The Search for Casa de Barnes 2.0

celebrating!!

WE'RE UNDER CONTRACT!! We got our first offer just a few hours after we listed the house for sale. After a few days, we'd received 4 offers and we just accepted a GREAT one last night so it's official...we're moving! The buyer has cash so we'll be closing fast. They actually wanted to close in less than two weeks...that's Christmas if anyone is checking. Um, we'll need a bit more time thanks. So we have exactly 3 weeks to pack everything, celebrate our last Christmas and New Years in this home and...oh yeah, find a place to live.

We've been looking at houses for years like I mentioned and every once in a while something will be a strong contender but we're just not finding THE ONE. Trust me when I tell you that we're not being unrealistic. We've tweaked and adjusted all of our criteria to the point where almost all of our Must Haves are now basically Wish List items. It's a total seller's market in this price point. Inventory is at an all time low which means that sellers hold the cards. I wrote offers for two different buyers last week and both houses had multiple offers and ended up accepting contracts for over their asking price. This means it's a GREAT time to sell your house and if you're a buyer you better be ready to act fast and bring your A-game. It's still a great time to buy though - interest rates are low and prices are expected to continue climbing over the next few years. That means the house you see today for $300k will be closer to $350k in a couple years - say YAY to instant equity!

Anyway, so here's our criteria and how it's changed throughout our search. We initially wanted to be in the boys' school district but we are open to most of Chandler at this point. We'll worry about their high school boundaries in 6 years I guess. I'm not above lying about our address so I think we'll be fine. Morals ya know? So we want a minimum of 4 bedrooms but we're now ok with 3 bedrooms and a den. We need a minimum of 4 spaces. Initially, I was insistent on 3 bathrooms - 2 full baths and a powder room/half bath is fine. I live with a bunch of boys and I just don't feel like our guests should be subjected to using the same bathroom that the boys use. Personally, I don't even go in there. Ever. We've unfortunately come to terms that this is a tough requirement so we're open to 2 baths. I really prefer a single story since we plan on this house being in the family long after the boys have gone to college and we're old(er) and tired(er) and don't want to deal with stairs. This requirement has also fallen to the wayside and we're looking at 2 stories. At least with a 2 story, we get that 3rd bathroom. We prefer that the house have a pool already but now we're fine if there's at least room to build a pool in the future. That's pretty much our list. Doesn't seem like it should be so tough huh? Well it is dammit.

Did I mention that we listed our house with absolutely zero plans for where we'd move when/if Orchid Lane sells? Yup, that's our plan...no plan! Isn't it fun? Isn't it exciting? What an adventure!!

I was lying about it being an adventure. It's kinda scary but not as scary as you'd think. If we're fortunate and the right buyer comes along soon, we'll just continue our house search as usual. If we can't find anything we may need to rent month to month until we find the one. Buying a house is too important to rush into, so we'll just foster out the boys and Jeff and I will take a really long vacation until the right house comes along. Easy peasy.

Actually, we'll likely rent an apartment just small enough to be uncomfortable and we'll be motivated to land the perfect house!