Welcome to My New Home!!!

FINALLY we're in!!! Oh can I tell you what a relief it was to finally be able to close on this house? It's been stressful. So here's the story:

We left for Arizona on May 30 (Monday) after Jon was off of work. We had our suitcases and essentials packed in the car, and the rest of our stuff in Jon's parent's garage waiting to be loaded and packed down to us later in the week. (Sidenote: My inlaws are awesome for doing that for us!) So we drive all Monday afternoon and half of the night and arrive at our hotel at about 2:30 AM. The next day we planned on seeing the house and then closing later in the day. Well, we saw the house, but suddenly they are waiting on something from HUD to be able to close. No worries, we told them we needed to close by June 3, so we have time. Then Wednesday comes, and we don't close. But we are assured that Thursday will be the day. Thursday comes...doesn't happen. By this time, Jon's parents are half way to Arizona with a trailer full of our stuff and no where to put it. We're told we'll sign on Friday and have the keys Monday now. So Friday comes, and we still can't sign. Jon's parents get here and we have to rent a storage unit. We go out to dinner, have a good time, and then since we can't unpack or move or anything, Jon's parent's really don't have anything to do so they head back to Utah. But on the bright side, my real estate agent, Kim, has finally gotten some answers as to what we're waiting for and knows who to talk to Monday. Now we wait...all weekend. Monday comes, Kim is able to get the document they're waiting on (Yay!) and sends it in, confirms that it's been received and tells us that we should be able to sign on Tuesday and have the keys by Wednesday. Monday is also Jon's first day of school, which goes well. Tuesday comes, we're waiting for the Title company to call us - they don't. We call them around noon and ask when we can sign, but they are now doing a pre-audit that they say can take 48-72 hours (which according to Kim is bullcrap, it only takes an hour or two tops). Then at 7:30 we get a notice that the preaudit is complete and we're good to go. Now we're happy, but have looked at several apartments by now because we're both sure that something will happen and we won't get this house. Wednesday comes, and we wait for them to call to schedule the signing. They don't, so we call them around noon and they're too busy and booked for the day. Now we're really getting mad because it's been over a week since we were supposed to sign and we're stuck in a tiny hotel room with a baby. But, they tell us they can get us in first thing in the morning - actually scheduling it before they normally start. This is good, we're happy, but still have several apartments lined up just in case. Thursday morning we go in and FINALLY sign! Hooray! Now we just have to wait for funding. Our mortgage guy is awesome and we're able to get funded on Friday, but not before getting another call from title agency saying that they forgot a page that we needed to sign. Really? Yeah, annoying. So we sign, we know we're funded, but now we're waiting for the house to be recorded (put on the county records). And finally at 5:00pm on Friday June 10th, we have the keys to our house! Something that should have been completed by June 2 or 3 has finally happened! Of course by now it's late and Jon has homework and it's short notice to have his school friends help us move in, so we decide to move in the next day.

It was quite a stressful time, but I'm so glad that we finally got our house! Now for the fun part - fixing it up! It was a HUD home, so it was pretty beat up, but it will be really cute when it's finished! Anyway, I can't find the cord to put on any updated pictures, but here are some of the before shots so you have an idea of what we're working with! :)

Welcome!

Desert landscaping (aka: rocks)

Walk in the door to the Living Room / Dining Room area (yes, there is no flooring there yet) with the oh so "lovely" saltillo tile in the entryway, hallway and stairs. (We ripped out all but the stairs, just FYI)


From the dining room you can see the kitchen with the makeshift breakfast bar (ripping that out and repairing the wall) and a view into the Family Room. Oh, and there is no countertop over by the stove, just a piece of plywood.


Family Room, complete with fireplace and surround sound. Also has a door to the backyard to the right and the laundry room, garage and bathroom to the left.


View of the kitchen from the Family Room. I should mention that if you stand in the family room a little further back, you can see that the white tile in the kitchen is different than the white tile in the Family Room and you can also see that red saltillo tile in the hallway/entry way. So yes, 3 different types of tile all within eyeshot. Oh, and see where they were building those shelves over there? Yeah, that's where the fridge goes. :-\ We ripped that out. People are weird sometimes...


This I did like though. Just needs to be cleaned, but it works great! :)


Half Bath downstairs - they kept a dog in here before (HUD boarded it up to keep pests out) so it needs to be cleaned up, but not bad. And yes, that door leads outside to the side yard - odd I know.


Now to go upstairs! (Saltillo tile on the stairs - I'm not a fan, but stairs are freaking expensive to recarpet!)

This one will actually be Sophie's room - the green is much better in person, and it goes cute with her pink stuff and has a deeper closet that fits her toybox nicely. :)

This monstrosity is where Jon and I have set up shop for now until our carpet is installed (you'll see the master in a minute) The previous owners spray painted these on there - talented? Yes. Ugly? Definitely. Going to be painted over? Oh yeah!

More of the horrible Pooh theme...

And here's the Master Bedroom. Good size, just needs carpet and paint (much like the rest of the house).

Master Bathroom - I just love split sinks. :)

Okay, our backyard used to have grass, but the house has been vacant for over a year, so it's all dead. But we do have a huge back porch with ceiling fans and a bar that the previous owners were building. We haven't decided if we want to finish it or not, but it might be fun to have. :)

Another shot of the yard with a shot of our pool. :) It's actually a diving pool and is 10 feet deep on one end and 4 on the shallow end. Sophie isn't allowed outside at all without a leash! O_o

Anyway, that's our house! As you can see there is a LOT to do, but we've already done a lot and once I can find my camera cable I'll post our progress. And shoot, for $80,500 I can handle a little bit of cleaning and painting! :)