I can’t post much since I am at work, but I wanted to post a quick update since Brian and I went on our fourth official outing yesterday. We had six places on our list, and as always Anthony came with several more. In the end we saw seven places- eight if you count the colorful house which we have seen before.
The day was full of ups and downs. And some really weird places, as always. We found that we still like the colorful house, but are afraid that some roof and soffit damage might prove more than the house is worth. One townhouse loured us in, we are just still really hoping to find a place we can truly make our own. Then there was the potential dream house. Located in Lombard, Brian and I both loved the curb appeal of this place the minute we pulled up. And it didn’t even have a front door. After entering through the back, we realized the house needs a lot of love, but with perks like beautiful hardwood floors and thick wood trim and baseboards, we were willing to overlook kitchen renovations and a few wall patches. Until we checked the basement.
Hello mold! Although not as bad as some of the places we have seen, the basement was definitely moldy. Once we saw the extent of the damage, Brian (who has since admitted this is the first house he really “felt” something for upon walking in) wanted to leave. Even though I managed to get him to check out the upstairs master bedroom, we both agreed that there was no way this would work out and left.
In the end, we should have stuck with this place and checked the rest of the house. We realized later while talking about the house and showing the photos to Brian’s parents that we really liked this place and both saw huge potential here. We really shouldn’t have run. Who knows, the mold could have been a pipe that has since been fixed, but the moldy drywall was left behind. Without checking, we would never know. Not to mention that if there were some repairs that needed to be completed, we both saw enough potential in this place that we would be willing to spend a bit more to bring it up to FHA (and our) standards.
Brian e-mailed Anthony late last night, just to let him know that we are interested in the soon-to-be-named Lombard house. He was also planning on calling our loan officer this morning to get more details on how the FHA loan works, and to see if we would have time to make necessary repairs. There is no point in getting involved if we cannot get the mortgage, but if the mortgage was guaranteed upon repairs, we would not turn down spending some cash out of pocket to call this place ours.
Well, my short blip turned into a longer rambling post, but since I haven’t been on since Wednesday I figured everyone deserved an update. Now I am just waiting to hear back from Brian on whether or not our loan officer thinks this house could work. If there is a possibility we could get approved, we would have Brian’s uncle come through and look at the place. Hopefully his construction background would help us determine if this place is worth a bid or not.
Stay tuned, I will be posting some pictures of Sunday’s hunt when I get home tonight.
