Exciting news! We bought a.....

HOUSE! We have been talking about it for about a year and I have been keeping an eye on the market during that time. A few months ago we looked at our finances and went over how long we were going to stay in Utah (quite a while since Jeremy is making a career with his current company and he wants to get his masters in Utah) and added the fact that we were sick of landlords who didn't take care of anything and wouldn't let us take care of it either (seriously who refuses to fix something but says you're not allowed to fix it either? stupid.) and that we'd need more space as our family grew (no I am NOT pregnant but will be before we move out of utah so we'll need more space) AND the fact that I needed a studio space to open my business and it just seemed like the right move for us. So here is the whole story (this next part is a bit long but I tried to keep it short, feel free to skip it and get down to the pictures haha).

I found a house while I was searching a little bit earlier than we had initially wanted to start looking (we wanted to have all the money for a down payment, closing costs and money for fixing up the house before we started. My dad gifted us some money as a gift to the grandkids(present and future haha) so we were able to go look at the house). They wouldn't let us come see it right away so since I had already found my AMAZING realtor Jeri Bingham (www.realestateutahcounty.com) we went ahead and looked at some other properties. We looked at about 20 plus houses and came to the realization that we needed to make a compromise on our extensive wish list somewhere(not surprising on a first home). It was extra difficult since my studio had very specific needs (closed off room with lots of natural light, big enough space to fit everything comfortably, bathroom nearby and the space needed to be in the entry of the home so customers weren't just walking through my whole house. I like some privacy haha!). We also wanted 4 bedrooms or 3 bedrooms and a basement, relatively large kitchen and backyard. Located in Lehi. We came down to 3 things, either we needed to compromise on the size of the house or size of backyard (no way), we had to live by a train (can you imagine Aiden trying to nap or me trying to get a newborn to sleep through a whole session with trains going by?) or give up the basement so easy choice we decided to give up the basement. We only would have used it for a media room anyways and Aiden is too little to really enjoy something like that so we decided that was the easiest to give up. We started looking at homes on Pioneer Crossing in Lehi (I like the area, it's fast to get to the highway but not close enough you hear it and there are beautiful communities instead of brand new houses mixed with old houses which I liked.). In this area you can't have basements because you risk water leakage and mold since it is built on wetlands.

Ok so here we go... This is the first house we found that looked promising, it was beautiful and had tons of natural light coming and everything had been newly updated except for the bathrooms and kitchen. It was under our price range so we thought updating it wouldn't be too difficult but it didn't have a finished backyard and our back neighbors were cows (ha!). The laundry room was more of a mudroom off the garage which I also didn't like. We did like the community a lot and there was a park not even a block away which I loved. There was also construction going on nearby but that's hard to avoid on Pioneer Crossing since it is so new.



The next house we fell in love with was the original house that made us start looking early in the first place. It was a gorgeous home with a large gorgeous backyard with trees. It was fully updated and had everything on our wish list(even a laundry room sink!!). The downsides to this one were it was only in a little block of homes, it didn't have the community feel I wanted, the bedrooms were very small, the carpet would need replacing due to the previous owners having multiple dogs and they didn't take care of the carpet. It also had construction relatively close by. It also had a strong offer on it and would be next to impossible to get. It was also under our price range which was nice. It was a short sale but so was 90% of homes we looked at. Unfortunately in this economy that's just the way it is it seems.

we debated putting an offer on one of these homes but I was torn because the one already had an offer in and it was the one we liked more so I felt like I was trying to force myself to fall in love with the other one. I was beginning to feel frustrated and discouraged especially when my realtor sent me a new list of homes and I didn't like a single one on them. I had been keeping an eye on the market and knew there wasn't anything better out there and I didn't want to be one of those first time home buyers who won't come to terms with how much they want to spend and how much they can actually get with that. We could have gone higher in price but enjoy our comfortable lifestyle and didn't want to be house broke. After letting Jeri know I didn't like any of the new homes she sent me I just got this feeling that I should check the website she gave me for homes one more time. Thinking it was silly I did it anyways and found the PERFECT house that had been just listed that morning. I immediately sent it to Jeremy and Jeri and was jumping up and down. I asked Jeri if there was anything wrong with it because it seemed too good to be true. She did more research on it and there was nothing wrong with it other than it was a short sale which wasn't a big deal to us since we had 3 months on our contract left. We went that night to go see it and I fell head over heels in love it. It was perfect! It was in a great neighborhood, easy to get to and close to the highway, in the school district we wanted and barely farther from Jeremy's work than we are now. It also didn't have any construction going on in the neighborhood which is unusual for Pioneer Crossing and we were ecstatic. I was jumping up and down and beaming from ear to ear so Jeri took the hint and we started the process of putting an offer on the house. She did more extensive research and showed us compareables and it was priced right(even a bit low). We went that weekend and drove around the neighborhood and everyone in the neighborhood took incredibly good care of their homes, some were even doing some pretty extensive landscaping, it was a beautiful neighborhood. We also found multiple parks nearby and while not walking distance were easily bike riding distance. There is also a small pond, jogging trails and Utah lake nearby too so those will be fun as well. We felt so blessed during this whole process, another buyer was supposed to view the property and we could have been in a bidding war but they ended up not being able to see it that day and because of my amazing realtor who pushed really hard to have our offer rushed to the bank it was quickly accepted and sent to the bank before anyone else could view the property.

Then it was time to wait. Jeri told us she had never had one take less than 3 months to be accepted or countered by a bank and had only heard of one being as short as 2 months. After a month had gone by I was beginning to get nervous, especially after finding out there were 4 backup offers on the home. My realtor talked to the other realtor (seriously she's amazing) and they promised not to even let the bank know there were other offers on the bank unless we took back our offer. A couple days later and Jeri sends me an email with some papers to sign and said we had a closing deadline. I was completely confused by this and so I called her not understanding how we had a closing deadline without our offer being accepted and she started laughing and said she had missed the acceptance email from the sellers and so had just sent me what the sellers had sent her and so she told me our offer had in fact been accepted! We were ecstatic and shocked that it only took just over a month! We really felt someone upstairs was helping us out haha. We had the inspection done which went AMAZING, seriously even Jeri was shocked with being a short sale how it only had very minor issues costing only a couple hundred and they weren't even things that needed immediate attention. The appraisal came back and the home was worth more than we were buying it for (about $10,000) so that was excellent news as well.

We then sent everything off to the bank to get our loan, they kept needing some more things and I was beginning to worry (even though there was no need to) and then FINALLY they came back and said we were all ready to go (2 business days until our closing deadline yikes haha) and moved our closing up to today! We just finished closing and are now officially homeowners of the most gorgeous house I could have ever hoped for! We are going out to a celebratory dinner tonight and then packing and painting! And then decorating :D!!!!! You guys will have to help me out with it because I seriously am horrible at it. It's embarrassing how inept at decorating I am. I just get too easily overwhelmed lol. Well here it is our new home!! (these are the listing pictures, we don't get the keys until Wednesday but I'll be uploading pictures as we paint and decorate and move in. I mean its me haha!)

The front, I'm so excited to garden and get some gorgeous plants behind the sidewalk (and probably around the sides too since apparently you're not supposed to have grass up against the house? Jeremy is in the process of convincing me) It has a tandem garage so it's 2 cars deep on one side so it's technically a 3 car garage (Jeremy says for a boat HA I don't think so....). 4 beds, 2 1/2 baths and 2413 square feet.

You walk into the formal living room with a gorgeously high ceiling. This could either be really fun or really frustrating to decorate haha.

 

Here is the den, I'm thinking of putting in a custom french door to close it off but I haven't decided yet. I already have frames and everything picked out to decorate it, it's going to be a gorgeous studio. Anyone having babies mid-late summer? Want some free AMAZING custom newborn portraits? I am getting some new equipment and some props that would make anyone melt they are so cute. 

Here is our living room. I've already picked out a GORGEOUS sectional, we're going to RC willey this weekend to find out about their memorial day sales and see if they have it. What's nice is it's all separate pieces so I can arrange it anyway I want. It also helps it's on sale haha. RC Willey has the best sales ever lol!

Our kitchen and dining room. Picked out a gorgeous table, black legs with a top that matches the kitchen it's seriously so pretty.

I wasn't sure how interesting bedrooms are but you walk up the stairs and there is a built in desk on the left and the master with double doors on the right, A great sized master bedroom and gorgeous bathroom. FINALLY I WILL HAVE DOUBLE SINKS! No more fighting Jeremy for the bathroom!!! And a separate tub and shower!! (big deal for me, I love baths! Greatest stress relief ever). Walk in closet that has double doors which is great. Next to the master is a bedroom which we'll make Aiden's playroom, I have the cutest stuff picked out for it it's going to be so fun for him. Then is Aiden's bathroom, has it's own linen closet in the bathroom and a ton of counterspace I love it! Then the laundry room which we think is big enough to put in a custom built soaking sink. We'll have to see. Then is this room, this one is going to be a guest/future baby's room. It is identical to the one next to it which will be Aiden's room (which right now is purple so this picture is closer to what it will look like for Aiden). All the rooms have ceiling fans which I LOVE and this bedroom and Aiden's room also have walk in closets which I love as well. That's the whole house!

The backyard! We are debating a deck but I love how big the backyard is and don't want it to dwarf the backyard, it's hard to picture without one being there (this is why I can't decorate, I can't picture how things will look). The trampoline is the owners and we are going to fill that spot with grass and the playgym actually stays with the house so I am so excited for Aiden to play with that!

You can see more here: http://s903.photobucket.com/albums/ac239/ajonesphoto/Our%20First%20Home/


We are SO excited and are debating having a house-warming party once we get settled but I may just invite friends and family over at random I haven't decided yet. I'll keep you all updated. We are so excited!