Trick or Treat!

The everlasting saga of house-hunting.

In the middle of October, shortly after I wrote the emotional last blog, I spoke to Mommy and she suggested Andre and I start the house hunt all over again. I dreaded that a lot, but knew it was inevitable. If the house didn't work out- we were going to need another one. After all, we only have this sublet until the end of December (which in house buying world is right around the corner).

We went out with our awesome realtor Jessie on a Saturday morning and saw two homes for sale. We really, really liked one of them which was listed at $204,000. Since we were in contract for $206,000 on the other house, we felt comfortable just going in at full asking and securing that house. Jessie had another appointment to go to, so she left after that-but called us back within an hour to let us know that we would face the EXACT same problem with that house that we had with our original. Most of the comps in the neighborhood were going to be short sales and foreclosures and that home would never appraise out. Ugh, here we go again. We thank Jessie and tell her to forget about it, we'll talk to her tomorrow.

At that point, we decide to check out some model homes in the community where our new friends Shane and Maria live based on their recommendation. They have a beautiful home, so we figured we would check it out. After viewing the models, a few inventory homes for sale, and talking lots of numbers, we were thoroughly impressed. We went to lunch to talk all of our options. We decided to check out another builder so we can compare apples to apples. After another few hours of talking and viewing with that company we went home to weigh all of our pros and cons. After all, there are very few cons when talking about a brand new build.

The next morning, on Sunday, we took Jessie back with us to the community where our friends live. She got to see the home we were interested in and hear all of their perks as well. We trust Jessie because she is very honest and is ALWAYS looking out in OUR best interest. We knew that if there was anything not so great about this situation, she would be the first to let us know. Well, she couldn't come up with any negatives at all. She even helped us try to negotiate a little bit. After a bit of back and forth, lots of discussions, we bought  a beautiful, brand new home in Land O' Lakes, Florida. Because it was the end of their fiscal year, they were in a hurry to get rid of these homes. Our home was "on sale" if you will and they are paying all of our closing costs. It turns out- we are getting a nicer, newer home than our original one, and are bringing MUCH less cash to the closing table than we would have for the other one. We are set to close on Halloween, Wednesday October 31, 2012! 

We are SO excited to live around the corner from our new friends. We've also met some of our neighbors, who are nice, young families. It's going to be absolutely perfect for us. 

Yesterday we started shopping for furniture. We came out of a small 1 bedroom apartment in long island and are moving into a huge 4 bed, 3 bath home with a dining room, and 2 family rooms! We bought our new living room set, a dining room set, a kitchen table and lots of art to decorate. It is being shipped to the house on Saturday. I can't believe this is real. It's all so fast and exciting.

O give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known His doings among the peoples!
1 Chronicles 16: 8

I haven't updated in a while since we've had a lot going on. And not necessarily fun, exciting things worth sharing.

Bullet points for the home we are currently in contract with.

• Passed inspection with flying colors. We were very excited and hopeful.
• Failed the bank home appraisal.
• We are in contract for $206,000
• The bank appraises the house out at $174,000
• The bank will never gives us a mortgage for a penny over what the home is actually worth.
• We can't afford/ would never pay $30,000 MORE than the bank says the home is worth. That is plain stupid and we will not start out completely upside down.
• Our realtor, Jessie, was submitting some more comps to the underwriter hoping to get the number up a little bit.
• Upon research, it appears the current home owners took a morgage of $218,000 4  years ago. I'm betting they still owe a lot of money on the home and will NEVER want to sell it for $174,000 or anywhere else.
• Banks lie. They say they will evaluate the new comps and get back to us by Monday, uhh Wednesday.... maybe tomorrow?
• We have to pray for a (very unlikely) miracle that the sellers come down in price, and the bank comes up with the appraisal.
• Very likely we will be at square one, house hunting and starting all over WITHOUT our dream home (and hoping to find a new dream).

I'm so over all of this. I want to say that I have faith and that I've been happily praying for a favorable outcome. But honestly, I just feel defeated. I have a strong feeling this home isn't going to work out. I want someone to give us an answer. One way or another I want an answer so we can MOVE ON.

I still love this home, I still picture us living in there, decorating it, celebrating holidays in it etc. I still pray there is a huge miracle and we can still buy this house. But I just want an answer. Yes its yours, you are closing on November 5. or Sorry, not going to work out- start all over again.

Ecclesiastes 7:14 "When life is good, enjoy it. But remember: God gives good times and hard times, and no one knows what tomorrow will bring."

We keep our faith in God, and He is GREAT!

Good afternoon!

I wanted a way to keep the people who care in communication with all the exciting things that we have going on in our lives. This is my first time blogging, so I hope that I can keep up with it and stay dedicated to it.

Andre and I are on a great adventure. To keep everyone up-to-date on what's gone on so far, here is a play by play.
October 8, 2011: We were blessed in holy marriage

August 16, 2012: We got our PODS delivered to our 1 bedroom apartment in Hicksville, NY and with the help of my parents, loaded all of our belongings into it for storage, and our cars for shipment.
August 18, 2012: At 5am on a dark and rainy Saturday morning, we began our road trip down to Florida (with our furbaby Milo in his carseat in the back- and occasionally asleep on one of our laps)

August 19, 2012: We moved into our temporary home. A sublet 1 bedroom condo in a beautiful complex in Palm Harbor, Florida. It is fully furnished, and has a pool and gym on the premises too.

August 27, 2012: I had my very first day at work in the hospital.
September 4, 2012: We went and saw the house of our dreams with our Realtor Jessie.
September 5, 2012: We got a phone call that Andre was given the job as Manager of Employee Relations, and 2 hours later, got the call that we were officially under contract on our beautiful home. Due to close on November 5, 2012.

We have been praying since we got married for God to give us a sign when it was time for us to take the big leap of faith and move 2500 miles away from our parents, sister and our friends and families. We've known all along that this move would be the best thing for our family, but we didn't want to do it without God walking with us. Every step along the process we've prayed that He continue to walk with us and help us make the decisions that He knows is perfect for us. He has blessed us in so many ways and we give all the glory and praise to Him.

On Wednesday, Andre has a lunch meeting with the 2 executives that he will be working with. And on Thursday we have the home inspection.

In the meantime between now and November 5th when we close and make that house our HOME, we are pouring over paint samples, furniture stores and websites, pinterest etc. getting inspiration to furnish/paint and decorate our first home.

I hope we can use this blog as way to stay close with all of the wonderful people who touched our lives while we were in New York.

Until next time :)

Proverbs 8:21 Bestowing wealth on those who love me and making their treasuries full.