Wedding Details

Well we received the word-we officially close on our house January 6th! In the interim- a few pictures of some of my favorite details from the wedding...

Jason's name sewn into my dress

Jewelry! From my amazing friend Layne over at The Dashing Pearl

Ring bearer sign. You're That Girl Designs

I love this shot of us in the chapel!

Props to Kelly Lyle for this shot! 

Cupcake tower MAD House Cakes

Cupcake flavors-thanks to Simple Elegance for the idea and set up!

Centerpieces- Forget Me Not Florists

Table numbers- The Copy Shop

Head table

And they lived happily ever after...

Buying a House: Part II

Part II: Negotiations

You found your house! Now what?

The first step is putting together your offer. Since we bought new construction, our realtor was working directly with the builder to hammer out offers and counteroffers. One thing we did not expect was going in list price. We were actually THIS close to signing our offer and I finally asked what we were going in at!

From the market here in Washington, builders wont even entertain an offer that is under list price. A friend of mine in Florida had the same experience buying new construction a few months ago, so maybe it’s a national trend…that’s for the experts to figure out. Ultimately, our offer was for list price with $5,000 in closing costs and some minor upgrades for the house (such as hardware for kitchen and bathroom cabinets).

Next comes the counter offer. Unless the seller is desperate to sell, they will never accept your first offer (and if they do….that should probably raise some questions). Our builder countered with $2,500 in closing costs and no upgrades. This was pretty much what we expected and met our requirements of what we needed from them to be able to get the house. But of course this wasn’t good enough for us!

This next step is at your discretion-your counter offer.  In some situations it may not be in your best interest to counter back. In other situations, it is. Your realtor is there to help you make this decision. In our situation, we countered back with $3,500 in closing costs and to have the hardware “rolled in” to the purchase price- meaning instead of the builder giving it to us at their expense, the cost is added to the purchase price of the house. Not every builder allows this.

Depending on the number of counter offers, at some point the two parties will either reach “mutual acceptance” (you both accept the offer” or one party will cut their losses. For us, the builder accepted the above counter offer.

In our area, “earnest money” is widely needed to solidify the sale. It’s sort of like putting a security deposit on an apartment. It shows you are interested in the property. For us, our earnest money ($2,000) will be refunded to us at closing. We gave our earnest money to the seller (who then passed it off to escrow) when we signed our acceptance of the final purchase contract.

What next? See part III 

Photo updates!!

Buying a House: Part I

Welcome to part one of how to buy a house! The number of parts in this series is TBD...I'll let you know once it's all said and done!

Step one: Get pre-approved for a loan

Even if you’re only casually looking, I highly suggest getting pre-approved. This will give you an actual price range for your budget as well as let you know how much money you need to have saved for closing costs, appraisals, etc.

Step two: Find a realtor

The best way to do this is simply by word of mouth. Our realtor was recommended to us by our loan officer who actually bought a house from him. Working with people who already have established business relationships with each other is seriously the way to go. Information doesn’t get lost in translation and they’re more than happy to help each other out.

Step three: Nail down a location

This was rather difficult for us as the hubs and I work in two different towns about 15 miles from each other.  Ultimately we decided on a location that will take hubs about 30 minutes to drive to work and me about 15. We picked the location because it is right off the interstate but is far enough away you don’t hear any of the traffic. The town also reminds us both of the town we’re from and has everything we want shopping and entertainment wise.

Step four: Decide new construction or older home

This was fairly easy for us. As first time home buyers, we didn’t want anything we would have to go to the trouble of renovating or potentially have to pay out of pocket for any necessary repairs. Plus my taste runs more toward granite countertops and dark wood cabinets which pretty much comes standard in new construction these days.

Step five: Find a house!

I suggest making a must have list and a wish list. This will help you separate the necessities (for us, minimum of three bedrooms, two car garage, etc) from the wants (four bedrooms, three car garage, etc). Then start looking! For us, it took no time at all (one day). For others, it may take months. If there’s even a small doubt in your mind about the house, it is not the one for you. For me finding the right house was like finding the right wedding dress-I knew as soon as I saw it.

UPDATE: More pics! The builders have made A LOT of progress in the last two days!

 

We have cabinets!

And a loft that just needs floors!

This shower and bath... :D

So We Bought a House...

The other day I received a text message from my bank saying my checking account (which had a balance of $0 as I was about to close it) was withdrawn...by SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS. Someone had used my debit card information to pay their insurance premium-to an insurance company I had never had a day in my life!

The hubs and I (after a minor freak out on my end) went to the bank to clear it all up, and in the process got to talking to the girl helping us about starting to look around at houses. She mentioned it might be a good idea to talk to their loan officer to get pre-approved for a loan that way we would know what our actual, rather than estimated, budget would be. Brilliant.

The loan officer was super nice, the wife of a retired solider. She got us all the information we needed and recommended her realtor to us, a retired solider of Puerto Rican decent from Chicago who specializes in VA loans. HELLO, it's like Jason & me combined. So we met with him, super cool guy who spent several hours walking us through the process and educating us. We ending up making plans to casually look around at houses the next day simply to get an idea of what area would be perfect for us.

Casually looking, ha. Do I do casual looking?

Of course the first house we saw I fell in love with. We looked around at different houses and different neighborhoods for a couple hours but nothing compared to that first house. The neighborhood was just the right size, all new construction (the one I loved is still being built), prime location for me working in DuPont and Jason working in Tacoma.

So we decided to sleep on it and our realtor and we went our separate ways for the day. And I couldn't fall asleep. Every aspect of the house just kept running through my head. Ultimately we decided the house is perfect for us and gave our realtor the OK to start the home buying process-more to come on that in a later post.

Want a tour?

Front of the house. It's still under construction so the posts on the front porch are temporary. The house looks greener in this picture-it's more of an olive green that looks gray from a distance. I wish it was more of a neutral color...mainly because I REALLY want a red door. But it's cute and I love how it looks! It has character.

It's a real fireplace!! The cutout above is for a flat screen (and is even wired for it!) In the future, I would love to put in short built-ins beneath each window.

View of the kitchen taken from in front of the fireplace. HUGE island/bar faces out to the living room. The first doorway there is for electrical stuff (don't ask me...), the second is the downstairs half bath. To the left of those doors is the entryway.

This is probably my favorite feature-the bonus room/loft upstairs. The house is a three bedroom but the tradeoff was this space here. We plan to put a desk in front of that half wall (where the stairs are) to be Jason's office area. TV/entertainment area will take up the rest of the space.

Another view of the loft taken from in front of the half wall. I'd LOVE to put a window seat in front of that window and some small shelves in that gap area for DVD's, etc. TV/entertainment center will go on the wall.

One side of the master bath. This is where the shower will be next to the soaking tub. Opposite this wall will be double sinks (relationship saver!)

No picture of the bedrooms...because right now they're just boring plain walls.

And that's (most) of the house so far! More pictures & updates to come.

Homesite #9 (Top left)- SOLD!

I'm Married!

Or maybe I should say we're married...

After almost two years of waiting, the (now for real) hubs and I are hitched! We're on our way back from Cancun (seriously, in-flight wifi is awesome) and I thought I'd touch on some of my favorite highlights from our wedding.

The crying
It might be weird in including this but A) my dad did not cry (at least while he was with me) which absolutely saved me from crying and ruining my makeup. There were bets going on in my family regarding when he would cry because let's face it... Papi is a teddy bear.

After threatening the hubs that I would turn around and walk back down the aisle if he did NOT cry... He teared up as I reached the altar. Score! So I remained in place and the ceremony continued ;-)

After doing so well at not crying ALL day, at the end of the night my uncle of all people made me bust out in tears!

Jason's letter
My husband, God love him, is not a writer. At work, he has me proofread his emails and let's not get started on how much I helped him with his papers in college. Really, he's not one for communicating his thoughts and emotions in either written or verbal form. Which is why I couldn't believe he not only had a card for me the morning of our wedding but an actual hand-written letter as well. He passed both off to our wedding planner who gave them to me in front of one of the photographers. Needless to say I pretty much bawled my eyes out.

A thoughtful gift
One of my bridesmaids made us a glass ornament containing paper from all our wedding-related stationary: wedding invitation, rehearsal invitation, shower invitation, etc. Her husband even saved a ribbon from our exit wands that we can hang the ornament with on our Christmas tree!

My dancing marine 
The hubs in his dress blues doing the Gangnam Style dance. End of story.

Sibling bonding 
The brother was awesome this past week. I when the family was stressing me out, he pulled me aside (maybe slipped me a shot too) and gave me a pep talk. At the end of the reception, he pulled me aside and told me he was proud of me and loved me.

Exiting in style 
Hot off of pinterest, we did a sparkler exit leaving the reception. I can't wait to see the pictures! We also walked across the street to our hotel and several people yelled out congratulations which was a great end to the day!

Best man's speech 
Jason picked his best friend since junior high to be his best man. They both enlisted in the military together (BM in army) and actually ran into each other in Iraq., and shortly before BM's convoy hit and IED, injuring him and earning him the purple heart. Seeing someone with a similar military-esque personality as Jason showing emotion is always emotional for everyone else.

Mommy and me time
With all the wedding-related errands and projects to take care of when we got into town, my mom and I spent a lot of time together which hasn't happened in probably over a year. It meant a lot.

THE PEOPLE! 
We had guests travel from Kansas, Nebraska, Utah, Arizona, and and Hawaii, among other states. Everyone who was meant to be a part of our day was. I it means SO much to us having people in our lives willing to spend the time and money to be a part of our wedding.

5 am Thoughts

-Car seats should really come with built in massages for road trips. Except maybe for the driver

-Airports are a prime location for an anthropological study

-"Don't make me think, I haven't had any coffee yet! "

-Getting a job offer ten minutes after doing the interview can really boost a girl's confidence

That's all I have for now... I need to finish my coffee ;-)

We're Moving to...

Tacoma!

Jason got an offer for the Team Manager position in Washington! It's been a rough couple of weeks playing the waiting game-he was supposed to hear back last Tuesday...but then we heard nothing all week! But bright and early this morning, he came over to my desk at work and gave me the good news.

WHEW!

We should get more information regarding the relocation benefits but essentially...we get to move for free! And we get a house hunting trip with expenses paid in the next couple of weeks. It's so nice to know we won't have to pay a small fortune like we did when we moved down here.

His new job will start September 30-two weeks before we head to IL for our wedding! We sure like to do everything all at once-we got engaged the DAY before he moved down here.

I submitted my application for the exact same position I'm currently in but in WA. I feel pretty good about my chances but I was really hoping to not have to interview all over again. Oh well- it's a good problem to have.

How does Tacoma compare to where we live now?

Well...

Population: 200,000 vs. 34,000
Number of Targets: 5 vs. 0
Number of Starbucks: 17 vs. 2
Number of Malls: 1 vs. 0
Number of Libraries: 8 vs. 1
Dominating Political Party: Democrat vs. Tea Party

Score: Tacoma-6, Florida-0