As you may or may not have heard already, we bought a house in Eagle Mountain, Utah.
We are so excited and cannot wait!
This process actually came rather quickly to us, and things just fell into place.
We had been talking about buying a place of our own, for awhile now.
We knew we had our baby girl coming spring 2014 and that there was just no room in our current location.
Here were our options:
Move out of our current location and rent a larger space.
OR
Stay at our current location & put things in storage rentals & paying a monthly fee.
None of those sounded appealing to us though. They all sounded like a waste of money.
Friday, November 1st
Message sent.
We decided to talk to our property manager (who also does real estate), and was hoping he'd be able to help us get on our way.
Much to our surprise, our property manager (Steve) messaged us back rather quickly.
(Duh. Of course he will. He wants money!)
He messaged us back right away, with a list of questions.
First, he asked us if we knew who we wanted to do our home loan through. We didn't.
Boy- was I glad we talked to him. We were't even able to get through the rest of the list of questions let alone anything else.
Our property manager (Steve) messaged us back (again) right away), but this time w/answers to help us get a little bit further in our process.
He gave us two, local, loan officers we could talk to around here and suggested we do that, rather than talk to a bank and or credit union.
Sunday, November 4th
We called Papa Joe (Jake's dad) just to verify that that sounded right.
Having never purchased a home of our own before, we wanted to make sure we were getting the best of the best & not getting jipped.
Not that we didn't trust our current property manager, who would maybe possibly be our real estate agent one day, but we just wanted to make sure.
This was such a big process and such and exciting step in our lives, so we called Papa Joe to verify.
He agreed and thought it sounded like a good idea to call the two suggested loan officers who our property manager (Steve) suggested.
Monday, November 4th
Jake called the two loan officers & left messages w/both of them.
One of them called us back sooner than the other, so we made an appointment w/the one who got back to us first.
Naturally.
Tuesday, November 5th
We met w/the loan officer (Scott) to talk about available home loans for us.
I was very excited to say the least.
We brought all the proper paper work he requested and didn't waste any time.
He sat us down and got straight to business. We were pre-qualified right then and there!
He, that night, sent an email to our property manager (Steve) to let him know what we pre- qualified for (dollar amount wise), what our budget would be, and that we were more than ready to start this process.
Steve started searching for properties within our pre-qualified home loan price range and sent the listing to us via email.
Wednesday, November 6th
We received an e-mail w/property listings and pictures.
There were about 30 listings in a relatively close area. I was so excited!
I fell in love w/the first property in the pictured email.
It was a cute little two story home w/a walk-in closet in the master suite.
A walk-in closet?!?! You had me at walk.
I can't even step one foot in our current closet.
Jake and I could actually share a closet now?!?!
You mean- he doesn't have to store his clothing in the spare room anymore?!?!
Oh my heck, I was so excited! When could we go look at this property?
That night, we called Steve to set up an appointment to look at this property.
We made it very clear we were interested in it (and one other) because of the price. It was right in our range.
Steve set up an appointment w/us to go look at properties a few days later.
Friday, November 8th
We went house shopping in Eagle Mountain, Utah.
Our property manager offered to pick us up at our apartment and drive us.
We met up at 10am and were told to expect to be gone a few hours.
We told our employers we'd be expected back in the office by 1pm.
Steve had snacks in the car, just in case preggers (me) got hungry, as he knew we'd be out past lunch time.
He handed me a packet (called "the goo") which consisted of all the properties we'd be looking at that day.
ALL the properties we'd be looking at? I thought we were just looking at one or two?
I'm glad he did bring snacks 'cuz at about snack thirty (12 o'clock) we were all getting pretty hungry.
Side note:
Jake and I know what we want.
Not just in life, but in general.
When we go shopping out and about (for whatever) we don't spend time browsing.
(This can be a good and or a bad thing)
I've never been that way, and neither has he.
We go in a store, we get what we want, and leave.
This may or may not come as a surprise to you.
I'm a doer. I like to get things done time efficiently and as painless as possible.
Shopping can be related to food, in this instance.
Jake and I are creatures of habits, as most humans are… Duh.
We find what we like and stick to it.
Every restaurant we go to, we order the same thing. Every time.
Jake gets bored easily and hates shopping.
I repeat: Hate with a capitol "H" folks.
Once we find what we like, we get it. We don't waste time.
Got it?
Okay, back to house shopping...
The firs location didn't go over very well. When we first pulled up, it didn't have great curb appeal.
It was tiny, and by the measuring numbers on "the goo" it was too little house, for too much money.
It was at the very tip top of our price range, and way small.
The only way I was going up in price, is if the house was going up in size.
This one wasn't, but hey- it was the first property so I decided to give it a chance.
Not a very fair one, I'll admit, but a chance none the less.
We went on and looked at other properties.
The second location we looked at, was the two story house we were originally inquiring.
That house was an epic fail.
It was something to keep in mind, but not something we could stay in for more than two years.
It was just too small & had no room to expand.
It also had a town home feel, which we knew we didn't want.
The HOA fee was way too expensive, and our neighbors were a bit too close for comfort.
Besides, there was an empty lot next door, that would soon be starting construction and I didn't want that next to our little girl's nursery.
Too much noise and dust.
We continued on our house hunt.
Steve drove us to a corner lot that had a beautifully constructed exterior, three-car garage.
This house was still in the process of being built, but was under construction for us to walk around inside and take a look.
We walked in and I was floored. It was huge. Huge!
Steve said this one was probably a bit out of our price range, but that this same builder had a similar, smaller home around the corner & suggested we look at it.
So we did.
Again, I walked in and was floored. This is what I saw:
A beautiful, white, open concept kitchen
This house was already in contract, but there were a few next door that were under construction & available.
The exterior was done on all of them, and the insides were pretty much complete.
So I had to ask- "When will they be ready?" Steve replied, "Before you will."
I thought for sure that meant these were out of our price range.
So we left.
Steve showed us two other properties.
Both had the same floor plan and were built in 1999.
Already I was turned off, just because the homes were over 10 years old.
I knew they'd need work, just by looking at the outside.
We walked in one, and saw it had been recently "renovated;" however, it'd still needed a lot of work.
I'm talking torn up floor boards, paint markings on the carpet, cat pee everywhere, etc.
Yeah, it was that house.
We walked in the other home, and saw what it looked like w/o renovations and knew we were just in too deep already.
No such luck there.
Steve explained that was all the listings he had available for us that day, and asked what we wanted to do next.
I said I wanted to go back to that feel good house.
So we did.
I walked in the same "already in contract house" and got the same feeling as before.
I couldn't help it guys. I was in love.
They always said when you find "the one" you know.
I knew w/Jake and I knew the feeling was the same w/this house. Seriously.
I walked in and just knew.
So did Jake.
So we started talking numbers w/Steve and the contractor was actually there w/all his construction workers, working away.
We were able to talk to him about which lots were available and he said one was already further along (plumbing & electrical wise), and that we could take a look at it if we wanted.
So we did.
It was the same floor plan as the "already in contract" house, just flipped.
The exterior was a different color, but I didn't care.
I had found my house and I was done. Bury me right there.
Steve made it very clear to us that we did not have to make a decision that day.
He told us to go home and think about it and to talk things over.
So we did.
We crunched numbers. We talked to our friends and got advice from our family.
Saturday, November 8th
I drove my sisters out there and showed them around.
They loved it.
Sunday, November 9th
We drove our good friends (Ryan & Ashley) out there and showed them around.
They loved it.
They also just bought a newly-built town home out there and would only be about 10 minutes down the road from us.
After spending Saturday and Sunday driving people to Eagle Mountain, we made our decision.
Monday, November 11th
We emailed Steve and let him know we were ready to put in an offer on "our house."
Being that the 11th was Veteran's Day, the builder was not working.
So the offer would have to wait to be submitted on the next day.
That actually worked out for our advantage, which we did not think it would.
We were originally going to bid a lot larger of an amount, but after careful consideration, we looked things over and came up w/a different number.
Had it not been Veteran's Day, we wouldn't have thought up of this different offer.
We actually found the same lot number from the same builder, right around the corner, and it was like a $5,000 difference.
So we felt comfortable coming down in price.
Why the price difference, you might ask? We don't know and neither does Steve.
The only thing we could think of, was the fact that only the foundation would be poured, and that it would take a lot longer to build the frame and finish the exterior.
We didn't want to wait that long and take that chance; Especially w/the cold winter coming.
If anything, that house should've been more expensive, being that you can custom build it.
You could pick out the exterior, add a bay window in the master bedroom, etc.
All of these things (and more) I wanted to stay away from.
They were all beautiful upgrades, but I didn't want our home loan to be any bigger than it already was.
Please don't even give me that option.
It just didn't make much sense, and it was only saving us $5,000 so we were okay w/it.
Tuesday, November 12th
Offer was re constructed w/different numbers.
Steve came over to our apartment, for us to sign on the offer and it was now ready to be submit for the very next morning.
Wednesday, November 13th
Offer was accepted on the home.
Wow! What a relief! I was so excited and thrilled!
The hard part was over.
We went house shopping, found our house, and put in an offer to find out it was accepted.
Jake didn't think the hard part was over though.
In his mind, it had only just begun.
Okay, Carpenters. Get out of my husband's head and start convincing him that this is fun.
Steve's even said it himself!
Monday, November 18th
Steve picked us up (again) after work and drove us out to the builder's office to pick out colors.
We decided on the following:
A beautiful hard wood floor for our kitchen/dining area.
A light tan color tile/grout for our entry way, bathrooms, and laundry room.
A beautiful, light, granite for our kitchen and bathroom counters
A dark, macaroni carpet and
last but not least
CABINETS!
I got my beautiful white, crisp and clean cabinets for the kitchen and bathrooms.
Below is a picture of everything we picked out, minus the carpet and tile.
Oops.
(The arrow is pointing to the color grout we picked out for the tile)
Photo taken on my iPhone
I cannot wait for everything to be done, which, by the way, should be within the next couple of weeks.
After Thanksgiving, the builder said we should be able to do a walk through w/him and look at the progress of things.
We're getting so excited and are just anxious now, for our home loan process to actually be complete. It should be 100% done by mid January.
We were told to except to be in the house by the middle/end of January.
I'm just telling myself the beginning of February, just to be safe.
Our loan officer says there isn't any reason why we shouldn't be.
Suh-weet.
Our house is 2,400 sq. ft. total
It has three bedrooms, the laundry room, and two full baths on the main floor.
The house comes w/an unfinished basement, that we will be finishing ourselves later.
The builder finishes the staircase all the way down to the basement.
The staircase down to the basement, is in the direct center of the house, so it's 1,200 sq. ft. on the main floor and in the basement.
We will most likely put a man cave for Jake downstairs, as well as 1-2 bedrooms, a full bath and a nice, open craft room for me!
We are so excited and cannot wait!
We have loved picking out everything so far, and love seeing the progress of our house.
