We Are Buying Our First Home!

So, my lack of writing/blogging has been brought to my attention on numerous occasions this last month. It hasn't been from a lack of things to share, but rather a lack of time to share them. We have been super busy and have been having lots of fun with all of our friends! We always do (and I have been taking PLENTY of pictures!), but what has been consuming my thoughts and my time lately, has been our hunt for the perfect house!

Jason and I have been talking about, and keeping our eyes open for a home for a long time now. Over the last few months, Jason has spent countless hours on the phone and the internet with multiple lenders and real estate agents trying to get his footing in the big bad world of home buying. After a whole lotta hours on the phone and sitting in banks, we learned that buying our own home wasn't just a far out dream, but rather a reality within our grasp!

We started to dialogue with our families about plans and they were not only supportive, but EXTREMELY GENEROUS and able to help us out with a down payment. We are incredibly grateful and forever thankful for their help and hope to someday provide the same support to our kidos. And one day, in a galaxy far far away, we will pay them back! :) hahahahaha!

After months of watching the Multiple Listing Site, Jason and I knew exactly what homes we wanted to look at and just needed an agent to get us in the doors. Late on a Sunday night, on a whim, we contacted the poor victim who would become our real estate agent! Good ol' Daniel Oster from Zip Realty! He took our call as late as it was, gave us some info and followed through the next day!

The first time we met Daniel, we kept our adult like and professional persona on for...oh a good 20 minutes, before Jason threw me under the bus! He began talking about, "a boob and a clean diaper will make any man happy! blah blah blah" To my surprise, Daniel didn't take off running, but instead laughed right along with us and actually agreed to ride in our car for the day! Poor fool! We needed someone who is able to be silly with us and take our shit, but still maintain the professional side of things and do business when it was time. Daniel has fit right in with our family (though he is no where near as dorky as we are), has been extremely helpful throughout this whole process and Noah LOOOVES him! (Daniel secretly loves Noah too...awe, who am I kidding, it's no secret!)

We spent a few weekends driving all over the county (North Santa Cruz County that is) looking at home after home. Some got my hopes up, others were VERY discouraging, and even others were down right scary, pathetic and laughable. Noah was an absolute CHAMP though! Hours in and out of the car, walking around in circles and on windy mountain roads...and he kept that toothless grin going! He barely let out a whimper! We have such a happy little baby...I thank my lucky stars everyday.

Now for the house. The week before we officially went out looking for homes, Jason found this one up in Boulder Creek, and called me over to the computer to look at it. I saw the address and immediately said, "NOPE!Sorry!" and walked away. I knew we weren't going to be buying our absolute dream home on the ocean, but rather "a great home that needs a face lift," I was very adamant that I would not settle for a house, no matter how nice, that was out in the middle of no where. So, for those of you who know the Santa Cruz Mountains, the words "off Bear Creek Road," have lots of potential to be OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! It took Jason 3 days to convince me that we should at least go look at it because the specs and the pictures showed a really nice home! I finally gave in, and surprise, SURPRISE! I LOVED IT!

We loved it so much that we put in an offer the following week! It was our first weekend looking at homes, so we were hesitant, but since we loved the house and because of the nature of the sale (a short sale), we had nothing to lose! While we waited, and we expected to wait months, we continued to look at homes and found nothing that we loved quite as much as the Bear Creek Home. After just 2 weeks, our offer was accepted and we started escrow!

Needless to say, there is sooooo much that needs to happen in such a short amount of time and we have all been on the phone, on the computer, running around and signing a zillion documents! In the last 3 days we have spent about 14 hours with Daniel, done laps around the county building and laps around the house! Daniel has really been a blessing through the process. I know it is his job to know all this and his job to make this as smooth as possible, but I have heard some war stories about horrendous agents and Daniel sure isn't one of them!

So, our inspections are completed, nearly all of our questions have been answered and now it is a matter of pushing paper, moving money and signing our life away! We will close escrow on or before the 26th, and be moving into our very own home on the 28th! I took lots of pictures last weekend and put together a little photo tour for all of you who keep asking for photos!! ENJOY!

So, the front of the house from the street! To the right of the garage is the walkway to the front door!

When you walk in the door, to the right is the kitchen...in need of some appliances!

the laundry hookups are at the end of the kitchen in the closet looking space in the photo below...

Then there is the living room, with all the windows and lots of sun!

Just off the living room is the first bedroom!

Next door is the second bedroom!

The first bathroom is in the hallway just to your left when you come in the front door!

At the other end of the hall way is master bathroom!

and the master bedroom...

look I have 2 closets (not sure what Jason will use! :) haha)

Now back out to living room....just off the kitchen there is a sliding glass door to one side of the back deck, and there is another door off the living room! (you can see the windows from bedroom 1 and 2 just beyond the deck in the picture below)

Just beyond that satellite dish on the roof (in the above picture) is a whole bunch of solar panels! We will be capturing all this beautiful sunlight and using it in our home! Yeah...we will be using solar power in our new home! Sooooo Cooool!

The property is on a big slope and we will be putting in a lot of work (and a lot of dirt) to level out an area for the kiddos!

this is the last pic, we have come full circle around the house and this is taken from the left side of the driveway/garage looking down to the deck! (the window you see in the foreground is the master)