House Hunting

I haven't talked much about buying a house up to now. I feel compelled to blog about it now because we've finally found a great realtor! He's the third one we've tried. We're putting in an offer for the house above. It'll be the third offer we're putting in. The first house fell through because it was just a back up offer and the first buyers got it. The second was (or I should say "is" since we haven't officially backed out of it... but we definitely will) a short sale. There's a long story to this...

It's in Carmel, which has the best schools in the area. It doesn't have a two car garage because it has been finished into living space, which we need more than a garage. But the thing that has been bothering us is that it's in a flood plain. I've been trying to find out info about how much of the neighborhood flooded and how bad it was, but everyone I've talked to only seems to remember that there was a flood in 1995 and 1998. And that's it.

Well, things were looking up when we heard back from the bank in only a week, which I think is unheard of with short sales. They countered with more money. And we started to not feel good about it because of the flood issue. PLUS! The house above just got reduced closer to our price range and I like it way more. I've been eyeing it for a few months now but the price has been way too high.

Anyway, I called Mike, Realtor #3, to show us the other house, which is in Pacific Grove. I also asked him about the Carmel house and the flood situation. Well, he remembers the floods and said the neighborhood turned into a lake both times!! And the state of California has to back all the flood insurance policies because the insurance companies started to refuse to offer flood insurance because of too much risk!!

SO, that Carmel house is totally not worth it! Can you imagine buying a house, knowing that it will flood at some point?? Crazy!

Okay, so we looked at the PG house and we love it. The layout is totally bizarre, but there's lots of space and it has a nice big yard. It's at the end of a quiet street and hiking trails start just two houses away.

Some of the strange things are the front door opeing into the kitchen, the door in the garage opening up into the master bedroom and one of the other bedrooms is 22ft by 14.5ft. It's bizarre how gigantic it is. But, we can work with it all. The strangeness is actually a good thing since no one else seems to want it.

So, we'll be putting a lowball offer in on Monday. It's lowball because we still can't afford even close to what they are asking. But, we're really ready to move into our own house and finally finish unpacking. So, please pray for us that this works out quickly if it's meant to be or that it will end quickly if it's not. I'm okay if it's not meant to be, I just hate getting all excited for nothing.

If you actually read all of this, gee thanks, you're better than me :)