Small ♥ Things: #househunt

Once upon a time, a post-grad professional looked at her rent check and said, "This is ridiculous, I'm practically lighting $350 on fire every month!" And so it began.

At first, I planted the idea in my mom's head, who said, "That's nice, but can you afford a down payment?" Great question, mom. It's time to start saving! So, now I have a goal to be saving for. No thank you Hyvee, I'm shoppin' at Aldi! Get outta here you black dress shoes, three pair of black shoes are more than enough!

And then I wrecked my car...into two cars, which was less than awesome.

After a weekend of hating myself, I get a phone call from my Nana, that dear, sweet Nana of mine. Nana explains how my mom relayed the news of car accident and shattered dreams, to which Nana tells me she is so proud that I wanted to buy a house. HUH, I think. My Nana, a retired Queen of Real Estate, says she thinks investing in Columbia property is a wonderful idea and wants to support me.

I start crying. It was a stressful few days.

And the adventure begins. I come up with a price range for which I think I can afford a mortgage payment and discuss with Nana & Bob *. Nana offers to loan me the money I'll need for a down payment and start seeking out good agents in Columbia. She sets me up with REMAX's Clete Baxter. I fervently search the web, looking at house after house until I've put together a list of what I think are my best options. There's about four inches of snow on the ground the first time I meet with Clete and we see seven houses that day.

* Bob is my real grandpa. When I (the first grandchild on my mom's side, was born) Bob declared, "I'm too young to be a grandpa! You can call me Uncle Bob." And that was that.

Clete is a talker, to say the least. The first time we go out, it's a little overwhelming...he kind of seems to know a lot and I have no idea what I'm doing. But I learn. And we go out to look at houses again, and I learn a little more. I pretty quickly realize that I don't like ranch-style homes. They may be a little newer than a split-level home or a home with a walk-out basement, but I'd rather have an older home. While the south side of town would be wonderful, I realize that's not in my budget.

Finally I find a house I think I can work with. Later, when Nana sees it, she says it's got "sweat equity." But mom's sees it first...and she is not pleased. It's hard to evaluate houses on a budget. You've got what you think and what your mom says and the pressure from your grandparents and the vagueness of your agent (that's their job, they can't tell you if a house is a yes or no). But, like all fairy tales...when you know you know.

Cannon Court was just another house on the list. We squeezed it in at the last minute and as I walked through the house, I felt the tickling in my stomach that this was it. Clete and I started talking about how soon Nana and Bob could come to see it and how fast we could write a contract. There was some pretty scary pressure with the approach of what they call in the real estate world, "the spring market," a rush of spring-drunk sellers and buyers making everything a little more competitive. Houses I've been wanting to see go under contract before I can ask off work to see them! I'm feeling a little nervous and if Nana give the ok, I want to make sure this happens.

Nana comes to Columbia the next day. We look at the "sweat equity" house--she likes it, we look at the cute house with character--she doesn't like it and then we look at Cannon Court. We're walking through the house and she's asking questions. I still remember the moment: she walks down to the basement and I follow her so that's it's just the two of us. She turns to me, smiling and says, "Kait, this is the one." We hug and make happy girl noises.

Then we get down to business. The contract writing is all a lot of craziness...how many days to secure the loan, what amenities do we want to ask for, when is my current lease up, oh yeah...and price. I cannot tell you enough how lucky I am to have Nana on my team. And this was only the beginning. Finally we get the contract written and sent to the seller's agent.

I don't want to get my hopes up, but I'm pretty excited. An hour later, Clete texts me, "They want to move us the closing date?" The negotiations begin. Between Nana and Clete, I am in great hands. We go back and forth just once the next day, when at 12:53 p.m. Clete texts that we've got a verbal commitment and I sign the final contract that night!

I know you don't want to here about the big loan decision that's been underway for days since, so let's get down to the pictures! Ladies and Gentlemen, Cannon Court...