So, clearly, my blogging skills leave something to be desired.

Okay, okay, I know.  I have been a rotten blogger the past month.  I won't even make excuses, but I will vow (for the second time I believe) to not be neglectful of the blog!
♥H

So now for an update.

The weekend of March 20-21, we saw 10 houses and weren't particularly thrilled by any of them (except one in Vernon Hills that quickly went under contract).  We still really had our minds lingering on the house in Lake Forest, so we scheduled an appointment to see it again (along with a couple other LF homes) on Thursday, March 25th.  Lo and behold, we still loved it just as much and on Friday, March 26th, Mike & I put our first offer down on the house.

While waiting to see if we would get a counter offer, we ventured out again the weekend of March 27-28.  We didn't like anything we saw, except for one.  I fell in LOVE with an adorable older house in Evanston (with a full attic like my parents--which I absolutely adore) but after taking off the rose-colored glasses, I realized that the fact that there was no yard, no garage and a conveniently located ComEd transformer right outside the front door made it a no-go (Mike of course had immediately ruled it out for these reasons, which was impressive considering the massive amount of oohing and ahhing on my part).  The positive part of the whole deal was that I found out what it's like to "just know" about a house.  If only we could move that house... :)

On Monday, March 29th we heard word from our realtor that unfortunately the seller of the Lake Forest home would be trying for refinancing instead of going into short sale (at the request of the bank).  It was pretty disheartening to hear, but we decided to keep the offer in...just in case.

We spent a wonderful weekend with my parents and my little brother, Caleb, in Door County for Easter and came back feeling positive and refreshed.  So once again, we compiled a list and ventured onwards this past weekend.  After seeing about 6 houses, we ended at a house in Highland Park that Mike absolutely adored (he felt the way I felt about Optimus Prime...aka the house in Evanston with the full attic).  There is some work to be done, including a pretty expensive structural fix, but we both loved the feel of the house.

Late last night as we were discussing the HP house, we got an email from Lisa, our realtor, telling us that the Lake Forest seller had resurfaced and we should be expecting a counteroffer late Sunday or Monday. 

So, my friends, we come full circle, as we anxiously await a counteroffer on the 2nd house we ever saw...that we hadn't even picked out.  Just another reminder of how great Lisa is.  We are SO happy to have her guiding us on this topsy-turvy journey.

So, keep your fingers crossed.  I hope to have an update on the counteroffer by this evening!  Who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky enough to squeek in before the first time homebuyer tax credit expires on April 30th!

Love you all...thanks for reading!