#1?
This house has an unfinished basement to grow into, a good-sized, private back yard, and a nice upstairs loft area. The kitchen is nice and open to the family room, the bedrooms are big enough, it has a sun room, and it is located right near swim and tennis. It's nice and homey with nicely upgraded bathrooms. There are some things that need to be changed, but it's not an overwhelming amount of work and can be done over time. However, it's a master-on-the-main, and I get nervous about being on a different floor than the kids. It doesn't have quite the curb appeal that we would like. As far as currently-usable square footage, it's not that much bigger than our current house, though it's laid out more efficiently.
#2?
This one is pristine on the inside and extremely well-maintained. The kitchen is granite/stainless with the sink in an island overlooking the lovely living room. It has a sun room and a formal living room, which would provide for extra play space for the kids. The floors are mostly hardwood throughout. There is a lovely view of the lake across the street, and it's by far the best-priced of all our options. However, it has no curb appeal to us, it sits on a hill on one of the busier streets in the neighborhood, the bedrooms and garage are small, and it doesn't have much of a back yard or a basement.
or #3?
This house is the biggest of the three and the one with the most curb appeal. It sits on a quiet, short side street that dead-ends into a cul-de-sac, though the house itself is not in the cul-de-sac. The houses are biggest in this section of the neighborhood. It has the best basement (unfinished) that would allow for the most possibilities. It's meticulously-maintained on the outside. It has hardwood floors throughout. However, it is otherwise a disaster on the inside. It would require a ton of work before it would even be livable, including a new coat of paint throughout and on the grease-stained cabinets, replacement of the banged-up appliances, about 5 good professional scrubs, an overhaul of the master bathroom, back yard landscaping, a back door that opens, and lots more little projects here and there.
*****SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC*******
Aaaaand the winner is....
#1 !!!
Actually, it wasn't a straight road getting here. We originally put in an offer on #3 figuring that, though there was so much work to be done, it had a lot of potential. All the things that you couldn't change about it were awesome, like the location in the neighborhood, the structure of the house and the size of the basement. All the things that suck about it can be changed with, like I said, tons of work.
The house had been on the market for 5 months. When we put in our offer, ALL OF A SUDDEN, we were one of 3 in the running. Shady as that was, we put our best offer forward (we were only willing to go so high with all the work that needed to be done), but they did not accept it. We're fairly certain our offer was just used as a pawn to get another one to come higher, but that's a long story.
By that point, #1 was already under contract and out of the running. We decided to go look at #2, even though we didn't think it'd have what we needed in a house. We ended up going inside and loved it. It would be a really happy place for us. As it's in the neighborhood we want to be in and we're completely uncertain as to whether or not anything else suitable will come available, we decided we'd proceed with putting in an offer. We weren't in a hurry on it because it's a By-Owner sale, and there wasn't any competition. We planned to do it the next day.
I woke up in the middle of the night with the weight of the world on me feeling like we were about to make the wrong decision for all the reasons that I listed above. All the negatives about it were things that we couldn't change, and long-term, I felt like we'd regret it (in my middle-of-the-night haze, I was plotting out how someone could come in and carve the hill out from under it). Andy, our realtor, and I all talked the next morning, and after sleeping on it, we had all pretty much come to the same conclusion. We decided it wasn't right for us, and though there were no other choices available, we were willing to risk it and wait for something else to pop up.
Our realtor called the realtors for #1 and #3 to see if the status on either had changed, and both indicated that they didn't think the current contracts were going to make it through Due Diligence. We had to make a choice again in which basket to put our eggs. We didn't want to risk losing one of them in pursuit of the other.
In the end, the decision was made for us because the contract on #1 DID end up falling through (the buyers thought they'd be able to sell their house but couldn't), while it does not seem that the contract ended up falling through on #3. We made a competitive offer on #1, and they accepted it yesterday evening! I MIGHT have written a heartfelt letter to the owners of 20 years explaining what the house would mean to our family. I am pretty sure it had an effect. :P
We are thrilled. I know it's the right decision because, for once, though I lie in bed awake EVERY night for one reason or another, last night it was out of excitement. I was thinking about all the things I want to do and how it will serve our family so well. Back when we were offering on #3, I would lie awake thinking of all the work that needed to be done, how we would go about funding it, and trying unsuccessfully to envision the end product, even though I knew that it would get there. I was a wreck. It feels so good not only that SOMETHING worked out, but that something worked out that feels right and has all the things our family needs long-term.
As stressful as it was, and how seemingly endless the journey felt, we can't really complain. Our house hunt lasted about 3 weeks. It's just that it was 3 weeks of ups and downs where we'd be feeling REALLY positive about something in the morning, and then by the evening we'd be back to square one, or vice versa. Above all it was the uncertainty that comes along with the scarcity in this market that weighed heavily on us.
But at any rate, here we are! Assuming everything goes smoothly and the inspection doesn't turn up anything catastrophically wrong with the house, we'll have it in about a month! Yay! Thanks for coming along on the journey. :)
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