A Wall Of Memories

I love that the walls of our home are filled with snapshots that hold unique memories known only to us. A bee sting, an escaped crab, a stinky beach...Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and to me, these really are the most beautiful pictures in the world. 

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Adam Way

It took us over a year to find our first home. We looked at over 200 homes and put offers on at least 7 or 8 properties. At that time the economy was in a deep recession and the real estate market consisted primarily of foreclosures and short sales. Because so many of the homes were foreclosures, a lot of the homes were trashed and had been stripped of their finishes. Some of the more memorable homes we saw included one that smelled strongly of urine, one that had all of the carpet padding removed, one that had all of the kitchen cabinets and light fixtures removed, and one that had messages written on the walls throughout the house. When we would finally find a house in good condition there would be multiple offers on the property and we would lose out. Needless to say, the home buying process was completely frustrating.

We fell in love with a great home in the Cooley Station North community and although it went under contract before we could place an offer, we decided that neighborhood was where we wanted to be. We began aggressively searching in Cooley Station viewing each property the day it came on the market. We randomly came across 842 S Adam Way on several occasions and liked it but weren't completely sold (Ryan was sold but I needed some convincing). We continued our search and eventually decided that 842 was where we needed to be. 

Looking back at the last four years, it's hard to say goodbye to a home that has brought so much good to our family. We still remember sitting in the living room talking about how great life would be when we got to spend our Sunday afternoons playing with our future kids. Years later that dream became a reality as we got to bring two of our kids home from the hospital to the house. 

Reflecting on the many late nights and weekends spent working on projects and the major milestones our kids reached in the home, it's easy for us to see why we've grown so attached to the home. The friends we've made and the experiences we've had over the last 4 years have played an important role in getting us to where we are today. We're sad to say goodbye but excited to start a new chapter in our lives. Take it easy Adam Way!

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Home Owner Nazi's

Today marks a momentous occasion as it is the day we received our first HOA violation. When Ryan walked up the stairs to tell me we received a violation, my mind began thinking of what we could have done to get ourselves in trouble. As far as I'm concerned, we're the best residents in the neighborhood - we always pay our outrageous HOA fees on time, we haven't put anything obtrusive in our yard, and we always take our garbage cans in and out on the right days. So take a look at what our wonderful home owner's association had to say...

"The following non-compliance issue with respect to your property was noted on 08/17/2009: All trash containers must be identified by the owner's unit number. Identification stickers will be provided by the Association and attached to the front of the container by the unit owner. Stickers were mailed to you when you received your pool keys. If you did not receive a sticker, please contact AAM."

Not only did we never receive the stickers, but we've never even heard anything about this policy until now. I just can't help but laugh at the thought of someone actually taking the time to notice something so inconsequential and then taking the time to report it.

So today will officially go down in history as the day we received our first HOA violation. And from the looks of it, I'm sure there will be many more to come!

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Finally Done!

It's been a long time coming but we FINALLY finished all of the major painting in our new house (at least for now). The master bathroom has been a thorn in our side for quite some time so we're glad to finally have it done. I think it's safe to say that we're ready to take a break from home projects for a while.

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Kitchen

The last couple weeks we've spent our evenings painting the remaining rooms of the house. It's been A LOT of work but it's been fun seeing it all come together. Maybe one day we'll actually get it all done - yeah, right! ;-)

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Home At Last...

It's been a long process, but after over a year of searching and 2 months of dealing with closing chaos, we FINALLY moved into our new home this last week. Although the home was built in 2006 and is in near perfect condition, we still have a long list of projects for the house. The project at the top of our list was a weird entertainment niche in the living room. Ever since we first saw the home, we disliked the niche and decided we wanted to take it out. Since we were going to be re-carpeting, we figured it would be best to take it out right away before we moved in our furniture.

After many long hours and the help of A LOT of family, we finally finished our renovation project. Luckily, Ryan was able to do the demolition and drywalling work himself which made the project much more affordable. And now, after a week of chaos and many late nights, we have finally finished the living room!

Before

Mid-Project (2 days ago)

After

Luckily, we've had plenty of help with all our projects. With the help of our demolition team, furniture movers, cleaners, lighting guy, and drywallers (otherwise known as our families), we've been able to get quite a few of the projects done pretty quickly. This last weekend, Ryan's parents even came down to help us get settled. Although I'm pretty sure our families consider us slave drivers after this last week, we're extremely appreciative of all the hard work and long hours they put in.

In addition to our living room project, we've also been painting and re-vamping the other rooms in the house. Yesterday, we also finished our master bedroom. As we finish more rooms we'll be sure to post more pics of the house. Stay tuned...

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Cleaning House

Since we will soon be moving, Ryan and I decided it was time to "clean house." And by that I mean having Ryan go through all of his old boxes and throw stuff away. Growing up, I was known for being a total pack-rat. If you ask my mom, she will tell you that I kept everything because I felt like it all had some kind of sentimental value. As I've gotten older and have had to move around for college, I've developed a strict rule that if I haven't used it in the last 6-months, it needs to go.

The last couple times we've gone to visit Ryan's parents, Ryan has brought home his boxes with all of his stuff from his mission and from when he was a kid. As much fun as it is to look through all his old stuff and relive his childhood, the time has come to sift through the boxes and throw away the stuff he'll never use. Although Ryan didn't enjoy our little "cleaning party" as much as I did, it was absolutely hilarious to see all of the stuff that he's kept over the years. Keep in mind that he's already gone through these boxes twice in the last 2 years and this is some of the stuff that he's kept:

In case you were wondering, yes, that IS a Velcro wallet with his name on it. If he were to use that in the next 6 months, I think I'd be a little concerned.

I don't know who this Brazilian girl is but I think I should be worried. He was pretty adamant that she not get thrown away. And yes, he won that battle. It looks like this mystery woman will be living with us a while longer.

When asked where "My Buddy" is that goes with these overalls, his exact reply was, "I don't know, but that's all I have left of him." (This particular fight went on for quite a while.)

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A Place of Our Own

Although we never thought the day would come, we have FINALLY found a house. The offer has been accepted, the terms have been negotiated, and the inspections are done! We will officially close on May 21 and are extremely excited. It will be nice to finally have a place of our own!

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Our Home Search...

When we graduated, we thought we'd move down to AZ, buy a house and start "real life" in our new home. Apparently, life doesn't always go according to plan...

Started our home search in April '08.

Looked at over 60 homes in 3 months.

Put our first offer on a home.

Never heard back from the bank about our offer.

Looked at another 40 homes.

Put in 2 more offers on homes.

Had both offers rejected due to multiple offers on the homes.

Looked at another 15 homes.

Found nothing we liked.

Put our homes search on hold for a couple months.

Started our home search again.

Looked at another 20 homes.

Found a great deal on a fixer-upper.

Put an offer on the fixer-upper.

Got in a bidding war over the fixer-upper and gave up.

Found out the home sold for only $5k more than our highest bid.

Looked at another 20 homes.

Found another home we liked.

Home was a short sale so we didn't bother with it.

Found out the home went under contract the next day.

Found another home in the same neighborhood.

Put an offer on it.

Liked the home but didn't feel right about the area.

Withdrew our offer 2 days before offer would've been accepted.

Looked at another 15 homes.

Found our perfect home.

Found out it went under contract the same day we found it.

Looked at every home in that neighborhood.

Found two homes we liked.

Picked one and put in an offer.

Had our offer accepted.

Jumped for joy.

Had a home inspection done.

Found water damage.

Asked the bank to pay to repair the water damage.

Waiting to hear back from the bank.

And so here we are, 1 year, over 150 homes, and 6 offers later and pretty much nowhere. Talk about a patient realtor... (thanks Ann).

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