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.