One of the worst things about moving long-distance is the need to replace things too big, expensive or shabby to justify moving. Sure, there’s obviously a home purchase involved, but Hubby and I both needed new cars since ours were too old or corroded by salt air to survive trans-Pacific shipping. On top of that, we sold several pieces of furniture prior to our move since they’d either been warped or ruined by salt air, faded by sunlight, or turned into a hotel by the 3-inch-long cockroaches that are so pervasive in Hawaii.
Of course, one of the best things about moving long-distance is getting to replace things that were too big, expensive, or shabby to justify moving. So, Hubby and I both bought new cars, with each of us getting precisely what we wanted… at 0% financing, to boot! But the big news is that we found our new house on the very first day of looking!
That’s not as rash as it sounds. For one thing, we’d spent the last several months creating a checklist of all the things we absolutely had to have, things we wouldn’t put up with, and a “wish list” of things we’d like but wouldn’t insist on. We’d also done a lot of market research online before getting here, which gave us 30 or so listings of interest. Once we arrived. we drove by each of them and narrowed them down to a dozen that we were particularly interested in seeing.
Out of that dozen, there was one house in particular that I wanted to see, although we didn’t tell that to our realtor. Instead, we handed him the 12 listings I’d found online and set out to see each one. But as the day wore on I started to suspect that our expectations were unreasonable.
We have a very definite max price we’re willing to pay since we want to avoid paying PMI, which means being able to put 20% down. Our requirements were pretty high, given our price range: a house less than 10 years old, with 4 bedrooms, at least 2 full bathrooms, a large eat-in kitchen, separate living and family rooms, a 2-car garage and a treed lot that isn’t on a busy street but still within 10 minutes of a good grocery store, gas station and convenience store, and within 20 minutes of Hubby’s future office. On our “wish list” were things that we assumed were beyond our price range: another bedroom, a separate storage/work room, a formal dining room, and — since Hubby and I have always had the smallest bathroom in the house — a master bathroom bigh enough for the two of us to share without constantly elbowing each other away from the mirror.
Ordinarily, house hunting with a hyper 4-year-old and a sulking teenager is a miserable experience that seems to drag on, sucking the energy out of frazzled parents until they abandon all hope and make an offer on whatever house stands out in their overtaxed minds. At least, that’s what happened to us in the past. But this time, armed with our checklist, things moved swiftly. We’d enter a house, go through the list, realize it didn’t meet our criteria, and leave. Altogether, we saw a dozen houses in 3 hours.
And wouldn’t you know, the one and only house that met absolutely all of our requirements was the very same one I’d fallen in love with during our internet search. To top it off, it met all of our “wish list” requirements, too, and then some! It was even painted in the very colors that I’ve been painting our rooms for years: Tuscan yellow in the living room, sand and white in the family room and den, white with apple green trim in the kitchen. The kids’ rooms are even the precise shades of their old rooms in Hawaii. And the exterior? It’s a color I’d once begged Hubby to paint our house — without success since he despises painting. Best yet, we hadn’t wanted to take possession until January since Hubby still has out-processing to do. But most of the houses we’d seen were listed by sellers who wanted to move ASAP. Turns out, our schedule works just fine for these sellers, since their new house in Arizona won’t be ready for them until then, too!
So, we made an offer and 20 minutes later they accepted. There were high fives all around as our realtor prepared to go home, shaking his head in amazement and saying that he doesn’t even feel like he earned his commission, since the process was so smooth for all involved.
I guess this means that I’ll be throwing a “Midwest Blog Bash” at my place much earlier than expected. Look for the announcement in late January. In the meantime, I’ll be daydreaming about how my furniture will look in our new home and hoping the sellers don’t get spooked when they see me, in my new minivan, driving by the house every day, sighing contentedly and counting the days ’till it’s ours.
Tuesday, November 30th, 2004, 10:54 am | 
My Venomous Life | 
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November 30, 2004 at 2:36 pm
How wonderful!!! I am so happy for you. It gives me hope that when we finally have to move I’ll get lucky too and find if not exactly what I want, then at least something pretty close. *grin*
November 30, 2004 at 4:27 pm
Congratulations, Kate!
November 30, 2004 at 5:00 pm
Congrats Kate and family.
November 30, 2004 at 5:05 pm
I do believe it is time to update your “about ” page. Just a reminder since you don’t have anything else to do except the house, the kids, the hubby, the season, the new furniture and draps, and some duda (I’m sure).
November 30, 2004 at 5:06 pm
The house sounds almost too good to be true, so you need to do a few things ASAP to insure nothing will rise up and bite you on the ass before it closes. I’m sure your doing all this but it doesn’t hurt to be reminded.
Make sure you get a home inspection done quickly to find anything that you may have missed in your walkthrough. Your agent should have a list of people that they recommend. Also, if they are not offering a home repair insurance policy ask why… it’s not that expensive (around $300), should cover the little things that may be overlooked, like slow drains and funky wiring. If it’s not being offered as the buyer I would want a good reason why not.
Get the title report and if you can swing it a credit report on the sellers. It’s good to find out if they have any liens that they may have “forgot” to disclose. People are real good at hiding little things like that and they can bring the processes screeching to a halt at the last minute. Having it happen to me when I purchased my current house I remind others to look for it.
With luck I’m just overly paranoid and you’ll have no problems but it doesn’t hurt to be extra careful and not let the fact that it’s the house of your dreams cloud your eyes and good sense
November 30, 2004 at 5:07 pm
Congratulations Kate!
November 30, 2004 at 5:10 pm
re: daydreaming — what about the christening of every room!? How fun are YOU, girlfriend? I mean. . .some would say you’re “lucky,” but I would say you mission-planned that to perfection!
Rawk. Awn.
November 30, 2004 at 5:18 pm
Can you say “Awesome” boys and girls? “Yes Mr…oh, never mind. That is fantastic Kate. I envy you (as does anyone with half a mind that reads here). So cool. Enjoy.
November 30, 2004 at 7:45 pm
congratulations kate.
it’s always nice to get home. did the house make you feel at home?
November 30, 2004 at 8:39 pm
The house has an absolutely wonderful feeling. I not only felt welcome, but like I’d already been missed.
November 30, 2004 at 10:05 pm
Congratulations!!! Isn’t it great when the sun and the moon and the stars line up and everything falls into place?
December 1, 2004 at 4:09 pm
It sounds like everything’s coming up roses in your part of the world! Congrats on the house!!
December 2, 2004 at 9:01 am
congratulations! if only everything were that easy.
December 3, 2004 at 11:31 pm
having just experienced exactly what you have, i am glad to see we weren’t the only lucky people in the world. i heard all of these horror stories from amigos, and it almost made me want to say forget it. but when you walk into a house, and your heart and head tell you “hey dummy, this is the one!!!”, you best be listening.
congratulations.
we’re moving, one pickup truck load at a time.
December 4, 2004 at 12:25 am
Way cool! How do you get so lucky?
Is it in Johnson County? Nice part of town there. I have a cousin who lives in Paola. Love that name. You’d like her. She’s a cool and sassy Kansas girl like you. She doesn’t smoke though.
Venom Victim