A New Home

A house has been found!
Two weeks ago we drove around to 14 houses to view the outside of the house and see the neighborhoods.  This was so smart of us to do rather than going to see the 14 houses with our realtor (my sister-in-law).  We were able to narrow it down quite a bit.  I think of the 14 houses we saw that day we ended up seeing three of those houses on the inside. 
The first house we saw was gross.  Actually it was grosser than gross.  Surprisingly not the most disgusting I've seen before but yuck.  It smelled so badly of smoke that I couldn't even stay in the house very long.  It was a short sale and you could tell.  Ferdinand had high hopes for this house because it was in a nice neighborhood with a park close by.  I was more skeptical because it is located in my school's articulation area, meaning all the neighborhood kids go to my school.  I wasn't too keen on the idea of having students as neighbors.  Actually when we drove into the neighborhood that evening the first kid I saw was in my class a few years ago when I taught second grade.  He was the biggest nightmare of a student I have ever had.  I'm pretty sure he is the devil's spawn.  He doesn't go to my school anymore, he is in a special school due to his behavior.  Just seeing him made me sick to my stomach.  I'm actually glad that house was so disgusting!!
A few nights later we went to see 4 houses.  All of these houses were older and recently remodeled either partially or completely.  There was one house that really stood out in our minds, but when you go to look at houses, after you get home they all blend together and you can't remember any specific details.  So, we decided to look at that house the next night.  This time Ferdinand's brother came too which was helpful since he is in the business of remodeling homes.  He was able to tell us if they did a nice job on the remodel and he and Ferdinand discussed future home improvement projects.
We put an offer on the house and the next day, after a counter offer, we were officially under contract!  We can't stop thinking about the house and all the things we need/want to do to it in the future.  We were able to go over this week for the inspection and that was extremely helpful for us to see.  It is a little over a mile from where we currently live so we have even taken a walk over to see it.  Sadie seemed excited when we got there, probably because she smelled us being there!

Here are the stats:
Built in 1960
4 bedrooms, 3 baths
Completely remodeled except for an unfinished laundry room
Ranch style house with finished basement
Super cute
Nice size backyard (Sadie is going to love it!)
Very quiet neighborhood
Less than a mile to two parks

I was going to start packing this weekend but my sister-in-law made me a little nervous when she said that we aren't necessarily out of the danger zone with the condo and I might want to wait to pack....WHAT?!?!  The inspection on the condo went very well, but we still have to have it appraised.  She is nervous about this because we don't have any sales in the area to compare it to and that can make it difficult to appraise.  Please pray that everything goes well in the next few weeks!  We are supposed to close on both properties on Sept. 7 and we really love the house!