After we finished getting our brains scrambled under the guise of an orientation, we met up with our real estate machine, Shanny. She told us that our house hunting would only take about an hour because we were only viewing three properties and they were all in the the same community as the one that we fell in love with and were all the same floor plan. We were very happy to hear this. We knew that this basically meant it would come down to yard size (for the dogs) and different features that would make each unit stand apart.
We arrived at the community a little early so we drove to each property and looked at the yards. They all looked about the same. Some already had plants planted while others didn't. This was the main difference. The entire community is very new - most units have never been lived in, including all that we were looking at. This was a definite plus!
We looked at the first unit and, just as we expected, it looked just like the first house on Wednesday. There weren't any surprises and nothing to make us change our minds about loving the house. We looked at the second house and this one had features that made us like it even more. It made up for not being on a corner lot. There were frosted glass doors on the pantry the in kitchen and leading into the master bathroom. There was a built in TV stand in the master bedroom. This house was moved to the top of the list for day three so far. The listing agent told Shanny that he had two other homes that he wanted to show us - one being a bungalow that was well within our budget, the other another semi-d in this same community.
We veered from our viewing schedule and went to look at the semi-d. Right off we noticed a huge construction project going on behind the house. This really wasn't that big of deal since it wasn't a government project (those are worked on 24 hours a day) but the problem was that we couldn't get in to see the house...the agent didn't have the key. He assured us that the inside was exactly the same as the house we just left but from what we could see through the windows there were some differences. The only thing I could be sure was exactly the same was the floor plan. This pretty much knocked this house out of contention and wasted a little time...bummer!
On to the bungalow...
Do you ever have those moments when you really wish you had a video camera? I had my digital but that just would not have done justice to what Patric and I witnessed when we arrived at the bungalow. Again, there was a key issue. The listing agent was there with the owner but apparently even she did not have an extra key. The maid was in the house (don't ask me...I have no idea...it didn't look like anyone was living there so I don't know why the maid was there with the keys) and was not responding to the ringing of the bell or the yelling of the owner from the gate. The owner and the listing agent were running around trying to get in anyway possible. Finally, the agent jumped the fence. He then unlocked the area where the trash can is kept so that we could walk through there - it is about three feet tall and there are two doors that we had to pass through, very strange! After we went through all of that...the maid opened the front door!!! It looked like she had been asleep - go figure! The yard was amazing at this house and the house was very nice but true to form, the house was just too much for us. The price was exceptional for size of the house but we already had our heart set elsewhere.
So we headed back to view to the last house in that community. We wound up having to wait just a few minutes for the listing agent to arrive. It turned out to be so not worth the wait! This house was no where near ready to move in. The kitchen had nothing in it yet. We didn't even bother going upstairs.
Shanny turned in our offer on the second house we saw and she said she would call us when she heard back from the agent. So now we wait...again. I hate waiting. We were both so tired of looking at this point we just hoped this was the end. So we waited...
Later that evening Shanny called and told us that we received the initial approval...woo hoo! She had also already emailed the terms and they had been verbally approved...tentative woo hoo! The owner of the property lives here (which is good) but is out of the country until Monday so they can't sign the Tenant Agreement until they come back. Hopefully they actually looked over the terms in the email and there won't be anything for them to bawk at when it comes time to sign. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm built to worry...that is what I do. I have to admit though, I'm not as worried about this as I could be. I would like this to happen - very much I would like this to happen - but it is not in my hands. Nothing in this adventure is - I'm just along for the ride. I'm trying to work on enjoying the scenery. So far I've been very surprised by the kindness of strangers and the ease by which things have worked out on their own. I have no reason to doubt that this house hunting situation won't follow suit. Right???
Anyway, Shanny
Tomorrow promises to be a good day. PK comes home and for the first time since I've been here I'm not leaving the apartment. Maybe I will get some laundry done! =)
See you next post!
Monkey update: day five...still no monkeys, and we were all over the place. Hmmm...
No comments:
Post a Comment