In theory today was supposed to be a holiday that I would get off. We are treating it like a floating holiday at work as part of the market is open today and part of it is not. I was on the list of people supposed to have today off. That did not pan out.
I was up and online early this morning and found that there were a lot of people needing my assistance. I ended up working all morning pretty frantically trying to keep up with the work until we had to leave at ten to run down to Coldwell to meet our Real Estate Agent so that we could go out to look at houses.
Before heading out to see the houses we ran over to McDonald’s to get breakfast. Dominica was very ill from a lack of food this morning.
The houses today were generally much better than the houses that we had looked at in North Irving. We are in Carrollton today for the first time seeing more than a single house up there.
All of the houses today were decently acceptable. We pretty much ran through the list in reverse order of interest – just because that is how it worked out. The first house was not a winner but wasn’t all that bad. It had a horrible kitchen but some interesting living spaces that would have been pretty workable. But it wasn’t going to make the cut so we moved on pretty quickly.
The second house was pretty good. It was very inexpensive and pretty nice. Up for consideration. It didn’t grab us but it was a rather nice home.
The third house was somewhat more expensive and in rather poor shape but it was larger and very interesting. It has some high ceilings, neat architecture and a very good use of space. We were quite wary of it because of the amount of work that we would have to put in to really make it a house in which we would want to live which is not what we are going for at this point. We do not tend to be in houses for very long so it is pretty important that whatever house we choose is one into which we are able to move right away without any additional hassles because those items that are a problem for us could easily never get addressed before we move out.
The four house is the one that we were most interested in. Middle of the road in price and from the pictures it seemed like something that we would really like but you can never tell from pictures. We learned that lesson a few days ago.
We were both in love with this house from the moment that we walked into it. We liked it pretty well from the outside as well. The house and the grounds are in really good shape. The house was built in the late 1970s and when you enter it you’d swear that you were stepping right into the 70s – the house feels new, but new like it is still the 70s which is very cool. Everything is in perfect condition.
The living room is very large and just filled with light as there are windows all the way around. There is a nice fireplace right in the middle of the living room. The back yard is just what we want for Oreo and Liesl. Big enough for them to use but well protected and safe and in good condition. The kitchen is very dated, no getting around that. Two car garage, outdoor atrium that is perfect as a formal dining room. Three bedrooms, two baths which is not ideal but it will have to do. A room just off of the living room that will likely service as the kids’ play room and den area. There is room for our small dining room table in the kitchen’s eat in area which works out well.
One of the coolest selling features of the house is the complete bar that is at the back of the living room. And I mean full. It is a bar meant to be staffed by a bar tender with a sink and plenty of space against the back wall and the normal serving bar in the front. It has a fake roof for it on the inside of the living room and three small windows looking into the atrium. It is a perfect place for all of our wine and coffee items. We have always wanted a bar.
The house is a ranch which is what we want. We do not walk small children or the blind Boston Terrier dealing with stairs unnecessarily. Just dangerous and we don’t like how they make the house feel. Everything on one floor is the best. I don’t like running up and down stairs every time that I need something.
We were decided in no time and put in an offer while still in the house. It was around twelve thirty or many one by the time that we were all done house shopping for the day. Now the long, drawn out Texas house bidding process begins. Heaven only knows when we might actually hear something about the house. We are very hopeful, this is the first house that we have seen that we really, really like. The price is good, at the top of our desired range but less than five thousand over what we had said that we would spend so close enough that we are not fretting it at all.
On the drive back I timed the trip and in the middle of the day it took eighteen minutes to get from the house to the office in Las Colinas. A lot farther than I had wanted to be but not a far commute like I was used to in New York, DC or New Jersey over the years.
After we got back I worked for the rest of the afternoon for the office. No additional work on the house today. I will have to go back into the real estate office tomorrow to sign some additional paperwork.
We ordered in some Domino’s pizza this afternoon and watched 30 Rock. Overall we did very little today after the house hunting was done.