Tuesday, March 10, 2015

The Ames Buy A House

Hello my friends!

I'm excited to share some BIG news with everyone! Mike and I have finally bit the bullet and have decided to venture into the home-ownership world! The house hunting process, while it seems to be fun and exciting, was actually more of an emotional journey than I expected. 




We started our search for houses in November 2014 like most people do - peeking in the windows of vacant houses in our current neighborhood (like stalkers). When we decided to actually inquire about a house - we found out that it was already sold. Strike ONE! Although we were a tad bit disappointed, some good did come out of the situation - we met GEORGE! George has been our realtor through this entire process and I cannot say enough great things about him!



Our serious home search began in January; we would reserve Saturday mornings and weekdays after work to go check out houses - we even put an offer in on a couple. Let's talk about THAT emotional roller coaster. The first house we put an offer in on - we were over bid on. Granted, our offer was $10k less than what the asking price was, so no wonder. But hey - it was worth a shot. It's actually a blessing in disguise that we didn't get it - looking back on it now, the house just wasn't "us". 



The second house we put an offer in on had a pool, a layout we liked, didn't need ANY updates... Mike was instantly in love. Alas - we were over bid on this one as well. However - this was just another blessing in disguise. The pool would have required more work than we were willing to put in, the neighborhood wasn't my favorite, and the front entry way had 3 different types of flooring - all within 5 feet of the front door.


After losing this house - and starting to lose hope on any others, Mike and I determined that we were going to take a break for a couple of weeks to re-group and come up with a game plan. We decided to "up" our max budget by about $20,000 just to have more options to review. On Wednesday, February 25th, we met George and went through three houses together. One was a Fannie Mae property that didn't need any work at all, another was a Short Sale in our current neighborhood that didn't need much work either, but had zero yard space, and the last one we saw that day was a complete disaster. It was owned by HUD, had no floors, had holes in the walls, was painted EVERY COLOR UNDERNEATH THE SUN; however - it had potential... and a huge back yard. Guess which one we decided to go with? THE HUD HAZMAT HOUSE!




For those of you who aren't familiar with HUD - they're home selling process is a little different than other types of home buying. For starters, the house goes up for bidding for 10 days. Only Owner-Occupants, Government Agencies and Non-Profits are eligible to bid on the house. If it doesn't sell within those first 10 days, it gets opened up to investors. Mike and I knew, that if we wanted this house, we were going to have to fight for it. The bidding deadline was Thursday, March 5th at midnight. We put in our offer on Wednesday night, with the help of our fabulous agent, George. And then we waited.

All day Thursday, Mike and I were nervous wrecks. After losing 2 previous offers and countless other homes that went off the market before we could even put in an offer, we did NOT want to lose this house. We both didn't get much sleep Thursday night - tossing and turning each hour, not knowing what Friday would bring us - tears of sadness, or tears of joy.Waking up Friday morning, Mike and I immediately pulled out our phones and checked the HUD website - terrified. First thing we noticed: The bidding period was EXTENDED to Monday 3/9. WHAT DID THIS MEAN? Hurriedly, I sent George a text message (at 7:00am) asking for an update (HELP US GEORGE!). With nothing new to report, he convinced us to be patient and let us know that he would update us if anything happened.


Around lunch time, my curiosity was getting the better of me. I sent George another message asking him if he had any updates. His reponse: "The HUD website says that the bidding period has closed an offer has been accepted, but I haven't gotten an email yet." Here is where my heart sinks. Could we have possibly lost ANOTHER house? But then another message comes from George: "The bidding period is closed because they accepted YOUR offer." Could this be true? Did they really pick us? Did we have a house? OUR HOUSE? Commence extreme excitement dance in my office chair. [side note: Mike forgot his cell phone at home this day - therefore, I had to call every friend we had to try to find him to tell him the news.]


Now that the paperwork is in to HUD (including our pre-approval letter and binder check), the real fun is about to begin! Please send prayers, good vibes, and any other good mojo and karma our way - we're going to need it these next few weeks as we try to close on this house and get it ready to be lived in! I'll be sure to keep everyone up-to-date on our progress, including photos! Stay tuned for more!



We can't wait for our friends and family to visit us at our [soon-to-be] new [to-us] house!


5347 Clapboard Creek Drive
Jacksonville, FL 32226

Cheers!!
Annie, Mike & Parker

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