We bought a house!

After six months of looking at what feels like every house in Denver, we finally, finally closed on our home last week! What followed was an insane 72 hours of packing, moving, assembling and organizing. Thank goodness for my family who helped us a TON! 

Highlights:
*There is not a single box left in the house itself. The garage is another story...
*Our new Ikea bed has tons of storage and fits perfectly in our room!
*One set of next door neighbors are absolutely awesome and I think our puppies will be great fence-friends.
*We have a dumpster! I never thought I would be excited about this, but when you have that much moving trash, it helps!
*Flowers, wine, and housewarming presents from friends, family and our realtor!

Lowlights:
*I measured all 9 windows incorrectly, which meant a second trip to Home Depot to get them re-cut - only after we each had a meltdown about it.
*We moved during the hottest two days of the year so far. Did I mention we don't have air-conditioning?
*It took two trips to Ikea to get the bed (not a nearby destination)!
*I got stung by a bee in the front yard - boo!

We can't wait to settle in and start making this little brick bungalow ours! I'm already learning so, so much about being a homeowner and we're loving our new neighborhood so far. Excited to host lots of dinners and parties in the near future (after we get some air conditioning)!

Signing an offer

Our invisible deadline for making a decision is about to approach and I am not confident we are going to make it. We are supposed to give our apartment leasing office 60 days notice if we are going to move out or go month-to-month.

We attempeted to make a lowball offer on a house in Skyland on Monday but it was already under contract. While I didn't think they would accept it anyway, it was another reminder that houses in our price range go so, so quick!

We saw a different house twice over the weekend and after thinking about it a couple of days decided to make an offer! We thought we had a very reasonable amount but the sellers countered and we still thought it was too high. Sad! It really is a fantastic house but we want to be smart about the money we are paying for this particular house! We did reach out with a counter to their counter so we will see if it works out!

If nothing else, we got a look at the offer letter process, which was new to us! Basically our real estate agent drew up the contracts with everyone's info and a very detailed day-by-day checklist/deadline calendar for inspections, title transfer, loan paperwork, etc to be completed. We got a look at the disclosures and the nitty-gritty house info. Our mortgage banker sent over our pre-approval and closing cost amount and we wrote a check for the earnest money!

So while we don't know the outcome yet, we feel like we're getting closer! Send us your good vibes for the original house to come through for us tomorrow. Otherwise, we will keep searching!

xoxo

House hunting Trips 3 and 4

Are you totally bored with our house search yet?! I know it sounds very similar week-to-week. Here is a recap of weeks 3 & 4:

We saw about 9 houses over the past two weekends and none of them were "the one" -- at least, not yet. There were a couple of lovely options with some caveats, as in one was too expensive at the moment and one was in a weird location -- I'm talking you could see Colfax from the bedroom window. No thank you! You can't change the location but you can change the price! So we are going to watch the pricey one and see what happens.

I ate a lot of these cupcakes this weekend!

I still like the "small" house from the second househunting trip and it's still on the market. So, that's another option possibly, if I can convince Max to get over the square footage issue! The expensive house we saw last Saturday only had 40 more square feet (in the form of a bathroom), but it was $35K more than the one I am into. Is 40 square feet worth $35K? They were on the same street, just about 2 miles apart.

So that's about it! We attempted to win some money in Blackhawk this weekned (wishful thinking) but sadly lost $100 instead. Guss our down payment won't be doubled in the form of chips! I also baked up a storm and had some friends over for the Oscars!

Hope you have a good week!

A big resolution: Buy a house

Hi, I'm Tracy. I am officially on the road to my 2012 New Year's resolution: become a first-time home buyer! Don't worry, this definitely wasn't a resolution based on a whim. My boyfriend Max and I have been living together for about a year and feel the time is right financially and emotionally to jump into the home ownership club -- we've been saving like crazy and doing our research.

Wikimedia Commons/Linuxerist

A few things about us: 
*We've been together for three years (we met at work) and we're both in our late-20s.
*We live in Denver. I work in digital media and he works in marketing.
*Currently we live in a 600-sq. ft apartment with our dog Winnie and cat Bling

Our home wishlist:
*Under $200K. We think we know our budget but will get the final number after pre-qualifying.
*Three bedrooms. We would like a bedroom, an office and a spare room for spare people!
*Two bathrooms. Or, at least one large bathroom with two sinks. It's hard to get ready simultaneously!
*A garage. Doesn't matter if it's one or two car, attached or unattached. We need some storage and a place to put at least one of our three cars or the jet ski.
*Charm! This is a little subjective, but I would love a home with a few quirks! We're not planning on buying anything new (the neighborhoods we are looking in are older) so I know we're going to get something great, like original wood floors, built-in bookcases, or arched doorways!

I hope you'll learn along with us during this exciting process. Good luck with your own resolutions, and happy 2012!