We (probably) Have a House!

We have an accepted offer on the single family home! As long as everything goes well with the inspection and appraisal, we will be proud new homeowners!

I forgot to take a picture of the outside...whoops!  I'll try to get that tomorrow when we meet the inspector at the house.  Here are some pictures of the inside:

Laundry Room:

 

Kid Bedroom:

 

 

Kid Bathroom:

 

 

Loft:

 

 

Side Yard:

 

 

Upstairs hallway, looking into the master bedroom:

 

 

Living Room:

 

 

Kitchen:

 

 

Dining Room, looking into the kitchen:

 

 

Master Bathroom:

 

 

Master Bathroom:

 

Offer Time

The California housing market is a different world. Instead of falling in love with a house and going all in, you make offers on several homes. The market is so competitive that you need to have multiple offers on the table or you may get nothing. We made 4 offers last night.

We made an offer on a single family home with 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 1525 square feet, 2 car garage. It is the smallest home we made an offer on but it was the only single family home and it had the most outside space. It already had a couple of offers on it yesterday so we went in (we think) competitively.

We ended up making offers on 3 townhomes. More home for the money than a single family home.

The townhome we like the most is 4 bedroom, 3 full baths, almost 2100 square feet, and a 2.5 car oversized garage. One of the bedrooms was downstairs and had a full bath attached. Upstairs is an open floor plan with an updated kitchen, living room, and dining room. The laundry room, girls bedrooms, and girls bathroom would also be on the second floor. Upstairs on the third floor is a huge master suite. The view from the living room and master is of the park across the road and beyond that the mountains.

The third home we offered on was also 4 bedroom, 3 bath, and was almost 2500 square feet. It's laid out similar to house #2 but the first floor also has an extra family room. There is also a small bit of outside space off the first floor.

House #4 is 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom, and almost 2100 square feet. It is only 2 stories. It has a bedroom/bathroom on the first floor and living room, dining room, kitchen, and an entrance to some outside space. There is a nearly new hot tub that stays with the place. On the second floor are the master suite, girls rooms, and laundry room. This one has the best front porch of any we've seen and also has a full length driveway (a rarity).

We are expecting answers/counter-offers/flat out rejections tomorrow. Hopefully we'll have some exciting news to share about one of these houses!

Exploring the Area...and the Beach

On Sunday we gave our Realtor the day off (aren't we generous?) so that he could do some research on available homes that was more specific to our tastes and so that we could investigate some more of the communities that we had considered moving to, but hadn't yet had time to drive through and explore.  Everything that we explored on Friday and Saturday were inland towns.  We dedicated Sunday to exploring beach towns. 

 

We started the day by driving around and looking at elementary and high schools.  You can't tell everything by the appearance of the school, but first impressions do make a difference.  Like everything else we've seen, we saw some really nice, updated schools with cool facilities and great mascots.  And then we saw some that look a bit like prisons.

 

When we got ready for a break from the car and needed to stretch our legs, we went to a 2 mile beach path for a really gorgeous run. 

 

 

 

After our run we took off our shoes and took a short walk over the sand dunes and into the ocean.  It was freezing, but beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

Dave wrote a message in the sand:

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was back in the car to look at yet more towns.  There are so many towns in the area that it has taken us a long time to see all of them.  While we were out, we ran across a couple of open houses and stopped to take a look.  We saw a terrible house, with a great yard.  Dave says he loves the house, but my theory is that he was blinded by seeing so much grass outside.  The house needed a LOT of work.  And supposedly someone died in there so there's that.  We stopped at a 2nd open house, but when we saw that they were asking nearly $600,000 for the house we got right back in the car and drove off.  Same story at open house #3 when we saw the $1.2 million dollar price tag.  No need to tease ourselves like that.

 

After several more hours of driving we were ready to get out and stretch our legs again so we decided to try out another beach.  It had another great walking/biking/running path so we took a little stroll along the beach.  It was, as seems to be the theme, completely beautiful.  We saw a golden retriever out in the ocean for a long swim.  We saw a man tooling around on a huge unicycle.  We saw tons of people out walking, running, biking, grilling, and playing on the playground.  It wasn't crowded at all but there were plenty of people out enjoying the beautiful sunshine and 70 degree weather.

 

 

 

 

After enjoying the beach awhile, we got back in the car to head back to our hotel and relax for the night.  But...we couldn't go back without a stop at one of my Top Ten must try eateries, Yogurtland.  Tons of flavors of frozen yogurt, with a whole topping bar.  Build it yourself, pay by the weight.  They have tons of toppings as well, including fresh fruit, candies, cookies, nuts, and sauces.  It was just as delicious as I've always imagined!  Mine is pictured, but if you could see Dave's you would see that neither of us bothered with the fresh fruit...this was a junk food sundae all the way.

 

 

 

In 15 minutes our Realtor will be here, and we are heading out for House Hunting Day 2!

The Biggest Loser

On Saturday after we finished House Hunting we ate some lunch and set out to explore several towns that we were considering moving to but hadn't yet seen. We saw some beautiful homes and scenery but ultimately decided that everything we saw on Saturday afternoon was just too far away from work and the commute would wear on us.  At this point we were exhausted and decided to do something fun and relaxing. 

 

I am a HUGE fan of the TV show The Biggest Loser.  I love love love Bob and Dolvett.  I knew that The Biggest Loser Ranch where they film the show is relatively close to where we are moving.  So, we did a little digging and found out where it is and decided to drive out there and see if we could see anything.  Dave wouldn't dare call himself a fan, but he has watched every season with me so he still found the hunt for the Ranch exciting. 

 

We found the Ranch and it happened to be within a state park so we were able to park and get out and walk all around the area.  I about died when I saw these gates:

 

 

 

And they were OPEN!!!!  I really wasn't sure if they were supposed to be open.  I mean these are the ACTUAL gates that the contestants walk through when they arrive at the Ranch.  It just seems so...official.  I decided to tiptoe through and see what I could see.  I nearly died again when I saw THE GYM:

 

 

 

I was afraid that was as close as we could get, but it was okay because it was so close.  There was a path (the path that they train on??) and it seemed wide open so we just went ahead and took a little walk.  We saw the house where they live during their time on the Ranch:

 

 

 

And the workout area where Bob takes them to do creative workouts outside:

 

 

And we saw the gym, right up close.  We were mere feet away from it!  I was starstruck.  With a building.  Dave swears he saw Bob Harper walking into the gym to do filming, but I can't confirm.  Shortly after this picture was taken though, the contestants came out of the house and crossed the path we were walking on right in front of us to walk to the gym and begin working out.  It was so cool!  I even caught a few pictures...but some guy in a Biggest Loser Honda Element came and told me I couldn't take pictures of the contestants, so out of respect I won't post those pictures yet!  The show doesn't even air until January so I can understand his concern.

 

 

We ended up walking the loop around the Ranch 3 times because I just couldn't get enough of seeing it up close and personal.  It felt like my first celebrity sighting...even though it was just buildings.  It was the best way to end a great day of house hunting!

House Hunting Day 1





We met with our Realtor, Steve, at 10:00 this morning to go see some houses.  He was nice enough to pick us up from our hotel and drive us around.  He came prepared with a dozen properties to show us and had the most efficient route mapped out to make the most of our time together.  We saw some things we really liked...and some that we really didn't...

 

The first place we saw was a Foreclosure and from the outside it didn't look too bad.  It was a Single Family Home and the price was right, so we were excited to see it.  As soon as we got in and saw that the white carpet had turned almost completely black from dirt and nastiness.  That trend continued throughout the home.  The walls were ruined and needed washed, patched, and painted immediately.  Every bit of flooring would have to be replaced.  All the appliances had been removed from the home.  Overall, the floor plan we loved, but the amount of work needed would be a challenge since we have such a short time to find a home. 

 

We looked at several townhomes that were much more updated and completely move-in ready.  Even some we really liked.  Great closets:

 

 

Updated kitchens:

 

 

 

 

Sweet master bathrooms:

 

 

Cute, typical California exteriors:

 

 

We saw plenty that we weren't crazy about too.  There was a townhome where one of the kids' bedroooms would be on the 2nd floor, while the other 2 bedrooms were upstairs on the 3rd floor.  Neither of the kiddos would be alright with sleeping on the 2nd floor alone!  We saw some really awkward and terrible layouts, some horribly outdated kitchens/flooring/carpet/etc. 

 

Overall it was a good day and we saw a lot of variety.  Even more importantly our Realtor got a good feel for what our tastes are and what we are looking for so he can tailor our future house hunting days toward our specific wish list.  We are going house hunting again Monday, and the list of homes he sent over tonight looks awesome from the pictures so we are really excited!



Welcome to SoCal!

As many of you know, in November we are packing it up and moving to Southern California. We have created this blog so that we can have a central place for our family and friends to get updates and so that we have a way of recording the wonderful memories that we are going to make here.

When we made the decision to move here, it was sight unseen. Today we finally laid eyes on the place we will soon call home. Today was day 1 of our 10 day house hunting trip.

Today was really just a travel day. We woke up at 2:30 am EST and arrived in LA at 10:30 PST, already exhausted.

We got our rental car (a cute black Jetta that Dave hates driving!) and took the 405 to the Pacific Coast Highway. It's just like it sounds...a highway that runs all along the Pacific Ocean. What I didn't know is that immediately to the right of us would be mountains. It was probably the most beautiful drive either of us have ever made.

We stopped in Malibu and had lunch at Jack-in-the-Box. Our view was phenomenal and the food was delicious. Not sure if that's because it is actually good or because we were so starving.

After lunch we got back on the highway and continued north. We knew we were going to spend today just driving around and familiarizing ourselves with the different areas. There are several towns that we may settle in and we wanted to get a feel for each one.

We briefly and broadly explored 3 towns before we got too tired and decided to check into our hotel. We aren't even going to try to fight the time change battle; we are headed to bed early.

Appointment tomorrow to start looking at houses!