Waiting Game

We submitted our repair requests on Tuesday, then sat and nervously waited for word on whether or not the sellers would agree to our requests. Our agent told us they had ten days to respond, but we thought surely we would know by the weekend.

Wednesday passed. Then Thursday and Friday. By Saturday I was nervous and looking for other houses to see, just in case. I spotted one that had just come on the market that piqued my interest. It was 600 sq feet smaller and $20K more, but it was move in ready and within our current school district. There was going to be an open house the next day, so we went. I wasn't very impressed with the online photos and I figured I'd hate it, but it beat sitting around waiting to hear from our agent.

Surprise! It was much better in person than the pictures reflected, and we both really liked what we saw. Despite being 30 years old, it was in fantastic shape and very well cared for. The sellers had downsized into a condo, but they had put a good amount of work into putting the home on the market. Fresh paint, new carpet, updated light fixtures, and meticulous home maintenance logs. The neighborhood was a small one filled with custom homes, and it backed up to a park.

The house was only 3 bedrooms, but it had a formal living room tucked away from the rest of the home that would have made a great workspace for me. There was also a den with built in shelving located right off of the family room that would be ideal for an office, so only having three bedrooms would have worked nicely. The backyard was large, and it backed up to a private access road used by the county only a few times a year. It felt very private and quiet.

There were some downsides to the home though. While the master bedroom felt huge at 23x13, the master bathroom wasn't any larger than our last home's- something that I really hated. There were two closets, a reach in and a walk in, but they were both smaller than we would have liked. The secondary bedrooms were an okay size, but their closets were tiny. The hallway bathroom was just as small. And there was wood- a LOT of wood- that would need to be painted.

Still, it was move in ready and didn't need much work, and it was a rare find in the school district we were most interested in. Most homes were either gigantic pricey new builds, or older brick ranches with tiny windows. We mulled it over and decided to call our agent for a showing- just in case.