Month: January 2009

If everything goes well this will be our new home after March 2nd. It is on a cul-de-sac in the Sonoma addition and .60 miles from the elementary school. We live too close for school bus pickup. I’ve always lived a far ways from school so I didn’t even realize that was a policy. I wasn’t wanting Matthew to ride the bus anyways-in my experience nothing good ever came from riding the bus.

Today we also drove by the two different swim parks for the neighborhood. The first one has more things for smaller kids like sprayers, sprinklers and wading. The other one has a large water slide for older kids. There are also several play scapes so we hope Matthew enjoys them and maybe it will be a good way to meet people in the neighborhood. I am hoping Matthew can find some new playmates. He misses his friends and still asks me on occasion to take him to visit Jackson and Brock in Paris.

We hope this neighborhood works well for us. So far, it all looks like it will.

Just as I finished typing the last post my phone rang. It was the Realtor. We got the house and they accepted our offer as is-no counter offer.

Glad I didn’t have to wait on that one. Did I ever say how much I hate it that money doesn’t fall from the sky?

Just had to try.

WhoooHooo!

Remember in my last post I said we didn’t want to basically get into a bidding war over this one bank owned property?

Well, our Realtor said that we should put in an offer at the amount we were happy with and just see how it goes because we liked the place so much. So we did and he called yesterday to say our bid was the highest bid. Huh…didn’t expect that. The REO Specialist that works for the bank emailed our Realtor saying we were the highest bid(there were only two!!) and that this offer looks good. She needs final approval from her boss and then we will know if there will be a counter offer or if they will accept our offer as is.

The bad news is they can take 72 hours to respond and they were closed half a day Tuesday because of the ice in Dallas were their office is located. So we probably will not know anything until tomorrow. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate waiting?

We have officially begun the home search. We have our pre-qual letter and have decided that the Round Rock area is going to be the best fit for us. It reminds me a lot of Frisco but with a whole lot of outdoor activities to enjoy.

We found one house in particular that was great but it is in foreclosure and after we submitted our bid the listing agent sent out a notice that they had multiple offers on the home since it was priced so far below market value and wanted everyone to amend their bids to as high as they are willing to go.

So …we thought about it and there are so many homes for sale in the area we love and in our budget that we decide we had no desire to enter a bidding war. I do not like playing those games. Way too stressful for my taste.

Anyway, we are going to look at 5 or 6 houses today in our target neighborhood. We drove by them all last night and liked all but one-the one with the creepy neighbor hanging out in a lit up, open garage. I hate to say it but that lady gave us the creeps. It’s too bad really because the house itself was adorable.

So wish us luck. Hopefully things will go smoothly.

I actually did not realize it had been so long since our last post. We have been rather occupied lately. My dear sister came to visit and we did everything we could while she was here. The museums, the capitol, shopping, meandering through the smorgasbord that is Whole Foods, catching up and seeing Matthew thrilled to see his Aunt was too good.

It made Austin feel more like home to have her visit and I hope more of our friends and family can do the same when they can. Austin is a lot of fun to explore.

We have also begun a little house shopping, going to some open house and getting a “feel” for the neighborhoods. We have narrowed it down to the Round Rock area for now. The schools have great ratings and the parks are unbelievable! One neighborhood park included not only trails and playscapes but a 5 acre fishing pond and tennis courts. It was literally right out the front door of one home we toured. It also doesn’t hurt that the prices are on the mild side either.

I am also still waiting to go to the doctor. We thought that Tony’s insurance would be effective ninety days from his first day of work but it is actually ninety days from his first paycheck, so it will happen in February. I know it isn’t that far off now but I am running out of my medication that my last doctor prescribed. I know you shouldn’t wish your life away but the sooner February gets here, the better!

On a political note:  Thank Goodness We Have An OUTSTANDING, NEW PRESIDENT!!  I think Obama is just what we need right now.  We as a country have a lot of work to do and a lot of wounds to heal.  I think he is ready to get down to business.  I told Matthew that we had a new president and his response was, “Hooray!!”  I could not have said it better my self.

So this concludes our January update.  I seriously will try to post more often.