We're buying a house!

No, No, not that house.

So I don't even know if I've mentioned it, what with all the Costa Rica Blogging I've been doing, but Jess and I have been out house hunting. For the past three weekends we've been going out with our real-estate agent and looking at 7-10 houses a weekend, usually. It started out slower, but once we had seen a lot of houses we started being able to discard houses based on things we didn't like more quickly. We had found some houses we liked that were out farther and were newer but cost more, and then this Sunday, we saw THE house.

It started out like a lot of others, but for some reason when we were done looking at it, we didn't want to leave. We couldn't explain why, but even though it had the formal living and formal dining room in the front of the house that we usually didn't like, the downstairs felt very open and connected, our #1 criteria for a house. It was also less expensive and closer to work than some others that we had liked. We ended up walking through the whole house over and over, we just really liked it.

So this monday, we went off to see a couple more houses that were on our list, and that pretty much wrapped up all the houses that were on the market in our price range and size range. The last house we saw was very, very similar, and it even had hardwood floors and tile, which we like, but somehow it didn't feel as good. We couldn't figure out why, but since we were in the neighborhood, we actually got to drop by 'favorite house' again. We took some pictures, and as it turns out there's some *very* subtle differences that really made our favorite house feel different.

Our agent liked the house too. There were some very little things, but all of them could be changed or improved easily. The 'Bones' of the house, the things about it that couldn't be changed like location on a non-busy road, lot size, and general layout were all very nice. There were small things like single-paned windows and older fixtures, but all of that would be easy to fix, if we wanted.

So Monday, after looking at the home for a second time, we sat down with our agent and hammered out an offer and a contract. He was very nice and explained everything to us, and we put in an offer very close to their list price. And today, they accepted! THAT MEANS WE'RE GOING TO BUY A HOUSE.

Next up is the inspection, which it looks like it will happen on Sunday. We'll get the professional to check out the house and see if there's anything that would need fixing, and then negotiate about repairs or whatnot, but the house looks like it's been kept up really, really well.

So, yeah, exciting! I made a little video of some of the brief shots we took as we walked through the house, so you can see some of it, but obviously not all. We'll put up some more stuff later, and if you really want to see it, you can come visit! We'll be moving in 'around' X-mas, and hopefully we'll be all settled in for the new year. How exciting!



-N