for the house i do not own.

we are officially supposed to close on the 18th. so i am now in constant “i need this for the house” mode. i need an intervention. i need to chill.

{read the rest of this post in my whiney, fast talking, but i need this, breathless voice. if you know me, you know what i am talking about}

For example: see the big fork and spoon bronze art? i need that. I showed them to kyle and he told me they were [and i quote] “very stupid” and that he [and i quote again] “good if we had a giant over for dinner”. heartbreaking. he is no fun. but i can picture it in my kitchen, on the wall next to the pantry. hanging just like in the picture. or maybe horizontally with the spoon facing one way and the fork the other. i feel like they’re funky and fun and will add character to our light, moss green kitchen [that will eventually be repainted]. and the fuddy duddy that is my husband can deal with it. But... with all that said, the one thing i know: i need them and will get them, eventually. mark.my.words.

and then this hutch. i mean. it is a beauty. i like that i can store serve ware underneath [and wine] and then put fun decoration on top. plus, i want something to put all our napkins and placemats in rather than our kitchen drawers. but at the sticker price of $1,099 this piece of furniture will not be in our future home. i know, $1,099 – gasp. shock. awe. – totally unattainable. and i don’t want to hear about “investments” and “having it forever” because $1,099 is a crap-ton of money. we will continue to look at target for a great buffet/hutch thing. plus, i don’t think it is dark enough wood. ideally – i would love to find a buffet/hutch thing to match the kitchen table we need to buy. but i want the shelving underneath and the drawers.

but as i look at kitchen art [aka the fork and spoon] and then furniture, i realize that i really love dark wood. and we currently have dark wood because kyle and i love the clean look of it. our cabinets, they’re white. we’re going to need to make them dark [eventually] to match the decor i am wanting to pull off.

one thing i know [other than that i need that fork and spoon art] is that i need to win the lotto or put bonus money to our eventual kitchen upgrade and semi-home painting [kyle and i may be misadvised, but we think we can paint 97% of the house on our own. stay tuned for pictures]. i like pretty things, it is a major downfall.

oh and another thing i know: i need to breathe and live in the house for like a week before i start buying things and decorating. for all i know, i am designing one of the other houses we looked at.

House Hunting Begins {for now}.

Honestly, I am still not 100% sure we should be house hunting. But. We went and looked at houses away. And house hunting is stressful. I think it is going to be like wedding planning. Something I hate. There is seriously nothing fun about this process {especially since all of Atlanta is home shopping and wants a deal. rawr}

And I feel like it is going to be like buying a wedding dress – you have that ah ha, this is the one moment and i just have not felt that. boo.

This house is honest to goodness gorgeous. Still our #1 but we were not able to see it. It has an offer on it, but it is contingent/kick out so I have made our real estate agent dig and find more dirt on it because i want to see it. seriously.

Another house on the list we didn’t get to see but it is our #2 – I have our real estate agent stalking the listing agent so we can see it.

This house it utterly gorgeous, everything about it. The kitchen. The layout. Everything. The only downfall is the backyard, it isn’t as big as we would like. Not just for our dogs but for future kids. And this isn’t a deal breaker, but the driveway is REALLY steep. This one is not no, but not a oh my gosh must have.

This house has been a favorite of mine for months. After seeing it, I think it is a no. The backyard situation is just too small and we would have to let the dogs out through the basement every time they wanted to go out. The basement? it isn’t even finished so we can’t hang out down there to make it easier. blah. And, the owners of the house have let their kid draw all over the walls. But the kitchen and layout was AMAZING!

Kyle loved this one – me not so much – I loved the backyard and the kitchen and the bedroom size, but there was just so much that needed to be done to it. Paint, wallpaper removal, repainting cabinets. And then our real estate agent basically said it would be A LOT of money since she spotted wood rot and all the jazz. So, this is a no. We don’t want to be shelling out money form day 1.

 

There was just so much that I did not like about this house – there were janky old yellowed looking security systems on the walls and tattered surround sounds speakers. The backyard situation is a big question mark. but... the kitchen was nice and the size of the size of the master bedroom was good. i just didn’t see thing place as home.

I feel like we were bamboozled. I feel meh and not optimistic about this. There really is not a lot of inventory out there. The good stuff goes in like 2 days and REALLY who has the time to drop everything and who can drop everything to go see a house that lists on a Tuesday afternoon at 1:08 PM?? Because I will email a house to our agent and then they literally FLY of the market.  Granted, I don’t think our agent is asking all the questions (since our #1 house we were told had a “solid offer on it” and then I learned it was “contingent with a kickback clause). I feel like when I see a house I like I am going to have to immediately email her and ask her to get back to me and schedule it. It is exhausting to find houses, get excited about them, and then find out they’re gone – especially when they’re gone SO fast. 

Oh well... we’re supposed to go back out again this weekend, but as of right now, I cannot find anything that I like that is within our price range, location range, and something i would want to live in for the long haul.  We like our real estate agent – she seems to be really good with first time homebuyers and really knowledgeable. Granted, I didn’t love that she didn’t start planning our visits until 9:00 PM last night. But... I think she is good – has our best interest in mind – and is honest ... which all matters

I am willing to bet $10.00 that we don’t find a house and that is kind of depressing since our rent is about to go up and the interest rates are so good right now and going up.

yeah. sorry. this was a venting post.

{ Friday Letters }

 

I have not done a Friday's Letters in awhile. And the last one I did, there was not even a link up. Lame. But, here I am with another Friday Letters.

 

Dear Alabama Football: For serious. Last weekend was just.too.much. I will be missing most of the game tomorrow - just do what you do best, win. Lets just wrap the season up, beat UGA in the SEC Championship and *hopefully* roll on into the National Championship game. And win that too. Roll Tide.

 

Dear Government: Ok. You have to figure out this fiscal cliff thing. This counry really cannot afford another recession. Another recession can and will hurt my company. The thought of my losing my job scares the crap outta me (Explanation of said fiscal cliff)  
 

Dear House Hunting: Should we really be doing this? Some people still tell me YES. Others tell me NO and to wait it out. And then people at the office give me the look like I have 17 heads when I mention house hunting and still going through with it. I need some direction! I like stability, I want to know that I can pay my mortgage every month on time.

Dear Real Estate Agent: Hi. I am a control freak. The fact that we have a 1:00 appointment tomorrow and I do not know where we are meeting makes me anxious. You saw my home buying worksheet. I like things planned out. I like to know what is going on. I don't like being in the dark, especially since we're meeting tomorrow and I do not know where. I am obviously going to need to set some ground rules tomorrow.

Dear Mulligan: You're a bad dog. I wish there was a temporary pound I could send you to so you can learn how the other half lives. But, I love you. 

Dear Bank Account: I am going to be much more careful with my spending until further notice. And I know this knee jerk reaction is NOT what our economy needs, but as mentioned before a recession can and will hurt my company and put my job stability in question. I need to save.

Dear Laptop: You're brand new and you suck. Why does my keyboard keep freezing?!

Dear Cold Weather: Where did you come from? I hate you! Where was fall? Seriously, I hate this weather!!

Dear Personality Profile I had to take: Yo. you stressed me OUT. I feel like "discussing" and "spontaneous" are 2 different things - I could not and am not both. And I do not think I can wait till the 29th to get the results and see what they mean. And the thought of doing it in a group setting, makes me anxious.

Beh. Well. I hope you have a good weekend! :)

{the house hunt begins}

we are starting to house hunt this weekend and we have like 401 houses to see. ok. that is a stretch. but we do have a lot.  The pictures are listed from top choice to last choice {obviously} and you would think these houses would be EXPENSIVE but thanks to it being (1) Atlanta with cheaper homes and (2) a buyers market we will be getting a d-e-a-l. now. readers, don’t steal any of these houses... especially the top 4 or we may have issues. got it!

We have high high high hopes for the 1st house. basically new, amazing price, and it is already fenced. but we also love #2 and #3 and #4 {but there is some odd stuff going on with that one}. honestly: this whole process makes me nervous. i am scared someone will steal these houses that i am already emotionally attached to but have not even seen.

Kyle and I want a house that we can buy and then stay in. We don’t want to be house hunting again in 7 years or 10. We like stability.

 

Wish us luck!! I will blog all about the hunt. :)