Buying and Selling

A little over a week ago, we decided on a whim to go look at a house that Beezy found online and our realtor (who I've remained in contact with since I bought my house) said let's go. We didn't know if it would be everything that it was from online and in the photos. It sounded and looked like it was but we didn't want to get our hopes up. Since November we have been toying with the idea of moving. You see... my street use to be super quiet. Then a house down the street became a rental property and every day since it got rented out we hear music pumping non stop. I'm talking music so loud we hear it 4 houses down on the opposite side of the street and across the intersection of a four way stop. Every. single. gang slur. and note in the music. We've called the non emergency number a handful of times. All they do is talk to them. We've looked up the owner of the house but it's in some kind of living trust. Needless to say, we are OVER it.

So when we went to look at this house that had just been built we were being cautiously optimistic. We wanted to like it but at the same time we didn't know if we were ready. So we get to the development and walked through the house. We loved the amount of space the house offered but we hated the kitchen counters and the cabinets. The builders had built the house with having any buyers so they completely finished it without a buyer selecting each fixture etc. The kitchen really did it for us and we were getting ready to leave with our hopes dashed. That's when their sales agent let us know that a house exactly like the one we had just walked through was in the middle of construction and hadn't had the kitchen completed yet. Our eyes and ears immediately perked up. She walked us the few doors down the new block and we walked through a house in mid construction. We actually loved this house!

That was on a Sunday. On Monday we made them an offer. Tuesday we had to list our house and by Friday we were having photos taken for the listing. Now we are surrounded in boxes (ok fine we aren't really surrounded because we've shoved them into one room but you get what I mean) and my house is on MLS. We are trying to time this whole thing to work out for when the new house will be completed with construction. We do not want to move twice. It's all going to depend on how fast we get a buyer and how fast they complete the house. We know that they will be done with the new house in April. Now it's just to see how long it takes to find a buyer for our current home. Since the two most comparable houses in the area sold within 2 and 5 days of going on the market it could get really crazy around here.

We are under contract and now we just have to get my house sold.

 

This house just has so much we really wanted and were looking for that we couldn't pass it up. And the best part we already have equity in the home because they raised their prices a few days after we went into contract!

I never feel comfortable until we are signed, sealed and delivered. So I will finally be able to relax once we close on the new house. Until then we have a long 7 weeks ahead. I feel like I'm kind of a pro at moving and packing since I did a cross country move. This time though, I feel like we are scrambling for boxes and packing paper and tape lol. I feel like the rug is going to ripped out from under us. Maybe it's just the hurry up and wait that's going on? Who knows but either way it's going to be an interesting Easter around these parts.

Weekend Review

This weekend I got out of the house and tried some new places. I made a goal this new year to actually get out of my comfort zone, go out and do more fun things. Well I'm trying to make that really happen! So I headed downtown and tried out two places. The first place was for a meal. It's called Pizza Rock. 

The food was really good. The place had a nice mix of people and wasn't too busy. I had the Gorgonzola cheese fries and they were tasty!

Once we left Pizza Rock, we literally went next door and hit up Dive Bar. I had heard about this place but had never been inside. They have dueling pianos and a huge fish tank above the bar. The tank is so big that they have an actual mermaid or merman swimming around in it. 

I thought the dueling pianos was the best part! The mermaid was kinda cool but odd. I wonder if their hands get water-log? One of my biggest issues when going out to new places is trying to figure out what to wear. I have tons of clothing but I can never gauge what to wear when going to a new place. After much consultation, I ended up going with some black skinny pants, a white top with studs on the sleeves and some silver flats. I fitted right in!

Then I spent the rest of the weekend doing homeowner projects. Let me tell you, I thought this was going to be an easy project.... HA! It's harder than it looks trust me. I had this giant hole right in front of my front door way path. It's near a fountain and I wanted to fill it and make it look pretty. I had been seeing ads in the Sunday papers for lava rock so I went with it. Five bags later.....

I think it completely changes how the front of the house looks and in a good way! I also added this cute little mushrooms to the path...

And I totally mowed my lawn! Like all of it. I have a huge front yard and a large backyard so when I mow it, I usually alternate every week doing just the front or the back because it's so much. This weekend, I did both. 

So there you have it kids, a very productive weekend! Hope all of you have a great Monday!

Welcome Home: The Kitchen

The house tour continues! If you've missed the other two editions you can check them out here...

The Empty House 

Guest Bathroom 

Before I moved into the house, the kitchen had been completely re-done. They had put in new cabinets, stainless steel appliances and all new granite counter tops. They had also completely re-done the wood floors in the kitchen, dining room and living room. The hard work was done! Thank goodness. 
The Before:

  

After...

New wood flooring and all new cabinets

Those white owls are finding a new home now in the house

can you tell what I was making?

Stainless steel dishwasher because actually hand washing dishes grosses me out!

These postcards are a work in progress. I thought I'd put up one from all the places I've been and collected over the years of travels. 

There's a window in my kitchen but I have yet to get curtains for it. If you notice all of the canisters on my counter, they are vintage and from a 1970's collection called Merry Mushroom. I'm trying to get the matching curtains but they can be hard to find. Whenever they do come up online they can be really expensive! When I update the kitchen, I'll be sure to follow up on here.

Welcome Home: Guest Bathroom

I first moved out here at the end of August. Since then I've been trying to unpack and get settled in. It's amazing how much stuff you have to do and buy to get a new house in order. It's been over two months and I'm still not even near being complete. I've got so much to do still in the house and in the backyard. Once Josh gets here we're going to go to work on the backyard and stain the fence. 

You have to start somewhere so why not the guest bathroom? The house has two. Here's a photo of it right before I moved in.

Then I started to finally get a few things in there....

Coming in from the hallway. I love the stone floors and the stone shower. The tub is actually a Jacuzzi tub which I have yet to use. When Shayne helped me move out he accidently turned it on and we couldn't figure out how to shut it off. Ha! I might want to figure that out. 

 I've kept the color scheme the muted tan since my owls are vintage it works out well. 

 The mirrors and sink are a darker cherry wood. The finishes are stainless steel. 

 This bathroom is really large and this wall is huge. Since it's the wall that faces the shower, I might add something else to it besides the one owl. I wonder if there's a third owl out there to match the set? 

 

This is the view from the hallway going into the bathroom. I literally just put those photos up yesterday and I can't decide if I like them there. It's all the medals from my competitive twirling days and my photos from my collegiate majorette years. I mean we all need a little shrine right?

Stay tuned for more of the home tour!

Home Tour: The Before

Before we began moving everything into the house, I've got photos to show how it all looked. There's three other bedrooms here not photographed and my master bath. The bedrooms were all newly painted and brand new carpet. In the living room/dining room and kitchen there is brand new hardwood flooring. The bathrooms both have been freshly painted and tiled. I also lucked out with new ceiling fans, stainless steel appliances in the kitchen and a jacuzzi tub in one of the bathrooms! 

entry way/living room

dining area connected to the living area

Kitchen

Another view of the kitchen

One of the 4 bedrooms.

The hall bathroom with a jacuzzi tub.

Once we started bringing in the boxes... oh my! It was instant clutter and chaos. 

Please tell me most people's living rooms look like this that first day of moving in. 

Now I just have to finish unpacking a few more things and hang more on the walls and then I can show you the after photos! I might show the progress tomorrow. It's slowly coming together. Hopefully, I can get everything unboxed by Thursday or Friday. 

From Breakdowns to Happiness

3 days
17 home viewings
1 apartment viewing
5 home offers submitted


I spent three very stressful and exhausting days going through 17 homes all over Sacramento, California. I cried. I laughed. I had an extreme meltdown. 


I had viewed homes all Thursday afternoon and all day Friday. I had only seen one home that I loved enough to put an offer on. The rest I was kinda iffy on. By Friday evening I had found out that I had been out bid on the home I loved and that it was going into contract with someone else. Cue the freak out. 


Saturday morning, I got up and went to look at three of the homes again that I had seen on Friday. Since I was leaving in only a few hours I figured I might as well. I thought they were nice and I went ahead and put in offers. Then my realtor told me about a house that had just came on the market at midnight. We thought, "What do we have to lose? Let's go look at it!"


We got in the car and from the moment we got there I liked it. We walked inside and I loved it. The backyard is huge and has so much potential. The kitchen was completely new with granite counter tops and new stainless steel appliances. New hardwood floors, new carpet and new paint. Here was the problem though.... they were asking the max of what I could get a loan on so I knew I could only offer their asking. Why is that a problem? Oh because it's a bidding war on real estate right now in Sacramento thanks to investors. 


So we went back to the realtors office, wrote the offer for the asking amount and 17 extra dollars (my birth date). I thanked my realtor for all of her hard work, got on a plane to go home and crossed my fingers that at least one of my offers would get accepted. All the while secretly hoping that I'd get that last house. 


Yesterday afternoon my realtor called, "Jennifer! How much did you like the house on ____ Drive?" I loved it, Why? "Well it's yours! They accepted your offer!"


I have a home people! We are set to close in 30 days so let's cross our fingers that everything goes great and that come next month Josh and I will be moving into our home together!! 

Isn't it cute?! Sneak peek!