The beginning to where we are now

Wow. We have been so excited about the possibility of getting a new home. Buying a home. No longer renting. Starting over. We at first started with our focus on foreclosures. Most bang for your buck thing. But then we extended that to actual houses on the market as well. Why not include all our options?

A week or so ago I called my lovely husband and asked him about a community in our area, The Mills. He chuckled some and said he was wondering the same thing.

The Mills is a community that was started a few years ago, and then was abandon (with like maybe 10 homes in it). The developer went bankrupt. Well a big name bank owned the note. And they final got all the legal work taken care of and the money put aside to re-start the neighborhood. That's right, the bank is now the developer. After the neighborhood has been built up a bit, they plan to put shops and stuff in at the main road. It would be cool.

This is why it was so odd both my husband and I thought about this same abandon place on the same day. Come to find out...They had JUST re-opened that week!! =) What are the odds we both thought of this same place, on the same day, the week they open! It's not like we're anywhere near it and drive by it often at all. Haven't been down that way in almost 2 years really.

So, for sh*ts and giggles (as they say) we went to see about building a new home. We really didn't expect much to come out of it. Only, we found a plan we liked. They had a model in another neighborhood. We saw it. BLAH! But going to that model and meeting the person there, led us to another model by the same builder in yet another neighborhood.

We came home, looked at the plans. Yeah, it was nice but... After some deliberation, we decide to run up and check out the other model. Not expecting much since the first one did NOT make much of an impression on us. It wasn't bad. Just not for us. We just wanted to make sure we left no stone unturned. Boy were we wrong! We fell in the love with this model. But realistically, could we afford it? Only one way to find out.

We made the appointment to talk to C., the lady at The Mills. We played the "why not" game and put in a ton of options (again...for giggles). Maybe we were trying to sabotage it upfront. We don't want to get hopes up and get disappointed.

To our surprise...we were $100 away in payment from we wanted to be with one loan, and right on target if we got the other one. *shock!* And we never even got around to the negotiation of price...at least not yet. . .

So...we have been waiting 3 days to see if we qualify for the first loan. IF (what a big little word), IF we get the this amazing loan we are going to consider building! We will sit down, really look at our options, negotiate price, and perhaps build a brand new house. One with warranties. We've never owned a brand new home before. I have owned and rented "used" ones. UGH! Things go wrong and need replaced and yeah. How cool would it be for us to build our own home, they way we want it, and not have the worry about the roof, or windows, or carpet, or heating/air unit needing replaced. Well, at least we're 90% sure we would go ahead and build. Plus this neighborhood, they way they plan it, doesn't seem very likely to turn into a "hood" if you know what I mean. But then again....

We do have an appt. on Friday to see 4 other houses. A foreclosure, a short sale, and two listings, I believe. We just can't make any final decisions (no matter how excited we are) without at least checking out a few of our other options. I mean, buying an existing structure would allow us to move in a whole lot sooner than waiting for one to be built. Plus, if we built, we'd literally be one of the first, if not THE first to resume building in that neighborhood. Kinda makes you squirm. Dirty roads, the sound of construction all the time as it's built up, no neighbors (no friends for the kids). All these are drawbacks that an existing structure would not have. Plus, The Mills is a bit further away from the area we originally wanted to live in. So, further to work, and everything else. BUT....the existing structure comes with the worries fore mentioned, and a different loan. They both have their plus points and minus points. It's just a matter of finding what's right for us.

So again....we are sitting. Waiting. Weighing our options as we wait for word. Trying to find out what's IS right for us. Right now the key to this game is patience. Something I'm not very good at. lol