Soon to be...Our New Home

Nick and I took a trip to Dallas to look for a home. We had narrowed down the list of Dallas suburb areas to 3 or4 and only had three days to find a place. On the first day, we scouted out 2 of the areas and saw quite a few homes. Nothing. On the second day, we narrowed down our search to one specific area and saw homes just in that area. Still, there was nothing that we liked that met our criteria and budget. So at about 5:00pm, we were returning to our hotel, feeling very discouraged. The thought ran through my head to look online for any other homes that might be for-sale-by-owner or otherwise not listed on our realtor's list. So, I got online, searched several websites, and found five houses for Nick and I to go check out on our own. We got in the car and started driving to each address. As we pulled up to the homes, a couple of them were in not-as-nice neighborhoods, some looked unkept (possibly foreclosures), and one looked like it wasn't for sale anymore. But the last one we drove up to looked great! It still had a sign in the yard. Bravely, I went to the front door and knocked. No one answered, so I made Nick get out and look around the backyard with me (we even peeped in a couple windows!). I kept telling Nick, "this is it...this is the house." We got back in the car, just as the next-door neighbor was getting out of his car. I jumped out and asked him what he knew about the house/owner and if he liked the neighborhood. He only had good things to say. After chatting a minute, I called our realtor to ask him if we could see this home (and why we hadn't seen it already). He looked up the house's listing number and told us the bad news. This home was already under contract. I asked what the likelihood of someone backing out of the contract was and he said that only about 10% of homes "under contract" come back on the market. We were totally bummed!! But we prayed that the home, if it was the right place for our family, would become available...that the pending contract would be broken. The next day, we revisited a home that we thought might work out okay for us. After giving it a second look, we decided that that home would just have to do. So we told the realtor to go ahead and write up an offer. But then I said, "the only thing holding me back is that we haven't seen that house under contract." Well, our realtor wanted us to be 100% sure about the house we were going to buy, so he said, "Then let's see if I can't get you guys a showing...even though it's nearly sold." He called to schedule the showing and was informed that the other buyer's offer had a contingency. This was GREAT news...it opened up the possibility of the seller picking our offer over theirs because we could close on the house sooner. So, we decided to meet back up in an hour to tour that home. In the meantime, Nick and I went to get some lunch. It was during that lunch that our realtor called us and informed us that the other buyers had completely backed out of the contract due to some family issues. So we would be the first people to see the house, newly on the market again!!! We couldn't believe it!! Our prayers were answered overnight!! We went and toured the home and it was just what we were looking for! Perfect! We made an offer and now we can't wait to close on the house next month!

As a side note: I have always disliked homes that were overshadowed by huge garage doors on the front...but that very feature is what I love most about this house! Why? Well in this area of TX, about half of the homes have rear-entry garages...meaning that the garage is on the back of the house. These homes have no front drive-ways! There are alleys between the backs of the houses for people to drive up to rear garages. Anyways, I HATE alleys!! I think they're ugly...they're less safe (more burglaries happen with alleys)...and they cut into the size of the backyards. Plus, those neighborhood streets were way too crowded with people parking their vehicle on the side of the road (instead of in drive-ways). So...the fact that this house has a front-entry garage is the number one feature for me!!!

This is the view looking out the front door...that's our white rental car.