What's at the end?

So, at the end of the path is what?



So, have I mentioned that I hate house hunting? It's true! After 6 months of looking on and off, I have decided that house hunting really sucks! You get so really like a house and something goes wrong and then you are disappointed and it really is stressful and dragging everyone around to look and...and...okay, so here's what has happened since I blogged last...
1. We found a house that had everything we needed as well as a yard, close to the kid's school, plenty of space, we really liked this house...so we put in an offer. Thank you Mr. stupid banker who reviewed our offer and decided to counter back at above the asking price...yeah. Unfortunately the house wasn't in greatest of areas, but the little pocket of the neighborhood was on the far end of the not the greatest neighborhood and we figured that was okay. The counter offer was above market value and I'm sure this back-east banker was definitely more interested in lining the bank's pockets than in even following fair market value. So, we let that house go.
2. Upon learning about the bank's counter offer on the house we REALLY liked, Lee went to go look at a house that HE really liked. I was still annoyed at losing the house we REALLY liked and begrudgingly went to look at it. I hated it! I couldn't think of anything I liked about the house HE really liked. I'll come back to this one though...
3. We went back to look at a house that was near our current house, we looked at it in March and I liked the house. It had 3000 sq. feet, 3bd, office space, huge kitchen, huge family room, Master suite, the works. The only thing was it wasn't in the right school area and it didn't have much of a yard, even though that wasn't that big of a deal though because it was across the street from the park. When we looked at it in March, there was some person who was acting as a 3rd party to the home owners...well, supposedly. We knew this guy wasn't legit. and we didn't do anything about it. We went back to look at it over the weekend...whoever had possession of it last stripped it. Yep. Light fixtures, door knobs, the hot water heater, dishwasher, the master bathroom toilet, the heat pump manager...nice. That was disappointing for sure, although it's all stuff that could be replaced. The house was listed for 210k, Lee found out from the bank who had the house what would be the best offer for it, 170k. There was a was another offer that had been put in on the house, but the people were having a hard time getting their financing together, Lee has his ready so we felt really confident that the bank would just accept his offer. You know...it couldn't be that easy! Well, the realtor and the listing agent called Lee the next day and told him that there was a multi-offer situation in place and that Lee better bump his offer up by 10k. You know there was something just not right with that. The offer from the people who couldn't get their financing together had expired and we knew there weren't any other offers. Lee was furious! As was I. Actually, we had an estimate done on the house and it needed to be completely re plumbed and had mold issues in the basement besides all the things that needed to be replaced. At a price tag of at least 74k, plus the price of the house, would have put it at above fair market value.
4. Well, in the meantime the house I hated...Lee had put an offer in on it. I haven't decided if I was more annoyed about him putting in an offer on a house I hadn't seen (yes, he did! It's all good though...and I still love you!=0)) or if I was still annoyed about losing the house we REALLY liked. Lee had actually called the agent and told her to kill the offer, she didn't listen. Lee got a call that his offer on it had been accepted!=0) After the fiasco on the house near our current house, I had put a lot of thought in on the house I hated. This has been such a long process and we have to get more space....this house was ours (practically!)...so, Lee called the agent to see if we could still get it. WE CAN!!! After going there yesterday and spending a couple of hours with a contractor getting estimates on what needs to be fixed, I like this house the best! 2500 sq. feet, 4bd, 21/2 bath, formal living, formal dining (we really wouldn't use it and will steal it for office space), huge kitchen/family room combo, master suite, walk in closet, huge yard, in Santa Clara, quiet neighborhood, in the right school area...etc.=0) The moral of the story you ask? I'm not sure other than keep at it and you might very well find what you really wanted at the end of a very long path...=0)
The house I hated...and now it's the BEST house! Oh yeah, did I tell you how much Lee offered on it? 108k, ugh...it was sooo much work though!=0)