{searching for our home}
Our twenty- home tour of St. Louis last week produced two houses that we really liked- a large fixer-upper in Chesterfield and a turn-key older home in Webster Groves. Both houses were great, but after much thought, we decided to write an offer on the home in Chesterfield. We loved the house in Webster Groves, but the home in Chesterfield was less expensive (both in purchase price and in taxes) and was closer to Ben's office with a larger yard. I was really excited about the possibilities the house had and even more excited that Ben's commute would only be about twenty minutes each way.
The Chesterfield house would have been a great fit for our family, but ultimately it was not meant to be. Our clean offer of 97% of asking price was absolutely refused. The seller's realtor shared that her client was extremely unpleasant to work with and that he had turned down other offers as well, stating that he would not take less than his asking price.
We thought about going up to full asking price so as not to lose a house we liked over a few thousand dollars, but our realtor urged us not to do business with him. We all feared that the house might not appraise for the asking price or that the home inspection would reveal problems that he would be unwilling to fix. Walking away was the right thing to do, but I was more than a little disappointed.
We thought about going up to full asking price so as not to lose a house we liked over a few thousand dollars, but our realtor urged us not to do business with him. We all feared that the house might not appraise for the asking price or that the home inspection would reveal problems that he would be unwilling to fix. Walking away was the right thing to do, but I was more than a little disappointed.
After sitting with the disappointment for about 24 hours, we began to think long and hard about the charmer in Webster Groves. We had dismissed it to pursue the Chesterfield house, but we started to wonder if we could be happy there too.
The background I can share for this house is this- living in Webster Groves has been something we've wanted ever since we were newlyweds. My principal at the time lived there and we house- sat for her for a week. Each night we took a walk around her neighborhood and fell in love with the charming older homes. A couple of years later, I fell even harder for the area as I drove through it twice a week to take classes at Webster University.
So when we found out we were moving back to St. Louis, I began searching for houses in the Webster Groves area, but was unsuccessful. There were not many in our price range and the ones that we could afford were too small for our big family. I asked the realtor repeatedly to let me know when anything new came on the market, but there never was. In fact, even though it was our first choice area of St. Louis, there were no houses in Webster Groves on the list on eighteen houses we were scheduled to see during our hunt.
We loved the area so much, though, that both Thursday night after we left our realtor and Friday morning before we met back up with her, we drove around it just hoping to stumble upon a house for sale. Each time we saw a "For Sale" sign, we got right onto Zillow to see the size and price of the house. Each time, unfortunately, it was either too expensive or too small. After about ten houses, we weren't too hopeful when we drove up to the house on Barstow because we assumed that it, too, would be a bad fit for us.
We quickly got excited to find that it had four bedrooms and was just a tad bit over our price range (which is why it never showed up when we searched online). We immediately called Elayna, our realtor, and asked if we could get in to see it. 45 minutes later we were walking up the pathway towards the ivy-covered fireplace and charming front door. As soon as we stepped inside and I got a good look at the house, I knew we were in trouble!
It was exactly what I loved (loved, loved, loved!) about our first little gingerbread house on Itaska, but in a bigger version and in a better school district. It has the beautiful hardwood floors, the glass tiles in the bathroom, the radiators, the small telephone box in the wall, the crown molding, the glass doorknobs, the cozy feel.... it just oozed charm. At one point Ben and I just looked at each other and smiled and shook our heads. Moments later as we entered the renovated kitchen, Ben said, "Seriously?!?" It seemed too good to be true.
Despite this immediate infatuation, we did have a few concerns: the commute for Ben, the high taxes in Webster Groves, the lack of garage (yes, really.), and the fact that it was more than we wanted to spend. We went back and forth and back and forth about putting in an offer. Ultimately, we decided to give it our best shot and offer the best price we could do. If the seller was willing to come down to our price range, we would happily take it. If he couldn't, the house was not meant to be.
For two days it seemed as if it was not going to happen- so much so that Ben and I were already searching the listings for other houses and Ben was planning a weekend trip to go see more. On Thursday morning we declined the seller's counter offer (to our counter offer) and told our realtor to tell him no hard feelings, but we were walking away. Around noon as I was looking at more listings, Elayna called me to say, "Congratulations, you guys bought a home!"
It seemed that with a few hours to mull it over, the seller realized he wanted to sell too badly to walk away from a potential sale. I was so surprised that I was a little speechless. After a minute, Elayna even asked me if I was happy about it because I was being so quiet. I told her that I had just already made peace with the fact that we weren't getting the house...and in fact, never really felt that optimistic about getting it in the first place. She laughed and said, "Things work out the way they are supposed to!" When I hung up and called Ben to tell him the news, he was even more surprised than I was.
I can not begin to express how relieved I am to have found a house that we love in an area that we love. The closing date is August 6, so we will only be in real estate limbo for about three weeks. The kids will be able to start the school year in their new school. So many questions and worries have been answered and put to rest now that some of the unknown has been taken out of this relocation process.
Ben will head to St. Louis on Monday for the home inspection. Once that is complete, I think I will feel even more excited. I just need to hear that there are no major issues with the house before I can really, really feel like this is all going to work out.
But I feel really, really optimistic. :)
We quickly got excited to find that it had four bedrooms and was just a tad bit over our price range (which is why it never showed up when we searched online). We immediately called Elayna, our realtor, and asked if we could get in to see it. 45 minutes later we were walking up the pathway towards the ivy-covered fireplace and charming front door. As soon as we stepped inside and I got a good look at the house, I knew we were in trouble!
It was exactly what I loved (loved, loved, loved!) about our first little gingerbread house on Itaska, but in a bigger version and in a better school district. It has the beautiful hardwood floors, the glass tiles in the bathroom, the radiators, the small telephone box in the wall, the crown molding, the glass doorknobs, the cozy feel.... it just oozed charm. At one point Ben and I just looked at each other and smiled and shook our heads. Moments later as we entered the renovated kitchen, Ben said, "Seriously?!?" It seemed too good to be true.
Despite this immediate infatuation, we did have a few concerns: the commute for Ben, the high taxes in Webster Groves, the lack of garage (yes, really.), and the fact that it was more than we wanted to spend. We went back and forth and back and forth about putting in an offer. Ultimately, we decided to give it our best shot and offer the best price we could do. If the seller was willing to come down to our price range, we would happily take it. If he couldn't, the house was not meant to be.
For two days it seemed as if it was not going to happen- so much so that Ben and I were already searching the listings for other houses and Ben was planning a weekend trip to go see more. On Thursday morning we declined the seller's counter offer (to our counter offer) and told our realtor to tell him no hard feelings, but we were walking away. Around noon as I was looking at more listings, Elayna called me to say, "Congratulations, you guys bought a home!"
It seemed that with a few hours to mull it over, the seller realized he wanted to sell too badly to walk away from a potential sale. I was so surprised that I was a little speechless. After a minute, Elayna even asked me if I was happy about it because I was being so quiet. I told her that I had just already made peace with the fact that we weren't getting the house...and in fact, never really felt that optimistic about getting it in the first place. She laughed and said, "Things work out the way they are supposed to!" When I hung up and called Ben to tell him the news, he was even more surprised than I was.
I can not begin to express how relieved I am to have found a house that we love in an area that we love. The closing date is August 6, so we will only be in real estate limbo for about three weeks. The kids will be able to start the school year in their new school. So many questions and worries have been answered and put to rest now that some of the unknown has been taken out of this relocation process.
Ben will head to St. Louis on Monday for the home inspection. Once that is complete, I think I will feel even more excited. I just need to hear that there are no major issues with the house before I can really, really feel like this is all going to work out.
But I feel really, really optimistic. :)
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