New House!

***Thanks Diane for your recommendation of using Picasa. It did the trick!***

After AJ got a full time job in mid-April I crunched the numbers hard core to see if we could afford a better living environment. Our apartment was terrific and has allowed us to save a lot of money over the last few years but it was limited on space especially with a baby on the way.

I searched everyday on ziprealty.com to find possible homes we could look at but so many were short sales or too pricey. We could not find anything in our price range that also had all the things that we wanted.

We were really discouraged one Sunday in mid-May. Then the following Monday, May 11th I had some extra time after a doctor's appointment and thought I would look again. I found a home with no picture listed but had many of the things we were looking for in a house.

I never looked at the listings without pictures because that usually means their ugly or I am just not enticed enough to look more. However, this time I looked. When I saw it was built in 2009 and was the square footage it was I thought for sure it was another short sale. I looked it up and it was a regular sale!

That night my sister Monica came over and she, AJ, and I drove by the house since it was near our apartment. It was a dream! So pretty! We peeked into the windows to see what it was like and I felt my jaw drop to the ground. I had to dust it off so I could tell AJ I wanted to make an offer ASAP.

I like the house so much I asked Monica if she would go back with me after dinner so I could take pictures of it (I hadn't taken pictures earlier). When we came back we found a flyer about the house with the builder's phone number on it. Since our real estate agent was out of town for the week I decided to call the builder to see if we could get in sometime soon. He told us he could show us the house that night and that it was funny I called when I did because just an hour before he got a message that the contract the house was in fell through.

When we arrived we found another couple and their agent at the house. They had been trying to get into the home for a while and happened to be passing by when they saw the lights on with the builder preparing to show the house.

AJ and I liked it so much we emailed our agent to make an offer first thing in the morning. We found out that couple that stopped in had made an offer that night and another couple people made offers as well. Yikes! We were up against some tough competition.

Luckily, our offer was the strongest and with a connection we had at Zions we knew we could close faster than usual which was important to the builder. We made an offer on Tuesday, May 12th and found out that night that our offer was accepted. We closed on Wednesday, June 3rd and moved in Thursday, June 4th.

There were many events that made this beautiful, beyond-our-reach home somehow within our reach. It is another display of Heavenly Father's blessings when He says "prove me now herewith...if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it." (Mal 3:10) There were also many friends and family members who help us ready loan papers, pack, clean, etc. THANK YOU!

BEFORE

AFTER

Setting up and trying out our new dining table.