After some apartment hunting, it became abundantly clear that if we wanted more space in a nice area, it was going to cost us. So much that it would serve us better to pay an actual MORTGAGE. As scary as it was to consider purchasing our first home, we looked at some options and decided it just might be the smartest 'leap of faith' at this point in our lives. We are sick of living in a run-down apartment with ghetto neighbors and it doesn't make sense to continue throwing money into rent without seeing any fruits of our labor.
So - we jumped. I talked to a friend who was putting his condo on the market soon, so we took a look at it. Ultimately, we decided it was not the right fit for us. BUT, the blessing is that it reconnected me with an old mutual friend who happens to be a realtor. Although we decided not to pursue the friend's condo, Matt (the realtor) said he would be happy to work with us and help to find the right place for us.
Rodney and I searched online for condos we thought we could afford and made some selections. We emailed 3 of them to Matt to set up showings. The next day, ALL 3 of them went off the market (1 sold, 1 got an offer & 1 seller removed to make repairs). Wow. Talk about disappointing, particularly for 1 which was a stand-alone and looked like a friggin house. It was quaint and the neighborhood was adorable... there was a little pond when you pulled into the subdivision and even a playground right across the street from the condo. It just had 'home' written all over it.
So - in the matter of a day, we were back at the drawing board. We sent Matt 3 more properties, one in the same subdivision that we loved before. Again, disappointments. The other standout set up a showing for us, only to cancel the very next day because an offer was on the table. Such a letdown! Another one sold as well, which only left us with 1 potential showing -- out of 6 condos we selected. We added a late addition to the list, which left us with 2 showings on Saturday.
The 1st was a foreclosure. We could see from the online photos that it needed a little work, a little 'tlc' if you will. But, nothing could have prepared us for what we would see upon arrival. There were stains ALL OVER the place. And not just muddy shoe prints... like I am convinced the prior owners were running a meth lab or something up in there. They also had splotches of paint over random walls, the microwave ventilation had been destroyed and it was just a hot mess. The realtor, even before we saw it, said he had been through foreclosures before and would not be surprised if we walked in and wanted to walk right back out. That is literally how it went down. I heard my husband in the next room say 'Oh Hell No!!' and I knew it was a wrap!
Then came the 2nd showing. Unbeknownst to us, it was also a foreclosure. But it was nowhere near what the other one was. This one was well taken care of. The flooring was new, the paint was new, the cabinets were new. It had a fireplace, lots of space (including my husband's favorite, the walk-in closet) and lots of storage. It needs a fridge, but that was no big deal. Although we were trying to get away from being on the 2nd floor, we liked this place enough to throw that caution to the wind. As we were leaving, we decided that this was the right fit for us and told Matt we wanted to put an offer on it.
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