The big move - part 3

The timeline's getting kind of fuzzy in my head, but sometime on Saturday (that's Saturday April 25, the day after we arrived in Massachusetts) we made an offer on a house, which we call the Rambler house (since it's on Rambler Road). I want to call it the grandma house, since it looks just like my grandma's house. And it's occupied by a grandma right now. Complete with tacky fluffy carpeting in one room and wood paneling in another. And the woman who owns it is named Phyllis, which was James' grandma's name. So many grandma connections! But James (aghast at the thought of living in a grandma house?) persuaded me to call it the Rambler house instead. Anyway, we'd seen a bunch of houses with Marj that day, and after we were done with the touring we put an offer on the Rambler house. We got a counter offer almost right away.

And then suddenly we got cold feet. Phyllis is a smoker, and as a result the house smells smoky - not obnoxiously so, but it's definitely there. It actually isn't that noticable at first, especially if she hasn't just been smoking in the house. But we were nervous about buying the house with the smell. So we decided to do a lot of research online about removing smoky smells from houses - we weren't even sure it was possible, but luckily there are lots of solutions out there, starting with ripping out the carpet and repainting, something we'd do anyway. But before we made our counter-counter offer, we decided to look around and see what else is out there at that price range. Turns out, not much. We spent most of Sunday driving around on our own, doing drive-bys of houses on sale, and came away rather amazed that the Rambler house was so affordable. It turns out, the smokiness is what makes the Rambler house a possibility - every other house around that price was much too small, or was in a rough neighborhood, or was right on a very busy street. So with a little initial hard work, we'll be getting a good house with an attached garage and a big sunny backyard for gardening.

So we submitted our counter-counter offer, and then Phyllis came back with another counter. At this point, it came down to quibbling over a couple thousand dollars. We just wanted the house, so we accepted even though it was a bit higher than we'd hoped (but still very reasonable). So we agreed on a price! Then we had the home inspection - everything came out good, except we'll need to get a metal door to separate the garage from the rest of the house (I think it's wood right now, and a metal door is necessary for fire safety). A few days later, James and I met with the Mortgage Man and signed what seemed like several hundred documents just to apply for the loan. Once the underwriter approves the loan (and Mortgage Man assured us it'd be no problem), we'll be signing several thousand documents to actually buy the house.

If everything goes well (fingers crossed!) the closing will happen on June 5, and that weekend we'll get started ripping out carpet and scrubbing the house clean of smoke residue. (As a side note, my dad wanted to come up that weekend to help us move in, etc, and I'm trying to dissuade him because I never told them it was a smoker's house and I know he and my mom will panic at the thought. And I don't want them being all negative and stressful and hyperventilating over our house, which we're confident will be fine after a good scrubbing. Plus just having them around and being all pressure-y and GoGoGo! all weekend will be overwhelming, I'd rather they come after the honeymoon when things have calmed down!)

And after we scrub out the house, we'll be able to move in! It's amazing to think that after we get back from the honeymoon, we'll be able to move right into our little house.