New Year, New House

Back at the end of 2014, we decided it was finally time to start home searching. We were definitely outgrowing our 2 bedroom condo and things with Robert's job were continuing to go well, so we thought buying would be the next best thing for our family. We began researching areas heavily, started touring homes that peeked our interest to learn what money in Florida buys, educated ourselves as much as we could about the home buying process, finally got pre-approved, and spent many days scouring the Internet for homes that we liked and fit within budget. It was a really difficult process trying to figure out where to live. I loved our area because it was so close to the beach and fun touristy things, but the school districts were terrible and the crime rates were higher, so we decided that we needed to expand our search further out into the suburbs. We toured a few homes out in Hillsborough County and learned what areas we started to like out that way. One day over Thanksgiving break while we were up in Georgia, I was scanning my phone while up early with Dawson and noticed a home come up on Zillow in that area with great schools. I poked Robert and said "Hey, why didn't you show me this house?" (because it was already starred to our favorite's list). He said, "Oh yeah, I forgot to show you that one." We both talked it over and decided when got home we would set up an appointment to see it. And that's just what we did...

Upon our arrival and communication with the realtor, we found out this home was not a traditional sale as we originally thought. We were walking into a divorce situation, the home had been foreclosed on, and the price was as low as it was going to go, so there would be little to no wiggle room.

We stopped by one evening after work and took the tour:

They were in the process of moving out and there was animal smell everywhere, but once we looked past that we saw a really good open floor plan and great space. We especially liked the lot and large yard that it offered.

It definitely had it's outdated parts that would need fixing up.

Kids bath (above) and master bath (below)

Kitchen and living room (below)

However, luckily it wasn't the whole house. The kitchen, bedrooms, master bath shower, and this addition had been updated. 

We went home excited that we might have found a good option. To be sure we weren't in over our heads, we went back to the house with Robert's parents for a second look. It was important that we had our "contractor" a/k/a Robert's Dad, Chris on board. :) 

All parties approved.

After a lot of consideration, we took the leap of faith and decided to make this our new home. Eek!
After working awhile in the real estate industry, it was a fun experience for me to actually sit through a real closing.

Robert did so much to make this home happen. At the time, I was feeling completely overwhelmed with life and babies that I had hardly the energy or mental capacity to put the effort needed into making sure the deal went through, all the right parties were contacted, learning what we needed to do, etc. I am so glad he worked vigilantly through the process because I am so happy with the end result and the house we ended up with. We both feel really great about the decision, which we are both extremely thankful for and hope that decision continues to go well. 

Home sweet home. 

Our first house!

After we closed, Robert and I went out for a lunch date to Robert's choice of Japanese Express to celebrate before we headed back to our condo to relieve my mother-in-law, Teri, from watching the kids. Don't be fooled, the celebration didn't last long. We went right to work on prepping the house the next day!

Due to the fact that it was in a "foreclosed" state and it's location we were able to get more house than we thought we would be able to, which was great. I was thrilled we found something that checked off most of the items on our wish list. However, that also meant there would be a lot of work needed to get it to a place we would feel comfortable living in.

We rented a dump trailer and started the demolition work. We ripped out doors, door casings, bathrooms, and knocked down two drop-down ceilings.

The boys enjoyed themselves. Don't worry, Teri was in on the action as well and did a lot to help with the demo work (I just don't have a picture of her). 

Meanwhile, someone had to watch these two little ones. 

We would last as long as we could here on our picnic blanket and then head back home to await the report on the progress. It was lonely and hard not being to help/be involved as much as I wanted to during the first weeks. Keeping them occupied was a full time job while trying to keep them out of the dirt and mess. It was definitely not a child-proofed area to play in even if Annabelle thought the house was a new jungle to explore and run around.

We (along with Teri and Chris) spent many hours prepping and renovating as many things as we could before we moved in. We closed on January 23 and were set to move in March, so we had a month and half to get there!

Home ownership here we come!