Dirty Jobs

The curse of buying an old house is that there are always repairs to be done that cost a lot of money and are no fun at all.

We knew this going into it.  It's not a surprise to us.

Our house was built in 1956 and thankfully the construction, materials and overall quality of the house is top notch.  But maintenance is required and can become pricey.  Since buying the house, we've had to replace the roof, which had not been redone since it was built over 50 years ago!  This depleted our savings ($13,000), but it was worth it since we probably wont have to think about it again for another 50 years! 

This was a dirty job.

After pealing back our old roof and hauling away all the dirt, they had to lay down tar.  And tar stinks... like really, really stinks.  The entire interior of the home stunk like tar for over 2 days.  After they laid down the roofing strips, they sprinkled small pebbles all over. And when it rained, all those pebbles came down to our driveway, creating a sand-like mess all over the place! 

That dirty job is complete!

Before we moved in, we had to get the pool cleaned. It was absolutely disgusting.  It looked more like a swamp than a pool.  It was green, thick and mucky... and I'm pretty sure it had become a haven for mosquito mating.  Gross, gross, gross.  

I contacted a pool guy about cleaning it and he quoted me at $600 to start and if it was really, really bad, the price would be higher.

Well, my husband, Mr. FixIt, did NOT intend on spending that much money on a job he could easily do himself.  So he and his dad rented a pump and drained the pool of all the swampy water.  Then they pressure cleaned the sides and literally had to scoop out the remaining gunk.  It. Was. Gross. 

This was a dirty job. I did have pictures of this dirty job but I think it may have been so gross that I deleted them!

But thankfully, that dirty job is complete and our pool is a gorgeous shade of crystal blue now and we saved over $600!

Once we drained the pool, we realized that we do not have city sewer... we have the dreaded septic tank!  This too can be expected when buying an older home... but ewwwww, seriously?!

The frightening part was that we had no idea the condition of our tank.  The close of the house came with no paperwork for it, so we had no clue.  We called a company to get it pumped because we figured we may as well take care of it BEFORE a problem arrose.  And, once it was empty, we could actually KNOW the state of the tank.  

This was a dirty job.

The septic company quoted us at $250 for the pumping, but when he found, dug up and opened the tank, the condition of it was so bad, that he had to raise the price nearly double!  I was standing there when he opened it up and the smell... it just smacked me square in the face. The tank was full... to the top.  The man told us that we were lucky if we had a few more months before it started backing up... into our house.  Boy, what a mess that would have been!  He told us that the tank was supposed to consist of 90% water and 10% waste... but ours was about 90% waste with 10% water... it was a thick disgusting mess.  He said septic tanks are supposed to be pumped every 2-3 years, but it looked like our tank had not been cleaned in over 15 years!  

That's 15 years worth of crap!  Ahhh, sooooo gross!!!

So nearly $500 later, this dirty job is complete!  And thankfully, we don't have to think about our tank for 3 more years.

There are more dirty jobs around our house to be done.  Mauricio has been trimming and pulling trees for weeks now and there's still so much to do.  The screen above our pool is falling apart and needs to be reattached but there are tons of spider webs up there.  And we also need to fumigate since we have lots of little sugar ants and worms coming into our house on a daily basis!

Unfortunately all of these dirty jobs cost a pretty penny, which is taking all of our "fun house money" away.  I want our "fun house money" for buying furniture, picking exterior paint colors, and basically beautifying.

But I know I have to be patient and get the dirty work done first.

Ahh, the joys of homeownership!

Moved!

We finally, finally, FINALLY moved into our new house!

WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!

Ah, it's like a sigh of relief...
A breath of fresh air...
A cherry on top of a huge chocolate cupcake.

That's where I've been, in case you've been wondering...
In my NEW house.

It's not that I haven't had time to blog... it's that we don't have the internet set up yet.  In fact, I blog this from a bookstore on Saturday during my work lunch break.

So, we decided to move in last Saturday... at 10 o'clock at night.  Who does that?!  Who gets home from dinner, sees their kids in their pj's ready for bed and thinks... "hey, you wanna just move now?".
We do!

And that's just what happend.

Most of our stuff was already moved in though.  All of our furniture was there already and all we really had to do was move our clothes, put sheets on the beds and move our bodies.  It was awesome!

Marco was so excited that we were moving!  In the car ride there, he was kicking my seat, asking me 1200 questions and giggling from excitement.  When we opened the door to the house, he did a victory lap around each room, squealing with joy!  We weren't able to actually get them in bed til after midnight that night... and once in bed, that was a different story.  Marco continued to be overlfowing with excitement.  He was kicking at his sheets and laughing and squeaking while yelling, "we're sleeping in our NEW house!"  Jonas, on the other hand, wasn't so sure.  He was very apprehensive.  New house... new crib (actually it's his OLD crib, but he doesn't remember it)... new room... "where am I?"  He was a little unhappy about it.  But thankfully since they share a room, he was ok.

The adjustment period was really quick.  Both boys are completely adjusted to living in our new house after just a week!  They are perfectly content to take their naps and go to sleep without any drama.  They love all the space and the freedom to roam.

We decided to go "gate free" in our house for the FIRST TIME EVER.  In Greenville we had gates up blocking the kitchen and the stairs.  I just don't like kids in the kitchen... it's not safe.  And then in my in-laws' house, we also had gates blocking the kitchen and a gate in the hallway.  But it's time now to have "free range children".  It's been an adjustment... for me!  They run up to me while I'm cooking and open and close the fridge and touch all the buttons on the dishwasher.  Jonas likes to press the water button on the fridge, and take a shower.... why God?  I know that the novelty of it all will wear off, but for now, it's making me crazy.

So we're doing good.  We are so happy to be back into our groove.

I will admit though, that I miss my early break... when my in-laws would come home around 5 and I could have a little while to myself.  Mauricio usually doesn't get home til around 6:30... and by 5, I'm getting anxious.  I also miss only cooking 2 days a week instead of 4.  I'm having trouble coming up with dinner ideas.  Extra hands is a huge help!

I will be posting pictures of the transformation our home has made, but you're gonna have to wait just a little longer.  Maybe next week I'll have the big reveal.  Things are not how we want them to be... yet.  There's still a lot to buy, but we need money with which to do that.  So, it'll be a slow transformation... over years and years.  But that's normal, I guess.  Frustrating, but normal.

So, in case you've been wondering where I've been... now you know!

Like Christmas Morning

We bought a house, a month ago.
We chose paint colors and painted the whole house, a month ago.

And yet, we still haven't moved in.

We've been doing the slowest move in the history of moves.  Every Saturday, Mauricio packs up the SUV with boxes, bins and disassembled furniture and moves it into our new house.  He then unpacks said boxes and bins and reassembles the furniture.

Truth is that we haven't moved in yet because we're waiting on the roofers to redo our roof.  Our roof is as old as the house itself (1956), and needs to be repaired and brought up to code.  Thankfully even with the damaged roof, there are no interior leaks, mold or termites.

Whew, dodged a bullet there!

So we've been waiting on this roof.  Well, what's taking so long?
First there was a problem with acquiring the permit.  The county was taking it's sweet time transferring the deed into our names and we couldn't get a permit until they did so.  Once that was taken care of, and the roofer submitted the permit with the correct deed, the city rejected it because it still wasn't up to their high code.  Once the roofer resubmitted to up-to-code-permit with the correct deed, a hurricane loomed just around the corner.

And now, finally, a week after Isaac, the roofers are ready to get started!  Hopefully it'll only take them the week to get the roof done and we can maybe move in next weekend! EEEE!

But in the mean time, almost everyday, we're at the house unpacking boxes.
Boxes that have been taped up and closed for over a year now.
And?
It feels a little like Christmas morning.

I must have a short memory because every time I open a box I say, "Oh, I forgot about that!  I love that!"  I'm not dreaming of gumdrops and candy-canes... I'm seeing frames, artwork, cute knick-knacks and more!

And as we unpack these boxes and start to find places for all of it around our house, we begin to have the realization that...

This is OUR house.

This is our HOME.

And it feels really good.

Dreaming in Ikea

This weekend, Mauricio and I did a date night at Ikea.  You guys, I LOVE Ikea.  Who doesn't?  So we dropped the kids off at my dad's house and headed an hour north to the only Ikea down this way.  It's worth the drive... for sure. 

While there, we did a lot of walking, a little bit of fighting (seriously), and a lot of dreaming.  We can't afford to get everything we want today... but we have a wish list. 

So what did we actually buy on our trip?  

Lightbulbs, a screen for our bedroom door (it's a french door), legs for our Expedit Shelving Unit and chocolate (of course)! 

Yeah, that's it... really productive.

But, we DID make our wish list.  So here's what we've dreaming about at Ikea:

The Hemnes dresser:  It's $300.  We already have the bed and night tables, so this is the last piece from the bedroom collection that we'd want.  This is the first thing on our wish list because we actually need it.  And I love it.

This is a floor lamp I want for our bedroom.  It's grey and will match nicely with the decor we've got going.  It's only $30, so it's not gonna break the bank!

Ok, let's talk curtains for a minute... this is actually the cause of our Ikea fight.  Curtains are expensive... ugh.  But so necessary!  So here's the real problem... the wall where our bed is going to be has an offset window... it's not centered.  This drives me batty.  So, after MUCH research on the subject, designers usually just frame the bed to make an apperance of a large window... or cover the whole wall with curtains.  This is not ideal for us because it becomes really dusty and with my lung problems, I shouldn't be sleeping around a dust absorber (should anyone?).  So, my idea was to use the Ikea panel curtains behind the bed instead.  It's much thinner than curtains and wont cause dust build up. 

I want to use 4 plain white, with a woven texture, right behind the bed and then the curtain below on the far end of the walls. 

Then these curtains also on the other window, framing the window traditionally.  

And then these pillows, the exact same fabric as the curtains, to tie it all together.  I especially like that it's all stark white, since the rest of the room is dark grey with black furniture.  

What do YOU think???

Eventually we'd like to get this couch, but it's over $1000, so it's gonna have to wait a while.  We love how modern and large this is.  

We'd also like a TV entertainment unit... it's a monster. But I can't find it online to show you, so you'll have to believe me when I say it's awesome!  But, it's like $1600, so it's definitely gonna have to wait.  And we'll need a larger tv to put on it, so yeah, this is major dreaming. 

Now, this desk, I love.  It's thin and long... perfect for ME.  I really want a desk for the living area so I can blog/work/blog while watching the kids play or whatever... This one is only $70, so it's doable.  But Mauricio wants to wait to see if we really have room for it.  Ugh, he's so practical. 

This will be a purchase further down the line, if/when we redo our master bath.  I love this vanity because it too is from the Hemnes collection and would perfectly match our bedroom furniture.  It looks so sleek with a while sink and silver hardware. 

With this medicine cabinet above it.  There is so much storage space inside AND there are mirrors on the inside too.  It's pretty much amazing. 

And I want these containers for our kitchen... I need 4... for rice, flour, sugar and chocolate (Nestle Quick).  This will only be like $40, so I'll be buying it soon.

So, this is our short list... of course, when we're actually there, there are about 100 more things we want.  

The hard part is waiting.  Sometimes I wish we were ok with getting into debt and we could just get a credit card and go nuts... but that wouldn't be very smart or responsible, would it?  So we'll wait.  We'll save.  We'll be boring responsible.  

But in the meantime, I'll be dreaming in Ikea. 

Color Continued

A week and a half ago, I shared with you the colors we chose for our house.  We chose them hastily and we were under the clock... we had to get them then and there because people were going to be meeting us in the morning to help paint, and it was only one hour till Home Depot closed.

We painted the very next day.  We had 8 people over to help and each person tackled a different room or color.  The orange looked beautiful and crisp.  The brown looked smooth and warm.  The main color was perfect for bringing it all together.  

In my room, at first we were afraid that we chose wrong, but after painting it all, it looked incredible!  The dark wall is so chique and bold.  We love it!

But I we made a mistake in choosing one color. The bottom color for the boys' room.  I wanted the room to be dark blue on the bottom, creamy tan on top with a white chair rail in the middle.  But when we applied the blue color, it wasn't right.  It was BLLLLUUUUUUEEEEE!  And then, when Mauricio told the guy at the counter that it was for the boys' room, he suggested we get a semi-gloss finish so that it's easy to clean.  But that made it super shiny and changed the color from the swatch drastically.  It looked like a classroom.

It was wrong.  Every time we walked in there, we hated it.  So we debated, and debated for over a week on what to do.  Mauricio was tired of painting and spending money that we already spent, but I was not happy leaving it in a way that we hate just for $35! (Because a gallon of paint is about $35).  I was insistant that if we didn't change it now, before we moved in, that we'd have to live with it for a while.  And then to paint it after we move in would be a mission... it's much easier to paint with no furniture in the way. 

Yesterday morning we woke up and headed to Home Depot to buy more paint and change the color.  But this time Mauricio wanted to go with a green bottom.  

While I love green, and Marco says "green is my favorite", it does kinda ruin my plans for a rocket room.  

Now I'm completely stumped as to what to do in their room.  I've been browsing and I can do a "woodsy theme" but I'm afraid that they'll outgrow that quickly.  I can do a "dinosaur theme" but I personally am not fond of dinosaur stuff.  And then I thought of a "soccer theme".  I honestly don't know.  If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them! 

We also picked out a simple color for the office, since we don't have any bold pieces for that room yet.  We chose this one:

Once those two rooms are done, and if we are happy with them, all we'll have left are the bathrooms.  

I'll get pictures to post some time next week, once everything is dry and looking good!  

Buying a House in Miami

There are several very difficult aspects of buying a house in Miami.
#1. Finding a realtor that works with you and for you.
#2. Finding a home in Miami that is not either a million dollars or torn up and destroyed... or both!
#3. Location, location, location.  Good luck finding a good location.
#4. The monopoly that is insurance.
#5. Trust no one

Let's look into this more closely...
#1
We went through 4 realtors in 6 months.  FOUR.  FOUR!  Is that not absurd?!
The first told me that she had a lot of things going on in her private life and didn't have the time to work with us in the manner in which we wanted to work.
The second took us out once and then stopped returning our phone calls and emails... that's good business... very professional.
The third took us out once also but then was going on vacation and doing a bunch of other things and basically couldn't take us out again for some time.
FINALLY, the fourth saw us through all the way, but we still didn't like her.  She weighed us down with every single problem or bump in the road.  She bullied us into using HER lender (we didn't), HER contractor (we didn't), HER insurance agent (we did), and HER inspector (we did).  We are convinced that she gets a cut from each of her contacts.  But alas, finally, finally, finally, she worked out for us... and her payoff was sweet, I'm sure.

#2
Miami is ridiculous.  The crappiest home is overpriced.  When people are shortsaling or foreclosing, they literally TRASH their house.  It's horrible.  It gives you such a jaded view of what the people in this city are really like.  And seriously, the prices!  Unless everyone is either a doctor or lawyer, HOW do they afford it?!  Oh yeah, they're in debt to their eyeballs!
Not only that, but when you're looking for a house in Miami, you have to move FAST!  Like, if the listing has been on the market for even ONE day, it's usually gone already.  Why?  Because there are tons of investors who come from South America with lots and lots of CASH.  And they can outbid and out buy you any day.  A bank will take their cash offer over your financed one in a heartbeat.  Even though, these properties are usually either going to be rentals or flipped, the bank would rather get it off their hands pronto.  So, that's why we couldn't wait for realtor #1 or #3 to get their personal lives in order... every day that passed, we were missing out on opportunities!
Also, shady things go on... one time we were sent to a house that hadn't even hit the market yet.  It was GOING to be on the market later that week but we were getting first dibs at it.  We, along with like 20 other couples were going to see the house in the same hour.  It was so shady and it felt wrong.  Like we were cheating the system... we didn't feel right about it and didn't put an offer down.  But if everyone is doing that... going to see and put offers of homes that are not even out yet, then how does that give equal buying power to everyone!?  It doesn't!

#3
Miami locations.  You'd have to live here to really understand.  But basically, you can cross the street and be in the ghetto or cross another street and be in little Cuba or cross another street and be in the richest area in the city.
Our only qualifications for location was to either be close to US1(yellow line on right, also called South Dixie Hwy), the Palmetto (Orange line in middle), the Turnpike (Another orange line to the left) or Krome (Last street to the left before going into the green which is the Everglades).  Mauricio works up North in a city named Hialeah... and there is NO WAY on God's green Earth I was going to be living there.

Click to enlarge

But you see, I didn't really want to live off of Krome because it's so far west that you can have alligators roaming your backyard (I exaggerate, but it is practically the Everglades) and to go anywhere at all, you'd have to battle traffic moving East.  It's horrible.
I didn't really want to live off of the Palmetto, because the further North you get, the more hispanic you get... and I'm hispanic.  But look, I don't want to shop at the Publix called SABROSO.  Ew, gross.
I didn't mind living off the Turnpike so long as it wasn't in Doral.  But the prices were very high.
My number one choice was US1.  And thankfully, that's what we got.
Miami is so tricky with locations.  Once we saw a lovely old home in what we thought was a good area, then we turned the corner and we were scared of being in the middle of a gang deal.  So you've got to be really careful and really persistant.

#4
When you're financing a house, you need to get homeowners insurance.  The bank will not approve your loan without it.  And really, being in Florida, aka hurricane country, NOT having insurance is NOT an option.  The problem with the insurance situation, specifically in Miami, is that there is only ONE company that offers coverage.  ONE.  That's it.  How that's even allowed, I don't know?  Isn't that the very definition of a monopoly?  Every other insurance company has pulled out of the city for one of two reasons... the risk is too high with the constant hurricanes, OR the fraud.  Miami is completely corrupt.  So there is ONE company that still offers... but they also have the ability to charge whatever they desire... and because there is no competitor, we have no other option but to accept and pay it.  The price gauging is over the top.  And there is nothing we can do about it.  How is this fair?  How does no one do anything about this?  We paid over $6000 for insurance this year.  Hello, isn't that a bit much?! Yikes.

#5
This leads me to my final point.  Trust no one.  Not your realtor, not your lender, not your inspector... no one.  Like I said, Miami is corrupt.  As previously stated in point #2, shady things are happening all the time.  It's dog eat dog.  Realtors are bullies, trying to get you to buy their own listings so that they reap both commissions.  Sellers are ripping out floors and stealing light fixtures just because they're angry that they had to foreclose due to their poor judgement and decisions.  Inspectors and working on the side with contractors to say you need more work done than you actually do need.  Insurance companies are charging higher than ever because people take advantage of the smallest storm to renovate their kitchen with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances for FREE.  Everyone is trying to suck every last penny out of your bank account... and they will if you let them!

I pray I never have to buy another house in this retched city.  And if you're thinking about moving to Miami... think again.

Color

The normal person chooses the colors for their home very carefully.  They pour over design magazines, websites and stand in front of the color swatches for an hour considering combinations and hues.
I want to be normal.
But I married someone who is not.

We knew we were going to paint today... we had several people coming over to help and had bought all of the supplies.  But we hadn't poured over magazines, looked at websites or stood in front of the swatches.

Two days before, I begged Mauricio to look at a few paint magazines with me.  So he reluctantly agreed, turned over in bed and turned on the night table lamp.  So here we are, deciding on the paint colors that we'll have to look at for years to come, with minimal light, in bed, 5 minutes before we have to go to sleep.  That's normal.

Last night, we went to Home Depot and arrived only an hour before close.  We had to choose fast!  While I stood in front of the swatches, he was already ordering!  WAIT!  Can we take a second to rethink this?

To every color I offered, he would say, "yeah, sure."
And most women would be happy that their husband left the decision solely up to them, but not me.  I'm insecure... and let's face it, when it comes to decorating, Mauricio has better taste than me.  (I said it).

But eventually we chose.  And I'm praying we like it.
Here's what we got:

Living/Family/Kitchen/Hall:

The Oat Cake will be the main color throughout the house.  It will be in the kitchen and hallway as well as all the non-accent walls within the living and family rooms. 

The Cinnamon Spice will be the accent wall within the family room... the wall where the TV will be.

The Pumpkin Toast will be the accent wall on the largest wall in the house that connects the entrance/living room through to the dining room and over the hallway. 

Boys' Bedroom:

The Quiet Storm will sit on the bottom half and the Pecan Sandie on the top.  We haven't decided if we'll use a chair rail a wallpaper or another paint color stripe to separate.  We'll have to wait and see.

Master Bedroom:

The Manhattan Mist will be on 3 of the walls and the Distant Thunder will be the accent wall behind the TV.  We have an offset window behind our bed, so that whole wall will pretty much be covered with curtains.  I need to find a nice patterned curtain that will pair nicely. 

Stay tuned for the finished result.  Pictures to come!

We Bought a House!

When we moved to Miami in August, or situation had not yet been determined. We could continue renting an apartment as we had in Greenville or we could live at the in-laws house, save money and eventually buy a house of our own. And that's just what we did.

Initially, I didn't want to live with my in-laws. I loved them and I thought that living together would change that. (But this topic is a post for another time).  I wanted to be out as soon as possible... But Mauricio made me agree to stick it out for 6 months. Those 6 months came and went and we stayed. On August 1, in just a few short days, it'll be a year that we've been living here!

Back in December, we started looking for a house to buy. We knew that since our current living situation was good and we were saving a good deal of money every month, that we could take our time looking and not have to settle on the first thing that came along. We could wait for the hidden gem... And we did!

Finally after months of searching, we came across a home that was in our #1 desired location.  Pinecrest.  A location that has the best schools, the best restaurants, the best malls, the best parks.  It's centralized and nice.  It was available.  It was at the top of our designated budget.  Our budget was only as high as we wanted to go... not as high as we could go.  Plus we wanted to have the option of having a 15 year mortgage.

All along, I felt like God's hand was over this entire process.  It was all a little too easy, a little too planned, a little too perfect to be coincidence.  I knew, from the moment we walked in the door that THIS was the house that had been set aside for us!

When we came across it, we immediately jumped on it and was inside within hours of finding it online. Right after seeing it, we told our realtor we wanted to put an offer for list price.  She was hesitant, because given the location, the list price was very low and it was an UNapproved short sale.  For those of you who don't know, a short sale can either be approved or unapproved.  If it's approved, then the list price is basically the bottom price a bank will accept.  If it's unapproved, as ours was, the list price is a GUESS as to what the bank may or may not accept.  A lot of times, an unapproved shortsale will go for months before either becoming approved by the bank, or rejected.  So, our agent wanted us to offer much higher than the list price, but the list price, although unapproved was still at the top of our threshold, which we didn't intend on passing.  We basically told her that that was all we could offer, and if it was rejected, then it wasn't the house for us and that it would be ok.

But that's not what happened.  Within 3 days of placing our offer, it was accepted by the sellers!  And within a week later, the bank had approved it!  We had been expecting to wait months and months before even hearing a yes or no, and all of it came together in a week!  We were ready to roll!

So a few days after that, we had our inspection done.  To our disappointment the house needed a new roof.  But after having some roofers come out and quote it, we figured out that we could still afford to do it!  And thankfully, that was the only real issue with the house... and even though the roof has been compromised, there is no internal damage, mold or termites!  The house was built in 1956, so that's pretty solid!

We continued to work with all the necessary parties in order to close, and had a few bumps in the road with getting insurance coverage (I'll talk about that in another post too) and getting the seller's cooperation, but eventually we did it.  We closed!

We are homeowners!

We have a home in Miami to call our own!
A home to raise our boys in.

And the funniest part is that if we stay there for the life of the loan (15 years), we'll pay it off the same year that Marco graduates from high school!  Isn't that incredible!?

So now what you've all been waiting for.  Pictures!!!
Keep in mind, the house is FILTHY!
And we have a LOT of work to do!

Here's a video of my manly husband doing the honors of removing our for sale sign.  And you can see the front of the house.

Entrance:  This is the view from when you open the door.  To the left you have a small living space and beyond it a converted garage into a large living space.  To the right is the hall to the bedrooms and straight back is the dining and kitchen.

Dining Room.  Sorry, no lights yet.

Kitchen:  We really like the cabinets, but will be adding some handles.  We would eventually like to change out the countertops and get a nice backsplash, but that'll have to wait.  We would also like new appliances. 

This is the converted garage.  It's huge.  We'll be using it as our family room. 

This is the boys' bathroom. We hate the pedestal sinks, but love that there are two of them.  Eventually this bathroom will need a makeover, but not for many years to come.  It's not on the top of my list.

This dump will eventually be my precious children's room.  They will be sharing.  This room needs new carpet because this one smells like a homeless man.  And obviously we'll clean and beautify it.  Stay tuned.

This will be the office.  We decided to have the boys share because this room is really small and the closet is practically non existent.  But it'll make a great office!

And this dump is going to be our master bedroom.  It's small but we like it.  I can't wait to get all Pinterested up in here!

Master bath... there's nothing "master" about it.  But we'll fix it and it'll be fabulous.  This picture sucks, by the way... it shows nothing! haha.

This is the BEST part.  A screened in (dirty) pool AND a MASSIVE yard behind it.  I mean, look at my land!  Can you see the boys playing out there?!  I can.  I can SEE IT!  Wooooo!!!

 So there you have it.  Your tour.  Don't worry, I will keep you updated through our decorating, cleaning, fixing and everything else.  I'm so excited to get started!  I already picked up every paint magazine at Home Depot!
Who wants to help?!

Spilling the Beans

So I've been in a bit of a blogging funk lately.  Mostly because we have a busy month ahead, but nothing has come to fruition yet, so I have nothing to talk about just yet.  But I'm gonna spill some beans here... ready?

I decided to link-up with Mama Kat's writing prompts today.  Here you go!

4. Are you on Instagram? Glance at your photos from last week, choose one, and share the back story.

Here's a picture of the house we're trying to buy!!!  We finally found one!

It's an older house, built in 1957, but it has had some minor upgrades done to it and it sits on 18,000 square feet of land!  In Miami, that's unheard of!  It's a 3/2 with a screened in pool and yard with 3 huge mango trees.  It's in an amazing neighborhood with outstanding schools.  We are in LOVE with it.

Of course, there are more upgrades we'd like to give to it little by little.  First things first, we have to paint that exterior (am I right?!).  We'd like to change out the appliances, put in a new garage door, change out the carpet in the boys room, change the front door, change door handles.  Then down the years, we'll do more like install hardwoods.

This neighborhood was our top choice, but every available house within it was at least $300K over budget.  Yes, it's an expensive area.  Then this one came up.  It's almost at the top of our budget but still doable.  It's a short sale.  We put in an offer, even though we didn't think we'd get it in a million years, but you never know till you try.  Within 3 days the seller had accepted our offer!!!

So we had the inspection done and although the house is in excellent condition for an aged home, it needs one major repair... the roof!  Luckily there are no termites or mold, so the only real damage is the roof, which is 30 years old... duh.

Basically, where we're at is calling a roofer to come out and give us an estimate.  If installing a roof will put us over budget then we're going to have to back out.  We'll know by tomorrow.

If it's all a go, then we just have to wait for the bank to accept and close!  We know it's a long shot and we're praying that if this is where God wants us to be... if it's what's best for our family, that it'll be clear to us and a smooth process.  Your prayers would be appreciated too!