Our Beautiful Mess: 6.16.12 Will We EVER Get a House? Day 13 70 DOS

3900 Braxton Ln.

This post is just a testament to the frustration and LONG process that comes with buying a house. We have had the craziest experience. It all started in March when we started looking. We found a home in Flower Mound - barely.

This home was the first one we stepped in and actually could accept and found it on our first "house hunt." 3900 Braxton Ln. It was built in 2003 which we loved - every other home we looked at was built in the 80's or 90's. It also was clean inside and with the exception of some yard work, didn't really need much work. It was a 3/2 with a big living area and then a formal dining we decided we would use for a playroom. We liked it because it was new and because it was eventually to be zoned to Flower Mound HS, my alma mater. What we didn't like was that it was literally on the border of Lewisville and after talking with the school district, realized we really had no control over the fact that it could at any time be zoned to Lewisville HS meaning that we would for sure have to move before E even went to MS. Another indicator of the possibility of this shift happening was that the elementary school the home was zoned to was comprised of 25% of people zoned to Flower Mound and 75% zoned to LHS. The plan would be for E to go to school in Coppell with me and then we would have to move once she was done with elem. school. The upstairs hallway was also completely open to the downstairs which meant we would need to be fairly quiet when E was asleep. It also had a TINY backyard but did have a park RIGHT across the street. We still liked it WAY more than any others and knew we would have to make sacrifices.

Our crazy process started here. We made an offer, went under contract, paid $300 for an inspection and requested repairs like anyone else would. It needed a new roof and a new AC - HUGE repairs but also couldn't be sold without those things being fixed so we knew the seller would have to fix them. Over Easter weekend we were in West Texas visiting Grandma and Grandpa and got a call from our realtor who is also a sweet family friend, Dottie. She was letting us know that the option period (the time period you have after the contract is written which gives you enough time to get an inspection and agree on repairs with the seller before you have the chance of losing your $1000 ernest money) was going to end at midnight that night and that we still hadn't heard from the seller on a response to repairs. Long story short and retrospectively, we found out that the listing agent ended up having a buyer so he let our option period run out, never did anything to communicate with Dottie and really went against etiquette in the realty world. SO that house fell through. While we were upset, we now look back and see that it was all apart God's plan in finding the perfect home!

505 Drexel Dr.

After watching realtor.com and having my 11pm chats on the phone in bed with our realtor every day, we found another home we thought might have potential. While we didn't want to live in Lewisville, we were having no luck in FM and Coppell and found this home - 505 Drexel Dr. I hated that we might be living in Lewisville because I knew we would have to move before E went to school which is only 3 years away. BUT I was worried we wouldn't find anything we liked and this house had potential. First off, I was wowed by the hardwood floors and granite counter tops. The back windows were beautiful though the yard needed work. What was wonderful about this home was that it had 4 bedrooms. The master closet was also amazing and had shelves built in for all my shoes! The bathrooms were updated as was the kitchen though there was a catch. We once again, put a second home under contract, paid the ernest money and now $250 towards an inspection - our sweet inspector gave us a deal! This home needed a new roof and furnace and was just flipped by a realtor. It also had a very interesting story...the owner before the flipper came in had rented out rooms to people. It seemed kind of creepy when we first realized that. There were deadbolts on the bedroom doors and before the garage door was replaced, we found an air conditioner in it. YUCK! The flipper did a wonderful job but the story kind of creeped us out. We were just so beaten down by not finding anything and this was a home we could actually picture ourselves in...somewhat.

Our Home
- to be -

How providential has this entire process been though as a couple of nights before our option period was up on the Drexel house, we found a home in Flower Mound that was in our price range and definitely had potential. Dottie was out of town though but luckily, she had my sister working as her assistant. We literally saw the house come on the market at around 10pm one night, looked at it the next day after school, and wrote up a contract for it that night with Dottie on the phone. We knew we needed to get an offer in so that we would avoid a bidding war as this house was in a perfect neighborhood/area and had decent sq. footage for the price. We have decided that we are becoming experts in this whole process, by the way.

We realized it wasn't our "dream home" that we might have pictured in my head but many of the main desireables were present - exemplary schools (E, M, and HS), extra living area for a play room (though the paint in that bad boy was SO dark - don't worry it will be changed), decent sized kitchen with the potential for a gas stove someday (you know I NEED a gas stove to cook best) and in need of some new paint (ALL OVER). The seller decided to put nasty counter tops on - granite wannabe laminate and probably completed the job in 30 min...I could have done a better job with no instruction - WOOF! We got a quote on the back-splash and counter tops but decided we needed to save for that so we will have to deal with them. I will do a post later once it happens, but mom and I are going to try to spray paint the back splash to live with it for now. We will do the same up in the master bathroom. EEK!

The master bed and bath we love because the ceilings and walls are fine so we don't have to do anything in there. We also love the plantation shutters in the master. The upstairs bedrooms are a treat - check out the guest room with green and brown walls and Eleanor's room - her "butterfly room" as she coined it. Those butterflies will be gone as soon as I can decide what her bedding will be and can paint the walls. The guest room will probably end up being a storage hold until we can unpack. The guest bath will stay the same for now as well. The family room is going to be painted all one uniform color - and the fan will be replaced with our more modern looking fan from our apt.

We LOVE the back yard. Yes the fence you see first is made of three different kinds of fences but they are all standing so we love them for now. The most memorable component to the backyard is the giant tree in the back. It reminds me of the tree in the backyard on Father of the Bride that Annie and her dad and brother carved their names into. I love that it also shades a certain part of the yard all day long. It is beautiful and will someday soon hold Eleanor's Swing that she is ever so excited to have! We really like this house and are excited to call it home.

Our crazy adventure didn't end once we found this home though. We set our close date for June 11th and have had so many setbacks. Wow this experience has been a test of patience! Two holdups caused out file to get kicked back to the end of the line in underwriting (where your file goes before getting approved to close by the lender). The first was that the seller didn't turn the gas on before our home-to-be was appraised. When the appraiser went out, there was no gas and therefore, no hot water. As my lender claimed, most appraisers don't even check that but she did. We then had to pay her another $150 to go back and re-appraise. That also caused our file to get kicked back making out June 11 close impossible. Then, we found out that the relator didn't put the correct zip code on the contract so we had to re-sign everything and once again, had to wait longer. We are now slotted to close on Monday of next week - depending on whether or not we actually have the paperwork to the title office or not. We have been in limbo about moving in all week and just want to be in our house! We know it will come, but like I said before...patience is not my best friend. Waiting eagerly! Updates to come...

Eleanor's "buttbye" room...yes they painted "grass" at the base and anyone want that squiggly mirror?

Guest room/Nursery...whenever that happens next...

Master Bedroom - the door you see is the bathroom

Master Bedroom - the door on the left is to the upstairs hallway, on the right is the closet - weird I know I am used to the closet being off the bathroom...

Master Bath - Brass fixtures and red tile need to go - anyone know if it is possible to paint the brass on the shower? We can't afford to replace a perfectly good shower right now...