Today at 2:30 PM we will be closing on our new house. We may not have been chosen to be on TV, but there was plenty of drama anyway.

( Read on, gentle reader, for all the details... )

Tags: house hunting

House-hunting is (almost) officially over. Last week we made an offer on the Blackhawk House, and it was accepted on Sunday. Today we met with our realtor to sign some more paperwork and pony up the earnest money. We're still lender-shopping (although we have to officially apply for our loan by next Tuesday) and the home inspection is on Thursday.

We're shooting for a late September closing date. Time to start packing!

Tags: house hunting

So you remember last week when I posted about the two houses we were trying to choose between? And how I said we had a lot of thinking to do? And, I can't stress this enough, that we were choosing between those two houses?

I was full of it. Because we have found a THIRD house. And this house is much better than those two. And it's the current front-runner in our choices.

The Blackhawk House
It is a four bedroom, 2.5 bath in Lisle. Lot and lots of updates - great kitchen, new fixtures, new appliances, and nicely updated (and brand new) crown molding. The yard is fenced in and a decent size, with good, mature trees. The basement is about half finished. Basically, it's a size that we can stick with for the next ten years, which is exactly what I would like. We looked at two other houses in the same subdivision, and after we saw one of them, Carrie noticed a couple that looked to be about our age with a little kid and a Golden - she asked them about the neighborhood, and it sounds like a good mix of older folks and then younger couples with kids.

Lisle was recently listed in Money magazine as One Of The Awesomest Places To Live or something. Yes, it is Naperville-adjacent, but we wouldn't have an actual Naperville address, so that has to count for something.  The house is 2 miles from the train station, 3 miles from my sister's house, 6 miles from Carrie's parents, 9 miles from my parents, and 10 miles from Carrie's work. It's right by 355 and I-88, so highway access is great.

This just might be our new house. I'll keep you updated with what we decide.

Tags: house hunting

So yeah, it's been quite a while since I've posted anything of content. Things are moving apace in our lives...we spent a few days over the holiday Up North, which was a lot of fun. I'll get some pictures posted to Flickr one of these days.

Mostly I've just been focused on work (which has been a LOT) and our house searching. We are now narrowed down to two possible homes (although our realtor keeps finding new possibilities). The contenders are as follows:

The East House
This is a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath house in Winfield. It's got a great finished basement, and the rooms are a good size. The master bath is great - double sink, soaking tub, and nice shower. Yard backs up to the forest preserve, and has a deck which will need some work. There's also an above-ground pool in the backyard that we would want removed. It is just a little over a mile to the train station, and about 30 minutes drive for Carrie to work (in bad traffic). It's pretty close to Carrie's parents, and not very far from my folks.

What's holding us back - Location. It's further west than we'd like to be, and the neighborhood is kind of "eh". The kitchen would need updating, and it's not that big (but it has some possibilities). Needs some minor updates

The Pinebrook House
This is a 3 bedroom (more on that later), 1.5 bath house in Lombard. It's in a psuedo-cul-de-sac with a large (but somewhat oddly shaped) backyard with a GIANT deck. It's the epitome of "move-in ready"; lots of nice little upgrades. The basement is completely finished in a family room/playroom setup, with an additional bedroom (bringing the total to four), laundry area, and office. It's a Lombard address but has Glen Ellyn schools. It's a few miles from my parents, and not that far from Carrie's folks.

What's holding us back - 1.5 bathrooms and possibly the kitchen (it's on the smaller side). This house is also listed a little higher than East.

So we have a lot of thinking to do. The East house is vacant and has been on the market for a long time, so we feel like we could get it for a good deal. The Pinebrook house has had a few price drops, but the owners still live there, so we don't know how motivated they are - but it's not necessarily priced out of our range.

Tags: house hunting

House hunting continues...On Saturday we looked at eight houses in the Winfield, Wheaton, and Glen Ellyn on Saturday. Of the 8, there were only two that we are putting "on the list" for consideration. Our main contenders right now are the Blue House (Winfield), the Marion House (Wheaton), and the Park House (Glen Ellyn). With the exception of the Blue House, they all have drawbacks - the Marion House has two bedrooms on the second floor, but all the bathrooms are on the first floor (so the kids would have to go downstairs in the middle of the night ot use the bathroom). The Park House is amazing, but it is on a busy street and across the street from a school. The Park House also has the extra appeal that one of the bedrooms was already decorated for a young Cubs fan.

Of course, we are still all over the place with the searching. While I said above that we have three "main contenders", that's still kind of inaccurate - there are a lot of houses on our "list" with our realtor that we like. We haven't yet found THE house yet (although the Blue House comes closest), and we're still really torn on location.

Some other exciting news - thanks to vintagedancer, on Thursday, Carrie and I are being interviewed for consideration on HGTV's show My First Place. Basically, if they pick us, what happens is they follow us around with cameras while we look at houses and as we go through the buying process. So we're excited about it.  So think positive thoughts for us on Thursday evening. And if you guys get HGTV, check out My First Place.

Tags: house hunting