We bought a house!

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

If you follow me on Instagram, then you already know... Christmas came early! We bought a house!


I've been waiting 30 loooooong days to make this announcement, but Seth wouldn't let me announce until it was officially official (he's no fun), and since we got the confirmation last night (and the keys!!!), I can finally shout it from the roof tops.

But you guys, let me tell you. I seriously have been feeling every emotion possible. When they first accepted our offer, I wanted to throw up.... in a good way!, if that's possible. Like holy sh*t. We've wanted this for SO LONG. We've been looking for SO LONG. And we finally got what we wanted. How is this even possible? Is this real life? I was so excited and scared at the same time because hello, it is a lot of money. I mean, I get nervous when we buy a new car and this was like wayyyyyy more than that!

So, let me start from the beginning. You might be thinking... hey, didn't you just move? Well, yes, yes we did. And you might remember me making that announcement here. But I never really told you why. Here's why we ended up moving.

The year started off like any other. Mason continued his speech services, he started getting OT through our private insurance, and we planned to enroll him in kindergarten in the fall. We were renting a townhouse in a neighborhood that we loved; however, the elementary school down the street that was our home school wasn't the best. The rating was poor and it just wasn't what I envisioned for Mason. So, come kindergarten registration time, I requested a transfer. I figured it would be easy peasy and we'd get Mason in to the elementary school that my nieces go to. Well, after waiting and waiting and waiting some more, weeeeeeeeks went by and we FINALLY heard back. DENIED. What??? Why? After about a million phone calls, I found out that speech services are impacted state wide (California) and because Mason needs speech in kindergarten, we were denied a transfer. Speech services were for kids where that school was their home school. No transfers allowed of kids who need speech. (Had he not needed speech, I am assuming that we would have gotten the transfer, but who knows, that's not the case for us anyway.) I was devastated. By now it was also past the official start date of kindergarten enrollment and I was freaking out that any school I wanted would already be full. This was around the middle of April maybe? Right around Spring break was when I found out which delayed things too since the schools and school district were all closed for break.

So, we made the decision that any parent would do for their child, we decided to move. Now it may seem drastic, but since we were month to month on our current place, we could technically leave any time. No lease break fee. It seemed like the best and only option (besides private school - which we weren't against, but we have no problem with public school and preferred to go that route if possible) to get Mason what he needed. There was one apartment complex that fed to our niece's school and one that fed to the current school that Mason goes to. We liked our current complex better, so we chose to move there. We signed the lease, officially got papers saying our new address, I enrolled Mason in his school, our 30 day notice was given to our landlords (the best landlords ever, we were sad to leave) at the end of April, and we moved on Memorial Day in May. It was a whirlwind, but we knew it was best.

Mason started kindergarten in August and we've never looked back. We absolutely LOVE his school, his teachers, and I think I am one of the only people that ever say this... we love his IEP team. Honestly, I hope I'm not jinxing anything, but we've been so, SO happy with everything thus far.

Kindergarten post Part 1 // Kindergarten post Part 2

Which brings us to now...ish. We moved in to our apartment back in May and I pretty much have hated every minute, mainly our neighbors. Moving from a townhouse where there are mostly families, who are respectful, to an apartment where people could care less was a HUGE challenge for me. We actually had lived in this complex before we moved to our townhouse back in 2013, but a lot has changed. It's definitely not the same as I remember it. I was bound and determined that we would NOT be renewing our lease come May 2018 and made it my mission to find us a place.

But, having said that, I was being extremely picky. I felt like if I was going to spend that kind of money, that I wanted what I wanted. Our main requirement: it had to be in the same school boundaries since I did not want to change Mason's school. Problem with that? There are like 3 condo complexes in the school boundary lines in our budget. Other problem? Almost nobody is selling houses these days. Or if they do, they go on the market and sell in like 24 hours. The housing market is insane here.

We actually found one in the complex right next to us a few months ago that we put an offer on, but didn't get it. I was really bummed about that one because it was still right across from the school and we could walk to school, and it seemed to be perfect. Everything happens for a reason, right? Well on November 14th, I found out why. Our house came on the market. It was perfect. It is 1,200 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a laundry room (!! the things you get excited about as an adult lol), an attached 2 car garage, and best of all... it goes to Mason's current elementary school! I knew we had to go see it immediately and if we liked it, we needed to put in an offer.

The timeline went as follows:
November 14th - we saw it online.
November 15th - we went to see it in person.
November 16th - we put in an offer (this time with a sweet note about our family and why we wanted this house as well as a picture of us - at the recommendation of our agent).
November 17th - the seller's countered with a very slight change.
November 18th - we accepted their counter offer and November 18th we went in to escrow for 30 days.
December 18th - the house was ours! I still can't believe I can say that.

I felt like the time was going by so slowly, but really everyone worked extremely fast to be able to get us in to our new house by Christmas (oh, did I mention that we move Thursday the 21st?). I truly don't know how they did it and I owe SO many people a HUGE thank you for making it all happen over Thanksgiving and right before Christmas.

I truly thought this day would never come. I thought we would rent forever. I never thought we would find something in our budget, in Mason's school zone, that we loved so much.

And there you have it. 2017 sure was a lot more eventful than I anticipated (I didn't think we'd move even once let alone twice), but definitely one of the best years I've had. Mason is thriving in kindergarten, we love his school and his teachers, and we are super excited to start our adventures living in our new house!

7 comments:

  1. I am so so so happy for you! Buying a house always is so stressful and finding one at the right price and in the same school are things I can totally relate to. We had to work with those very details when we bought our second home. So glad you found a place!

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  2. This is such a huge moment for your trio and I am so happy for you. I am eagerly awaiting photos of your new home :)

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  3. YAYAYAYAY!!!!
    Most exciting best news this month!! So happy for you guys!

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  4. What a story! I am so excited for you!! Can't wait to see pictures!!

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  5. I'm so freaking THRILLED for you (I know I'm super late getting to this post).
    I fully expect a home tour as soon as you get fully settled!

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  6. CONGRATS times a million! I am so happy and excited for you. I know this is something you’ve hoped to do for a long time. Let all of the new adventures and memory making begin!

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  7. Thank you for your card Elizabeth, I did wonder Hello? what's this? So happy to hear about the house, what a trauma it is to go through it all, but worth it in the end. We wish you every happiness there. Took a look at the amazing blog! Best wishes for wonderful year ahead. Doreen & other Belcsaks. XO

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