday, April 27, 2013

In my opinion, Founder's Day should be a national holiday. It is always a day full of fun for Cooper City residents. Although we sold our Cooper City home back in November, our drivers license still say Cooper City (and no not because I didn't change our address but because my dad's address is our official mailing address and on our IDs). Our tradition starts with getting our Founder's Day shirts ahead of time. Every year the lady tells us we are suppose to run in the morning race if we get our shirts early. Okay lady! Like I am going to run. . .

We used to pack a bag, grab our chairs, and walk from the old house to the parade route. This time posed a bit of a challenge. We picked Tara, Justin, and my little sister Briana up from my parent's house. We drove this time, parked, and found a great shady spot. It was Justin and Lacey's first Founder's Day. The parade is typically my favorite part of the day. Vintage fire trucks, tons of smiling optimist teams, girl scouts, etc. Candy is thrown from all directions and water guns are just the perfect way to cool off (not according to Taylor though).

My grandparents are in town for Tara's graduation. They are actually parked right next to us. My mom is on her way down as well. It will be nice to spend a bit of time with the 3 of them. Tomorrow we will be going to a graduation dinner for my sister. I can't believe in just a few shorts days her and Justin will be packing their things and moving north to the Jacksonville area. It's going to suck being spread out all over the state. Maybe if Jason and I have a baby people will be more likely to visit :)

 Our sign.

Grandma and Grandpa's RV next to ours

Another incredible sunset

What a day!

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

What a day we had! We celebrated last night at Outback with Richie and Heather to acceptance of our offer. It was so nice spending the past week hanging out with them. I felt like we were on vacation the entire time.

Waking up this morning knowing we had an accepted offer on our dream house was such an incredible feeling. We were like 2 little kids on Christmas morning. A quick breakfast at the rv and a scramble to get all the paperwork together. Today was also the day we would be leaving the West Palm area and needed to pack everything up. Although excited, there was very little I could do because I was so sick. Jason worked on the outside of the rv while I locked up the inside items for traveling. 

We finally were able to pull out of their yard and onto the open road. Well, onto the 2 lane road that was leading us to a much needed gas station and Staples. I was driving with a range of 24 miles left of fuel and we had a revised contract needing to be printed, signed, and faxed by 5:00pm. Seeing at it was 3:15pm and town was 20 minutes away, we needed to haul butt. The Office Depot we went to the day before was completely out of the question. We found our way to Staples and Jason ran in to get the process started while stood outside with Taylor. I could see him through the store windows, but couldn't go in to help. Finally Jason comes running out the door, tells me to run in and sign the papers. He grabs Taylor's leash and I run in. I am standing at the counter signing every page trying to follow his signature and I notice a new set of initials on the pages. Could these be his initials and I should duplicate mine there or are these someone elses and now I am screwing it all up? I decide to sign pretty much everywhere I see an opening and just crossed my fingers that I did it correctly.

It was now my turn to run outside to fetch Taylor while he ran back in to finish. I thought. . . how ridiculous we must look to an onlooker. I found the manager, explained out situation, and begged to allow us to bring Taylor inside the store while we signed the documents. Without hesitation he said, "Yeah the old people do it all the time." Here I am worried about bringing her inside this whole time and it's been perfectly fine. So Taylor went right in the shopping cart and straight to the counter.

Obsessed with that face!

There was a You Fax area at this store. We set up all 14 pages of the new contract, punched in the #, and crossed our fingers that it goes through. Again. . . another slow fax machine. Lucky us. We finally received a confirmation page just as the 4:00 hour hit. We confirmed the listing agent received it and we could finally breathe a sigh of relief one more time.

Off to find gas. My car stated a 4 mile range before we were pushing. That really meant 2. Across the street we flew and filled up just in time. It seems like God tests us when we are at our most likely to freak out. He must think we can take it, because He loves to just pile it all on. Now during at rush hour traffic, we are ready to hit the highway and head back to Markham park. Perfect! I lose Jason within the first 10 minutes. He hit a bit of wind and slowed down the truck and rv to 55mph. I slowed down a bit and tried to get cars to go around me so I could meet up with Jason again. A lovely Ashley Furniture truck decided to tailgate me less than a car length apart for 6 exits. Well Mr. truck driver, I like to break check and that I did. He backed off a bit, but then got comfortable right on my butt again. He finally switched lanes to pass me. As he did, he looked in his side mirror and shook his head at me. Look buddy. . . I am on the Turnpike during rush hour doing 65 mph. It maybe 5 under the speed limit, but I'm not doing 40 mph. The shaking of the head and dirty look ticked me off. . . until he drove pass me enough for me to see his How is my driving? sign. Well. . . don't mind if I do call that phone number and give them that handy identification number plastered on the back door of your truck. I did just that. Maybe now you'll learn not to tailgate jerk.

There was no finding Jason in a sea of cars. I took off ahead, ordered pizza for dinner, went and picked it up as well as mailed the escrow check before meeting up at the site. We missed the park while gone the past 3 weeks. So glad to have a nice paved site. Jason hates parking in the dirt now. He's getting spoiled :) Grandma and Grandpa Suggs as well as mom will be traveling down this weekend for Tara's graduation. They will be parking their rv in the spot next to us. It should be fun.

If it's meant to be, it will be!

Monday, April 22, 2013

Today is the day! We are putting an offer in for the house we fell in love with yesterday. I can't believe we went from viewing houses online and kind of looking. . . to full on making offers. Since we didn't know we would be moving so quickly, we contacted a friend of my moms and got pre-qualified for the asking amount. When we decided to offer $1,100.00 over asking, we redid the pre-approval for the new amount.

The Office Depot on 441 and Southern Blvd is horrible. It took 20 minutes for 19 pages to be faxed. Seriously? You sell fax machines. Go take a much faster one off the shelf and use that. I probably could have hand delivered it faster.

We finally were able to get all the signed documents over to the listing agent and could finally breathe a small sigh of relief. We went across the road for our cliche Panera Bread lunch. I was starting to not feel well at all and basically passed out during the meal. Starbucks was a must. 

Amanda, the listing agent, mentioned multiple times that the seller was nervous of working with an FHA loan. We chose to go with an FHA loan for a few reasons. 

1. $4,000.00 towards closing costs

2. 3.25% loan

3. Only 3.5% required down

She even mentioned that the first offer was turned down because of the FHA + multiple contingencies. Although hesitant because of submitting an FHA load, we were confident with offering $1,100.00 over asking. Plus, I thought it would make a personal connection if I wrote the seller a letter. Here is what my letter said;

A young, newlywed couple married in November 2009, we grew up on the east coast of Florida in a city full of family. Our homes were actually 2 houses apart and we often times joke that he married 'the girl next door.' We thought we had hit the jackpot and purchased Jason's childhood home after his mother decided to move to the Ocala area. 6 months into home ownership, we were faced with replacing the homes foundation, repairing a hurricane devastated back yard, roof leaks, and all major appliance replacement. We even sacrificed a honeymoon for a new AC unit. With aspirations of starting a family, we knew our needy house was not the environment we desired bringing a child to.

With family now all over the state and a job in the middle of the everglades, we set out for a more stress free lifestyle and a much more manageable home perfect for raising children. Fort Myers seemed to be a perfect choice for us, just minutes from family and down the road from our annual vacation spot in Sanibel Island. Your home immediately captured our interest. Driving 6 hours to see the home seemed well worth it. Pulling into the neighborhood silenced us in awe. We took our four legged travel buddy Taylor on a walk around the neighborhood while we admired the magazine like homes and pictured ourselves doing it daily. We have yet to find an area that has fit our lifestyle so well.

Your home gave us the feeling we have been searching for. Safe, well kept, and beautiful, we knew we had found something special. We plan to maintain that same feeling for the next 30+ years and to raise a God loving family in the home. We pray for the opportunity to make our dreams a reality and be given the ability to latch onto the wonders of home ownership again.

Proverbs 24:3-4
By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.








Sincerely,

Jason and Amanda Allis
(Taylor too)


While reading it to Jason in front of Starbucks, I began to cry. I couldn't believe how overcome I was with emotion. The listing agent had mentioned to us that the owner was a Sunday school teacher and had recently lost her dog. I tried to make mention of both those things in our own way, hoping she would make a connection.

While ordering my drink, Jason got a call. . . he didn't seem to be getting good news as I watched him walk out the door with his head down. I waited in line and started to feel sad. After walking outside and talking with Jason, I was happy to hear that we weren't out of the running just yet. My mom had called Jason and told him that she got word that Amanda was going to submit the offer to the seller. This was around 1:30pm.

When we returned to the rv at Heather and Richie's house, I had grown grossly sick with a stuffed nose, congestion, and horrible body aches. I laid down with Taylor and waited to hear the news. Although our contract stated a response needed by 5:00pm on Tuesday, I hoped for an answer sooner. Jason toyed with the option of qualifying for a conventional loan just in case they were scared by our FHA loan. After a few hours had passed, I called my mom. I told her the seller must be countering with the other couple who put in an offer. There wouldn't be any other reason it should take this long the hear. 10 minutes later I got the call. . . "Does June 3rd work as a closing date?" my mom asked. I sprung up from the bed and swung the rv door open. Jason was outside working on the 4-wheeler trailer. I grabbed my camera and ran over to him. "Does June 3rd work as a closing date?" I asked him. He looked up at me completely puzzled. "We got the house?" WE GOT THE HOUSE!!! Jason and I jumped up and down hugging one another as my mom screamed over the phone "Congratulations!" We couldn't believe it. She didn't even counter, she accepted the contract as we had offered it (FHA and all).

  

                  Love his reaction!

 I think my letter may have pushed her to chose us :)

Crossing our fingers

Friday, April 19, 2013 cont'd

Feeling deflated from the total bust of a house we saw on Friday I jumped back on the computer, only this time, I expanded my search a bit. Instead of looking at half an acre lots and larger, I shrunk it to a 1/4 acre. Boom! This new house popped up just 10 minutes away from the one we just visited. A 3/2, 1,700 sq ft, pool, 1/4 acre, 2 car garage, awesome laundry room, etc. Jason, Heather, Richie, Charlee, and I were all sitting around talking while I thumbed through the listing. I called out loud to Jason, "I just found it!" His first question was. . . how big of a lot size is it? Men. . . After telling him 1/4 acre, he declined seeing it. I handed the iPad to Heather and she seemed to like it just as much as I did. Later that night, Jason asked to see the house I was ranting about. As he looked at the pictures, I could see his eyes getting bigger and I could tell his mind was starting to see what I saw in it. He went from not interested to obsessed in 10 seconds flat.

Seeing as he had to work the next day, we wouldn't be able to go view the house. On the market just 4 days, I figured we had some time. At 8:37pm on the same night we viewed the first house, I called the realtor (her name coincidentally happens to be Amanda) and left a message stating we were interested in the property and to please get back with us as soon as possible. As the minutes passed, Jason started growing more antsy. "Why isn't she calling us back?" I would just laugh. I know things happen for a reason and I for whatever reason was pretty calm.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

I got a call from the listing agent. She said she could show us the house Sunday after she returned from church. She mentioned that they had already received an offer and turned it down. The problem with seeing the house was, Jason didn't get off work until Sunday morning at 8am and he would already be half way there because of his Big Cypress station location. I talked him into meeting me on Sunday at the Wal-Mart in Clewiston and us traveling together the rest of the way. He tried to talk me into having someone come into work for him so we could go now. Not happening buddy! I think he was just worried someone else would put in an offer.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

We made plans for me to drive halfway to the Wal-Mart, meet Jason, and drive together across the rest of the state together and meet the realtor round 11:30am at the house. I had no problem getting up in the morning. I had made sandwiches and pack a food bag for the car. By 8am I was on the road with Taylor. We met Jason, left my car in the parking lot, and took off. We ended up getting to the house 15 minutes early and saw that the was another realtor parked in the driveway. While we waited for our turn, we let the dog out and went for a walk around the neighborhood. We fell in love! The yards are all perfectly cut and landscaped, the birds are chirping as the sun shines down. We walked to the end of the street and of course Taylor had to pick the best looking yard to poop in. They are going to love us!

We walked a few streets down and saw an entrance to the elementary school. We joked at the thought of walking our kids to school. Jason jumped right in with, "You mean drive them in the golf cart to school." Yes babe. We made our way back to the house, left Taylor in the truck this time (with the air conditioning on of course). Side note: Jason's spiffy truck allow you to start it without the key and let the air run for 10 minutes before shutting off. The listing agent met us in the driveway and apologized for having another showing. She started giving details of the house and took us around back while the other people finished up inside.

The side yard was incredibly done with brick pavers and exotic plants. It was paradise. The realtor decided she wanted to take us in through the front door instead so we got the true feeling of the house. As we walked in, we noticed another couple sitting at the kitchen bar stools writing up an offer. Talk about a tense situation. Their realtor gave us a dirty look and when Jason said "Hey man" to the guy, he barely lifted his head to acknowledge Jason. While in the master bedroom, we over heard the couple's realtor scolding the listing agent about booking a certain time slot and not wanting anyone else to be at the home viewing it. Well tough crap lady. We had our viewing scheduled yesterday morning while you made yours last night.

The house was exactly as the pictures showed it to be. Nice, well kept, clean, bright, homey, and just plain perfect for us. I apologized to the listing agent as she met us in the master and the other group walked out back. Neither one of us could believe how nasty she was. She better be a lot nicer if she wants to get the house for her clients. Anyways, Jason and I eventually walked out back and talked briefly. I wanted to make sure we were both on the same page. It seemed like a no brainer, we LOVED it! Talking a bit more with Amanda, we discussed having my mom represent us as our realtor. She had no problem with it :) We told her we loved the house and would making an offer that night.

Wouldn't you want to put an offer in?

 

The kitchen will eventually need updating.

 Look at the size of that laundry room!

 DIE!

 Obsessed with those windows!

It was so nice being able to meet up with Jason's cousin Robbie for lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise. Mallory and Johnny, Robbie's girlfriend and son, met us as well.

We then drove down the road to visiting with Maggie, Ryan, and Hannah in Naples. It didn't take us long at all and it was so nice getting to spend time with them. I could get used to seeing them more often :)

Since we were in a family-seeing-mood, why not continue on across the bridge to see Jason's dad? We decided to stop by the local Publix on the way over just to check out where we would possibly be shopping if we got the house. I felt perfectly safe walking the isles. Wanting to see the neighborhood in the evening, we drove by the house one more time. Driving into the neighborhood made us feel at home. We saw couple walking the street pulling a wagon full of kids, people walking their dog, an older couple sitting in their garage taking in the sites, and a little blonde boy fishing in the canal. It was right out of an old Leave it to Beaver episode. The house looked just as beautiful in the evening sun as it did during the day. On the way out, the little boy ended up catching a fish right as we were driving by. He held the fish up and smiled at us. I gave him a thumbs up as Jason clapped for him. Where in the world does that ever happen so perfectly? 

We made it over the bridge and to Jasons' dad's house in 13 minutes. It will really be nice if we could be that close. We showed Steve and aunt Annette pictures of the house. Aunt Annette couldn't stop talking about how great of a neighborhood Tanglewood was. It made us feel good to know other people thought so also. We toyed with the idea of staying the night, but felt we should get back to the RV. On the drive over, we had my mom contact the listing agent and request the documentation for the house. We wanted to get our offer in that night. 

Jason and I talked about the many possibilities. What did that other couple offer? Would we be upset if we didn't get the house? I tried so hard not to get emotionally attached. I caught myself placing furniture in my mind and decorating. I had to stop it. Whatever is meant to be, will be! Jason came up with the idea to offer $1,100.00 over asking to round out the number. If the other offer was full asking, we would stand out. He asked if I would be upset if we lost the house of $1K. I said yes. He asked if I would be upset if we spent an additional $1K when the other couple didn't even offer full price. I said no. So we knew offering a bit more didn't really matter. If in the end we didn't get the house, we would know we gave it our best shot.

The 3 hour drive home gave us plenty of time to think. The first 2 hours we talked together about it and the last hour we drove separate after picking up my car from the Wal-Mart. I am sure he thought about the house on his own just as much as I did that drive.

 

Just think. This could be us sitting outside our house.

Swing and a miss

Friday, April 19, 2013

Life has been crazier than ever. I am quickly remembering the stress of selling/buying a home. The roller coaster of emotions is hard to deal with. We have been looking for homes in both West Palm Beach and the west coast of Florida. We have virtually toured hundreds of homes from our very own living room computer and have actually toured a few brand new models.

I randomly came across a 3/2 on half an acre in the Fort Myers area. Jason and I both liked the house and the fact that it met a lot of the criteria on our wish list. It had a pool, large storage shed (both air conditioned and set up with electricity), large lot, smaller house, and even rv hook ups for water, electric, and even sewer. Jason apparently liked it a little too much and woke me up at 5:30am on Friday. He told me we were driving to the other coast (3 hours away) to see the house. . . Seriously?

The best part was we had to be back in the West Palm area by 1pm for a mandatory work meeting. We drove the 3 hours across highway 80. We watched the sun rise in the rear view mirror and listened to snores coming from Taylor in the back seat. We traveled through random small towns with 35 mph signs and saw multiple crops growing such as oranges, corn, beans, and sugar. I couldn't believe how simple things were out there. It made me so proud to live in this country. One where people still road tractors and did hard labor to make an honest living.

We took a lone dirt road to the house and pulled into the gravel circular driveway. Since we had Taylor with us, she got to explore the house as well by running around the backyard and leading the way to the bedrooms. Of course she has to be first :) She is such a stinker sometimes. She immediately ran to the far corner of the yard and found the only whole in the fence. I started to notice a few odd things with the house;
1. pool enclosure screen falling down (right after the lady told us it was just redone)
2. large pile of garbage and debris stacked behind the shed in the yard
3. uneven baseboards and a shadow at the ceiling line
4. corner tape pealing up
5. 6 different types of flooring choice

Look and see what I mean!

Pretty cute from the outside.

Kitchen could use some updating, but very bright and open.

 Living room was large, but cut off from the rest of the house. You can see separation from the base board and the tile in the far corner.

 This room was a good size, but the main closet was taken up by the hot water heater and breaker box. No, I do not want my children able to play with that thank you. Oh. . . and the awkward little door??? The air handler is behind there.

 The second bedroom was small and boasted yet another flooring choice. You can see the separation of base board and floor in the right corner as well as the shadowing around the ceiling. The shadowing is caused by a separation of the tape line and the drywall.

Here is the same room at another angle. The floor issue is now on the bottom left corner.

 

The master bathroom needed an entire remodel job, but could work for a few months.

The yard was the perfect size. Half an acre. 

Not too much to take care of and just large enough to not be on top of your neighbor. 

The trees however would of have to be trimmed or completely taken out. The million of fallen leaves were killing the grass.

The shed was 360 sqft and already air conditioned. Jason was pretty happy at the thought of 'tinkering' (as he likes to call it) in there.

The pool was by far the best part of the house. The enclosure however was extremely low 

and reachable from the surrounding deck.

When talking with the realtor, I asked why the base boards were a tad off (flush in one area and not in another). Her response was not done correctly. I mentioned it looking a lot like our old home and seemed to have foundation issues. She replied, "Well what do you have to do? Just jack it up?" Actually. . . that's exactly what you have to do. . . how did you know that if you didn't know there was a problem? When Jason came in, I showed him my findings. He asked for a pen and while explaining about foundation issues to the realtor, he laid the pen on the floor and we all watched it roll to the corned in question. It was perfect. I could feel her tense up. There is no way in heck we are buying another house with foundation issues.

We took off to Sanibel Island for lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, The Island Cow.

We love this restaurant and have even made it a traditional to bike here for lunch while vacationing.

We love the beachy vibe and that we can bring the dogs. 

Flips flops and board shorts are fine with them!

The main reason I love this place so much is for their homemade funfetti muffins. OMG!

We paid a $6.00 toll to cross the bridge from Fort Myers to Sanibel Island. The water was gorgeous and we could see the pelicans diving into the water right from our car. The wait at the restaurant was only 15 minutes, but we quickly realized we wouldn't have enough time to sit and eat. Jason had to be back for his meeting by 1pm and it was already 10:30am and we still had a 3 hour car ride back across the state. I ran in, returned the pager and menus, and bought a half dozen muffins :) It was well worth the money. . . and the additional $6.00 toll we just paid to get here.

I drove us back up 75 and across to highway 80 before connecting us to 27 and then 80 again. 

Check out our route for yourself!

We managed to get Jason all the way across the state and back for his meeting only a few minutes late. We were kind of bummed about the house not working out so well and that we drove 6 hours total to find out that it had foundation issues, just like our old house did. Back on the hunt again!