Well, since we had a baby, we decided maybe it was time to grow up and buy ourselves a little house. Make that, a little home :) Although we're not HUGE fans of Virginia Beach or anything, the fact is that we're going to be here for a while and we figured it was probably better invest in something than to pay tons of money for absolutely nothing. Plus we'd prefer Bauer grow up somewhere that he wouldn't hear random gunshots, domestic disputes, and naval air force jets. Well..I can't promise there wont be any jet noise but I'm crossing my fingers.
We found a STEAL of a house! Lee was approved for 200 but we were trying to stay under 150..after all this is our first house..the next one will be our dream home. HOPEFULLY in our dream location as well! :) While Lee's mom stayed with us for a week, we took the opportunity to look for homes. We got a realtor, loan approval, and headed out on the town. Most places we found were far too small, extremely pricey..or in REALLY bad neighborhoods. Some places we didn't even want to get out of the car! After only a week of house hunting we decided to give it a rest and try again in a few months. All of a sudden we get an email from our realtor about a condo. Yes a condo. In VA Beach...the housing market is OUTRAGEOUS. Its so expensive to live here...and the "decent" places in our price range are really only town houses and condos. We were willing to live with that if we found, "the one." This "Condo" is actually a detached, single-family, condo. Meaning, its in a condo community, has HOA fees/rules but its detached so its like our own house. That was the first positive about the place. Second is the price. The houses in the neighborhood are all appraised in the 220's and 230's. Our particular house sold in 2006 for 264,000! It was for sale a few weeks ago in the 190's and then dropped last friday to 146! Are you kidding me? What a deal! We thought for sure something had to be wrong with this as it was too good to be true! (well we still haven't had inspection so cross fingers!)
Its a bank forclosure so the closing period will take a little longer and sets us to move in mid-January. The only thing it really needs is new carpet, paint and a good scrubbing. Its pretty dirty but everything seems to be in fairly good condition. We can gradually replace appliances and things of that nature over the next few years. It has 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, an eat-in kitchen and a separate dining area that opens to the living room with fireplace. A HUGE master suite with walk-in closet (bigger than our current kitchen!) and Master Bath with Garden tub and shower and 2 sinks! We have a ton of storage and closet space throughout and even a walk-in attic and a garage! We are so excited it is ridiculous. We are upgrading from about 900 square feet and 1 TINY bathroom to almost 1600 square feet! Praise the LORD! Here are a few photos of the house...there aren't very many online but of course I will take more when we move in!
The first picture is the front of the "Condo." The neighborhood is set up sorta strange so its hard to get to the house and see where the house is..we're still trying to figure out where people will park when they come to visit...hmmm. That is one major downfall. But, we love the house, its got cute curb appeal. The next picture is the back of the house and our driveway and garage. The next picture is the kitchen. In here, we plan on changing out the floor and painting the cabinets. The are in really good condition. Putting down a few slabs of granite, adding a backsplash and we will gradually change out the appliances. The fridge is really nice, so that can wait awhile but we may need to replace the stove and the hood range and dishwasher sooner than later. Also we have a large washer and dryer but would prefer new ones because they are a little outdated..but that can certainly wait too. No the washer and dryer are NOT in the kitchen but in many of the places we looked, they were. Lame! The next picture is the living room/dining area. Its a really bad picture because you can't even see the other side of the living area where the fireplace and everything is. In this room we plan on of course painting, adding some wainscoting around the bottom and removing the carpet (which is really dirty) the room itself is in great condition and has beautiful crown molding!
Before moving in, our plan is to replace all the carpet and in the living/dining area put down a wood laminate. We haven't decided if we will continue that into the kitchen or do a different tile in there. We will have to see how much everything costs. Other than that, things will happen gradually..and it will take a few years to get it the way we want but its going to be really fun! :) I think I see a trip to Home Depot in my future! :)
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