The Short Sale

This was one HUGE house! The key wouldn't unlock the doors, but J managed to get the garage door open and the door to the inside was unlocked.

The Entry

The Dining Room


The Kitchen


The View From Deck


Living Room


1/4 Bedroom


Master Bedroom

Why is this one a no go?
-Short Sale. We don't want to wait months.
-Too big! While it might have been a good investment, it was over 2500 square feet! That is a lot to heat, cool, clean, insurance, and furnish!
-Backyard. There is no helping it. It is a STEEP SLOPE. You can kind of see that from the Deck picture.
-It just didn't feel right.

The Foreclosure

We looked at 9 houses yesterday. Here is one we didn't choose (although we haven't made our choice for sure yet). We didn't know it was a foreclosure until we got there. And it needed lots of help!



Dining Room



Entry


The Kitchen


The Living Area, which is HUGE!


Laundry Closet


Master Bedroom


Little Cove Area on Second Floor



So why did it not make the cut?
-All flooring needed to be replaced. Immediately.
-Trim and walls were damaged, so would need TONS of TLC and $.
-Not fenced in (This wasn't a requirement, but it was just more $ we would have to spend.)
-All bedrooms upstairs
-Fireplace needed some help
-Had to walk through living room and dining area to get to the kitchen from the garage

So all in all, it would have cost lots of money and love immediately, which we just aren't up for. We want something that is liveable, so we can make changes slowly- as time and money allow.

The House That...

Could? We're not sure yet...

more tonight!


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So I didn't take many pictures, and it was too dark to take pictures of the outside... but really the backyard is amazing. Backs to a pond, fenced in, has a deck (which would need to be completely replaced), and it even has a willow tree. But-

The inside feels very small. Weird layout. Needs some updating. AND.. the garage (and bonus room over the garage) isn't permitted. So after much thinking, it's just not worth it. There are plenty of other houses in our price range where we won't have to deal with all the issues of that house.

On the Hunt...

It has been a beautiful week here. Sunny and 60s and 70s- and it's supposed to continue that this week.

I had a stressful week with 4 meetings and lots of paperwork. I have 4 meetings this week... not looking forward to it!

This is J's last week at his first big boy job. He starts his new job next Monday. Exciting and stressful!

And to add to all that stress, we have added in house hunting. We have contacted a Realtor, and we are going to look at some houses Saturday. But first, we are going to look at one tomorrow night. The one we are going to look at tomorrow is a new listing and a foreclosure. But it has basically everything we want, just a little smaller than we would like. So hopefully the layout will work in its favor. It backs up to a big pond/small lake and even has a willow tree in the backyard. It may not be the house for us, but we are excited to look at it and start the hunt!

Spring?

It is 5:30 in the afternoon and currently 75 and sunny. It has been like this all week!

God is so good! He knows we have had enough winter and need a peek of spring!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I confess the reason I have been skipping out on blogging is because.....

we have been waiting....
.
.
.
.
.

for John to get a job offer! He finally got it at 7:30 this morning!

J interviewed about 3 weeks ago for a position in Raleigh. It is at a bank doing marketing- which is what he really wants to do (not necessarily at a bank though.) He starts in 2 weeks!

All that means- that we are considering buying a house. We have been casually shopping for a week or so, browsing around online and driving through neighborhoods. So we have lots of decisions to make. How big of a house? Budget? WHERE is the biggest decision since I will keep my job, but J will be working north of Raleigh. So please keep us in your prayers as we start yet another phase of our lives. :)

P.S. J will be buying me a puppy, too! He just doesn't know for sure yet. ;)

Happy Belated Anniversary, NC!

During the somewhat of a blogging break, we hit our one year anniversary here in North Carolina. I haven't lived in the same place for that long since I was in high school! We can hardly believe we have been here a year.

I have officially applied for graduate school. My application is complete. Now I must wait! It is kind of nerve racking!

I have been pretty busy at work lately. February and March are when the majority of my IEP meetings are, so I have been working hard to get all the paperwork ready.

J has been super busy at work. If you are a member and qualify, they will do your taxes for free. So needless to say, J has been doing lots of taxes at work! Apparently, other branches call their branch the H&R Block. They have done the 3rd most in the state! We still need to file ours... but at the end of the day, J is tired of doing taxes! :)

Last Monday, Redbox had a code for a free rental (and they will again tomorrow!), so we got Dinner with Schmucks. While it made me want to beat up a character in the movie, it was pretty good. I don't think I would care to watch it again though. We plan on getting one tomorrow night, too.

Yesterday, we went to Raleigh to hang out with Anna and Danny. We ate at her apartment, then went to Umstead to walk around. We walked to the airport overlook, which is more like an on-look with trees blocking the view. It was nice to talk and get some fresh air, even if it was still a little chilly! After our walk/hike, we went to Fresh Berry. Amazing. They have 8 or 10 different flavors of frozen yogurt and a million toppings. You get whatever you want, then pay by ounce. Yesterday, we went a little overboard and spent almost $10! Here is a sample of the topping choices: Fruity Pebbles, Cocoa Pebbles, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, white chocolate chips, sprinkles, strawberries, raspberries, mango, and kiwi.

Here is my strawberry, raspberry, and tart frozen yogurt topped with kiwi, mango, strawberry, sprinkles, cinnamon toast crunch, and whipped cream. Oh, yeah!



If I get into grad school, I can see running over there for some frozen yogurt. (It is across the street from campus.)

We have also caught ourselves up on our daily Bible reading. We have been doing the one year plan together and keep getting a few days behind, then catching up all at once. Hopefully this week, we can do it DAILY so we don't have to keep reading 4 days at a time!


This week-

-I have 4 meetings this week, so I will stay pretty busy.
-We are hoping for some good news!
-I should get my complete GRE scores.. kinda scary since State already has them!


I will try to do better about updating :)

Krispy Kreme!

We hadn't had Krispy Kreme in months. That all changed Saturday when I ran the Krispy Kreme Challenge! I ran with Anna and one of her friends. It was 37 degrees and raining. Yet, we still ran 4.77 miles and ate a few donuts. I am incredibly sore today, but it was actually really fun... I might even do it again! Running with 7,499 other people is something to experience for sure!





I know we have been bad about updating... I promise more to come later.