This Adventure Called Life: Our New House

Over springbreak we went to Paris to begin the house hunting process. We were hoping that if we spent the week down there then we would be able to find a house and hopefully do the inspection. We got to Paris late Saturday and then Sunday afternoon we went out to look at 3 different houses with our agent. The first house we looked at, still had the family at home. (They weren't aware that we were coming). The house wasn't too bad. We loved the entry way but there was tile through the whole house; the only exception being the master bedroom. Guy and I weren't super wild about that but it was alright. Our agent informed us that the house has flooded before and based on the paperwork the repairs that needed to be fixed hadn't yet been fixed. The house had also gone on and off the market several different times.

The second house we looked at was a little nicer. The fence in the back yard needed a little work. We really liked how they had updated several different features on the house. They had recently opened the kitchen up by making more of a great room. The neighborhood was nice as well. It was definitely on our short list.

The third house we looked at was in a neighborhood we had looked at online. We had looked at several houses by it as well. The house we looked at is in phase 3 of the area expansion project. When we looked at the house Guy and I both felt peaceful about the house. The property sits on about .5 acres so there's a little more room to it. The downside is that it was off of a busier road. I guess Reno busy is different than I was expecting because I didn't think it was too busy at all. (That's after the week I've spent in the house). After talking we decided to have our agent start the paperwork. Guy and I prayed about and slept on our decision and the next morning we decided to make an offer.

We made an offer Monday. Monday night the seller's countered. Tuesday we accepted the counter offer and officially entered "under contract." Since we were done early in the week with the hunting we were able to schedule the inspection as well. I'm really grateful I had checked out the book House Buying for Dummies because it included questions that you should ask when interviewing inspectors. Between that and google we did great picking an inspector. The list we were given had 4 inspectors listed with a mixed bag of crap. The first inspector had terrible google reviews, the second inspector I called had only been in the business for about 6 months. The third inspector didn't really work in the area. The fourth inspector had 29 years of experience and gave a $50 discount for first time buyers! Ha! It worked out great. The house passed inspection no problem. We have a few minor things we needed to work on but nothing bad.

We were set to close on the house April 26th. All I'm going to say about the time before when we signed the contract and when we actually closed was a NIGHTMARE! About every step of the process that could go wrong went wrong. We had issues getting the mortgage approved with needing new tax forms, and information about Guy's company, and my company. We had issues with the appraisal. The house was appraised correctly but the maps were wrong. Then we had them come back and say we needed flood insurance (we don't) because they were looking at the wrong county. We had the title company person preparing the documents quit (or get fired) 3 days before we were suppose to close. (Grateful the lawyer's office called us the day of to inform us of the problem!) Like I said, NIGHTMARE...especially for first time buyers! On the bright side, we know what to do when things go wrong.

We finally closed on the house May 3rd. Guy got to the house May 22 and was able to get the the utilities set up (had to apply in person). On May 25 we officially moved in. I was able to come down a few days later and help Guy unload the boxes, clean (wasn't cleaned before the sellers left) and organize. I had Guy take a few pictures of the house with our stuff in it....Enjoy!