Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit Hole...

" ...she tried the little golden key in the lock,
 and to her great delight it fitted!"

We finally did it, we bought a house! It's been a long journey...1 1/2 years of house hunting in fact! We had several false tries, the first house we made an offer on was much further north. The inspection came back with bad results: moisture and severe foundation issues under the addition. We got quotes to have it fixed and went back to the sellers asking for the amount to be amended by that much. They answered, "no dice." Thank goodness! That would have been a money. (And to their greed, they ended up selling the house for more than $20K LESS than we would still have paid with that concession.)

The next house we liked got an offer before we had a chance to decide. We came across a third house further south, but by then our loan pre-approval had expired and we had to go through the process again. The same day J was uploading the pre-approval to the agent, the status changed to pending. I was very sad.

However, it all managed to work out for the best in the end! About a month ago, J was scheduling a tour for four houses I had picked out down in Renton. He was browsing to see if he could add two more and came across a new listing, out for only 1 day. He threw it on. Thank goodness he did!

As soon as we pulled up, we both had a little intake of breath. It had great curb appeal. We walked in through the front gate and the first thing I noticed was that they already had lavender planted (one of my favorite plants) and also Hen and Chicks (a succulent J's mom grows). That seemed like a sign.

As we toured the house, we continued to like what we saw. By the time we were done looking at the first level, we knew the upstairs would have to be pretty bad for us not to want it. Much to our joy, the upstairs was great! (For what it's worth, the house we saw after this one we liked a lot and became a second choice if this one didn't go through.)

Kitchen of amazingness -
yup, that's an island with a prep sink!

We submitted our offer that same evening so the buyer's had it in hand before the opening house the next day. They did receive another offer but chose to work with us rather than trying to force a bidding war. Thank goodness! Inspection came back with several things, but nothing that was a deal breaker. Actually, it was pretty good considering the house was built in 1905! It had a large remodel around 2005, so it boasted updated wiring (none of that knob & tube nonsense) and an AMAZING kitchen.


Yesterday, we officially closed! House is in our name along with a brand new bouncing baby mortgage*. The only mar to an otherwise lovely day was that the junior agent decided not to attend our appointment, but instead just shoved our key under something on the property to find.

Celebrating with Sparkling White

Pizza picnic on the
dining room floor

Stats: built 1905
Remodeled: approx 2005
4 bed, 1 3/4 bath
1700 square feet on 0.28 acres
To answer the question I know you're thinking: we plan on taking the month of September to move in.

* cute mortgage comment attributed to H.R.B.