My mom just left from her 11 day visit on Saturday. It was really nice to have her here to keep me company while Adam was gone...especially considering the excitement that I'll talk about later. We tried not to cram too much into the visit so we wouldn't be overwhelmed....but the massive amounts of rain for the desert aided in that. We were even actually flooded into our subdivision for one of the days she was here. After that, we were able to get in and out, but only if you drove on the wrong side of the road...and sometimes not on the road at all. I think we had a really full trip, though, considering. We did make it to The Getty Center in L.A., the musical road, Fosters Freeze, Tehachapi, Mojave, a couple different animal shelters, the opening for the art show I'm in, had a girl's night at my house with people from church, went bowling, showed my mom around Edwards, CA, hung out with Heidi and the boys on several occasions, got to take my mom to my church, watched several movies and a bunch of home improvement shows, and just generally had a good time together. I miss having her here, but am looking forward to her next visit...and her getting to see our new place with our personal touches in it.
So...the excitement I was talking about: The weekend before Adam left, we decided to look at some houses. The only reason we decided to fast forward this venture is that there was a house down the street that got foreclosed on that we wanted to look at to see if it was an opportunity we wouldn't want to pass on. Conveniently, a friend of ours had just been hired by Keller Williams, gotten her real estate license and was eager to get some use out of it. She arranged for us to see the house we were initially excited about, as well as three others. So the day before Adam left, we went and saw all four houses. We quickly learned what your money can buy you, and were VERY unimpressed with three of the four houses we saw. The fourth we were really quite surprised by how nice it was considering it being a foreclosure, and the size of it for the price. We decided that we couldn't pass it up, and waiting for Adam to get home would be risking losing our shot at it. Therefore, a few hours later, we put an offer on the house.
In record real-estate time, (four days later, to be exact) our offer was accepted and we moved forward with all the hoopla and paperwork. My mom happened to get here the day before, so she had the opportunity to come with us to see the house on the day Lisa (our realtor friend) came for more paperwork action. We got our deposit turned in and our loan approved and strapped on our seat belts for the road ahead. We feel very lucky that things have gone so quickly for us, especially after hearing our other friends utter shock when they compare to their experiences (putting in 12 offers before getting one accepted, putting offers in last July and just now closing, etc.). Our inspection was this afternoon and we passed with flying colors. There were a few things that need to happen as soon as we move in, but fairly minor things like replacing a side door and putting in an overflow pan for the washing machine before we install it. Other than that, the inspector was impressed with the condition, as well, and said we were getting a great deal....especially considering what the other houses in the market are like these days. He said it was a real breath of fresh air. There are plenty of minor improvement we can make over the years, but nothing pressing or too expensive, which is great.
So our closing date is March 8th. There's a good chance we will close before that and slim to no chance at all it will be later. Adam and I have already starting talking paint colors and looking at appliances...and though I'm a little more vocal and outwardly excited about it, I think he's pretty pumped about having our own place, too.
I apologize to anyone that may have been offended about us not talking to you personally about all this stuff. I'm sure we'll eventually make our rounds via chats, phone calls, emails, etc....but this all happened so fast that we hardly have a grasp on it yet ourselves. We were trying not to be TOO public about it all until after our inspection to make sure we weren't hyping it up too much and ending up disappointed. It seems like all systems are go, at this point, though...and we should be in our house in less than 30 days. We're hoping that a lot of you will get to come visit, eventually....and we are looking forward to not moving again for a very long time!
Here's a link to some photos of the house to tide you over until we can get some better ones: The Kuester House: A Sneak Peak
Here's a link to some photos of the house to tide you over until we can get some better ones: The Kuester House: A Sneak Peak
