Thursday, May 03, 2007

Accepted (Another Offer, Though)

Our (second) offer was accepted tonight, so now I feel like I can introduce you to our prospective home, the single house in a cookie cutter neighborhood and a corner lot:Surprised? So am I. Let me tell you what happened, then...

As I wrote about previously, we presented our offer on the chosen townhome on Tuesday, offering 9K less than the asking price. Yesterday, they received the other offer, which was one thousand dollar more than the asking price. We were told by their agent that if we offered 5K more than our original low offer, they'd accept it. By then, however, we'd done the math and realized that with the addition of the condo association fee of 110 per month, buying this apparently "chaper" townhome would be almost the same as buying the single family home we were interested in.

So, after finding out that no offers had been made on the single home and that we had a chance, we didn't withdraw our offer, but decided not to offer more either and they obviously didn't accept it. Meanwhile, K went to our realtor's office and started working on the other offer which was presented in the late afternoon, so by 9 p.m. they had come with a counter offer (we offered 8K less) and we decided to meet halfway between their counter offer and ours.

I'm just so thrilled! I spent the past two days very anxious, unable to choose between the two houses just based on several dozen photographs... but the resolution achieved couldn't be better.
Now I can have a vegetable garden and plant many flowers, we can buy a wooden playset for the boys, finish the basement, update the kitchen and just enjoy living in a single home. I will even have a few small trees in the back yard (including one pine tree that I didn't photograph):and a large one by the sidewalk, but probably still on our property:
And I already found three CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Farms in the area! One of them even has a nice website. YAY!

If I hadn't received an email with very negative feedback on some dissertation chapters from a committee member tonight, I'd be perfectly happy right now. Too bad there's this cloud darkening my life right now! I know it will pass, though.

Now... did I mention that I scheduled my youngest son's birthday party (three weeks ahead of the actual B-D because my in-laws were going to be available) for this Sunday and I didn't even go grocery shopping or planned for the cooking and baking? I know it'll to be OK, but it's not going to be easy, that's for sure! What's easy in life, though? Nothing, really. And it's much more fun this way, we at least can be relieved after the troubles are over.

I'm really glad the House Hunting is over, that's for sure!

(oh and the posting time is "fictional" -- it's already 1:15 AM of 5/4, but I wanted to have posted "yesterday").

17 comments:

Libby said...

Congratulations, Lilian! The house and yard look beautiful! When do you move?

(Sorry about the negative feedback, but I know you'll deal with it fine. In your new house!)

Tracy said...

Oh, Lilian! The house is so adorable. It doesn't look "cookie-cutter" to me at all -- it looks distinctive and the yard looks positively huge. What a great place for your boys to grow up!

Congratulations! When do you close and move?

Sorry to hear about the dissertation comments, but you'll be fine. A few setbacks are normal, and they drive progress. One step at a time...!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, Lilian! That house is amazing, and with such a beautiful yard too. I can see that you're all going to be very happy there, and I agree with Tracy (it doesn't look cookie cutter to me either).

As for the dissertation, knowing it will pass is the important part. Bravo!

Gabriella said...

Lots of congratulations!! The house looks beautiful and the size of that yard is amazing. What a great home!

jo(e) said...

Congratulations on the house!

It looks huge! You are going to have all kinds of space.

You can do all kinds of things with that big yard too ....

Unknown said...

I love it, Lillian. And it sounds absolutely perfect for your family. You'll have many, many happy memories! And what an amazing yard!

Alice said...

Gorgeous house, Lilian! And that garden - wow! congratulations!!

Keiko said...

Lilian, essa casa eh liiiinda!É a do quintalzão, ne? Mas a frente é linda tb!
Eu preciso saber o q eh uma "cookie cutter neighborhood"...

Feedback negativo é um saco..mas é bem como vc disse, c'est la vie,

Falei com a Nyrlei sexta-feira e ela ficou me zuando pq eu fui explicar pra vc q nao colei...ela disse q eu sempre tive vocação rpa puxa-saco de professor :-)

bjinho, boa semana!
Keiko

M said...

What a beautiful yard! I long for a yard for S to run and play in (when he can run!). Congrats on the house!

Left-handed Trees... said...

Don't let the negative feedback throw you...so many wonderful things going are going on! The house is lovely...and the CSA farms are a bonus. (On a semi-related note: I've been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and it might really inspire you in your new place...)

zabrina said...

Hey Lilian, what a cool house!!! I am very happy about you. That's awesome place. A house like that here in Flagstaff would cost like 800.000 or so. I must come back here to read the other posts. Thanks so much to remember my birthday.
Was your son's birthday last Sunday?

christina said...

Oh wow, that all looks so wonderful. What a great back yard and the house is beautiful. Congratulations!

Lauren D. McKinney said...

An excellent family house! Congratulations!
The CSA sounds wonderful. We join a CSA every year.

Caroline said...

What a beautiful house! Congratulations to you!!

wwwmama said...

Gorgeous house! Congrats!

Jody said...

Congratulations on the house! That's fantastic news.

(Bleh to the advisors. Bleh bleh bleh.)

Andromeda Jazmon said...

Congratulations! What a beautiful home! I can't wait to come and visit you. I hope the birthday party went well - I am sure it was fun. Happy Birthday to both your big boys now!