Weeeeeeee're Back

Hi Everybody!

It's been almost exactly nine months since I last posted about our home buying adventure.  My track record with this blogging thing is really turning out to be quite similar to my journal-keeping track record.

On a positive note, there is so little to report that I can probably sum it up in about 1 sentence:

We did not find a house before the home buyer tax credit expired 4/30/10 and stopped looking for houses until January 8th.

After we failed to find something before the tax credit expired, we decided we needed to take a break from it all.  We had devoted so much of our time and weekends and we felt it would be good for our hearts and souls to stop for awhile and see where life would take us.

Turns out, life took us great places this year.  (After re-reading this, I realize it sort of ends up like a Christmas card letter...with updates on the year and whatnot...so I apologize for that!)

In August, we had a fantastic vacation in Michigan with my family and made our little "family" just a little bit bigger with the addition of little Miss Linden Zoë Johnson-Truskoski (see pics below).  She is now almost 9 months old and we absolutely ADORE her.  She is a Coton de Tulear and we are head over heels in love with her.  We named her after Lake Linden, Michigan (in the upper Peninsula) close to where Mike went to college and where my family vacationed every year when I was growing up (her "middle name" Zoë is in honor of my family's bearded collie who died at a very young age).  Of course, (and we totally didn't think of this when we named her) Linden is also the terminal stop on the Purple Line here in Chicago.  How perfect, huh?  If we end up living in Evanston, we will be once again Purple Line riders.

After bringing Linden into our lives, the prospect of house hunting became even more daunting, as we would have to leave her for hours at a time--something we couldn't even do until recently since her bladder was so small!  Ha!

In September and October, we were able to catch a couple of Notre Dame games, which were so much fun.  In November, we found ourselves on our biggest adventure of the year--a 10 day trip to visit our dear friends, Nick and Emily Drury in Hawaii!  Linden got to stay with Grandma and Grandpa and we had the best vacation of all time.  We stayed with Nick & Em, who generously provided us with a car and their wealth of knowledge about what to do (and not to do) on the island (we were on the Big Island).  From beaching to exploring Volcanoes National Park to seeing the tropical Hilo side to tasting fresh coffee in Kona coffee country, we continued to be amazed by all the incredible things Hawaii has to offer.  We got to swim with manta rays and explore the stars on the top of Mauna Kea.  We were able to get in some great hikes, meet some hilarious people and best of all, spend a lot of QT with two of our most favorite people on this planet.  It will be pretty hard to top this trip!

In December, Mike and I took a long weekend trip to Aspen to celebrate his birthday.  We had an amazing time snowboarding, enjoying fantastic food and exploring Aspen and Snowmass.  While it was definitely too short, it was a trip we will remember forever.  Linden also experienced her first snowfall and she loved it!

After that, we spent both of the holidays in Milwaukee and had a fantastic time!  Christmas was wonderful and the New Years Eve party my parents through was a blast and a half!

So that pretty much brings us to the present.  Mike and I decided after the holidays that it was time to dive back into the homebuying process.  Since our lease is up July 31st, we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to get something squared away.  So we went out the first weekend in January.  We saw about 7 houses and nothing really grabbed us.

The following weekend, Mike's youth hockey team had tournament in the Wisconsin Dells, so I spent the weekend in Milwaukee while he was there.  This past weekend was a whirlwind but we decided to try and spend a couple of hours hunting (by the way, we are still working with our fantastic realtor, Lisa, and have added an equally fantastic mortgage broker, Suzanne, to our team) in between all of our weekend activities (which included me working both mornings, hosting dinner for Mike's coworker Saturday evening, me heading to my friend and coworker, Jen's, boyfriend's concert after the dinner and a Bears/Packers game get together on Sunday.  So we ventured out after I worked on Saturday and saw 6 houses, three in Evanston and three in Highland Park.

And now for the ACTUAL home buying update: we put an offer down on a house in Evanston Sunday afternoon.  It's an old farmhouse that has been beautifully maintained and has a lot of character.  There are definitely things, as with any house, that need to be done or are missing, but we think it could be a fantastic starter home.  So, we sent the offer over to Lisa to submit and sent a quick email to Suzanne to have her run the numbers.

Well, by this morning, the listing agent had already called Suzanne for our qualifications (which we are so fortunate to be well-qualified buyers, even at our young age...thank you Mike for that!!!!!) which led us to believe a counter offer might be coming.

Sure enough, just a few hours later, a counter offer was on the table and they had come down the amount we had hoped to see for a first counter offer.  Unfortunately, the house is priced much higher than we'd like to pay AND what we think the house is worth.  The major "price reducers" for us is that there are only 2 bedrooms, no garage (but plenty of space to build one) and no air conditioning.  In addition, it's on the far south side of Evanston (totally fine with us, but the price they're asking is definitely high for a 2 bed/2 bath in that neighborhood) and is located on a fairly busy street.  There are about a million things we love about the house, but plenty we feel could really help us bring the price down.

We were also able to hear a bit about the couple selling the house and I have my fingers crossed that Mrs. Home Seller has a heart like mine.  They just recently had a baby and Mr.'s commute to the Wisconsin border has just gotten to be too much, so they are moving closer to the border.  Our hope is that their need to move soon coupled with the current market will bring them down right where we want them.

So, we have put our counter offer on the table and now it's just a waiting game again.

We could use thoughts, prayers and good vibes from all of you.  This is the furthest we've ever come with a home thus far and I really believe this is the absolute perfect starter home for us (as it seems to have been for this couple, as well) if we can get the price to the absolute perfect spot.  :)

Of course, it's all a numbers game but positive thinking never hurt anyone.  So here's to hoping that you will all be attending a fabulous housewarming party this spring!

Keep sending your love our way...we'll need it!
♥H

Last Ditch Effort

Tonight, Mike and I are seeing 11 houses, a huge amount for a weekend day, let along a week night.

This is our last chance to try for the tax credit, as we will be in Door County for my half marathon this weekend (yay!).  So, if we aren't successful in finding something today, we won't be back out until the second weekend in May.

Keep your fingers crossed!
♥H

Whirlwind? More like tornado.

My goodness.  So much, so fast.  We have literally been so busy this past week that this is the first moment I've found to really sit down and tell everyone what's been going on.
♥H

So, here's a complete and concise look at the past 10 days in our homebuying adventure:

Friday, April 16th:  Peruse MLS site and find a house in Evanston that came on the market Thursday (4/15), decide to see the house on Saturday before a gaggle of people fall in love with it at the Sunday open house.

Saturday, April 17th:  See the house in Evanston, fall madly in love.  Decide to give up on the Lake Forest offer and put offer in on this house.  Realtor recommends repeat showing in the morning.

Sunday, April 18th: See the Evanston house again first thing Sunday morning.  Sign offer papers.  See about 8 more houses.  Hannah's ability to judge houses is completely compromised by intoxicating love for aforementioned Evanston house.  Give offer papers to realtor to submit asap.  Go back to Evanston house for open house at noon to ask a couple questions of the listing agent.  Find out house went under contract 9:00 PM Saturday.  (Hannah) cries in car.  Contemplate offering list price to see if other buyers can be beat.  Can't believe list price offer is being considered.

Monday, April 19th:  Find out Evanston deal is solid, hearts and minds move on to another house in Highland Park seen Sunday that is also only a few days on the market.  Discussion and reevaluation occur, decide love for this house is just as strong as Evanston house.  Sign more offer papers.  Feel extremely positive about new love in Highland Park.

Tuesday, April 20th:  Early morning find out there are multiple offers in on Highland Park house, biggest and best offers must be in by 5 PM Tuesday.  Write heartfelt note to sellers about our love for house.  Find out we lost out to non-first time homebuyers and possible investors/rehabbers.  Many more tears and angry, non-Christian thoughts fill head.  Decide to put in offer as backup in case financing falls through for Mr. & Mrs. Satan.

Thursday, April 22nd:  Go out in evening to see several more properties.  Nothing floats boats.

Saturday, April 24th:  Go out from 9-1, nothing thrilling.  Hannah loves one house in Deerfield, Mike explains that houses that need foundation work are not quite in the budget.  Hannah understands, grumpily.

Sunday, April 25th:  Take break from househunting.  Come to accept that house will likely be found mere days after the homebuyer tax credit expires 4/30. 

Wish us luck.  We sure do need it.

And for those of you interested in the houses we lost:
Evanston House
Highland Park House
And the house in Deerfield we loved but has structural issues.

A bit like a pregnancy test...

I imagine this waiting for the counter offer is quite like waiting for the result of a pregnancy test. 

Except we have to wait waaaaaaay longer.

Oh well.  I'm trying to keep my my focused on anything and everything else.  But I'll let you all know as soon as the news comes in.

♥H

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!

Day One, Part Two: O.v.e.r.w.h.e.l.m.e.d.

I know, I know--it took me FOREVER to put this post up.  In my defense, I have been transitioning from my job working as the Events & Volunteer Manager at the Trinity Booster Club to being an Andrologist and Clinical Research Assistant and the Fertility Centers of Illinois.  So, the past week I've been working 10 hour days and I haven't been very good about getting this one finished.  But here it is and I will be better from here on out! 
♥H  

After discovering that Mike’s hockey practice was actually Sunday the 7th, not Saturday the 6th, and I got to relish in a rare moment of imperfection in his life, we decided to head up to Lake Forest around 10 AM even though our first showing wasn’t until 1:30. We were blessed with an absolutely beautiful day so we figured it would be nice to walk around and check the “downtown” area (and perhaps have Mike treat me to a guilt-induced breakfast for waking me up so early for nothing).

Once we arrived in Lake Forest, which was an easy 20 minute drive up 41 from Evanston, we parked the car and went on a search for some good, fairly inexpensive breakfast fare. As we walked through the downtown, where we encountered several gaggles of girl scouts hocking their cookies on roller blades and scooters, we were both amazed by how quiet and charming Lake Forest is.  We stumbled across The Egg Harbor Cafe which turned out to be everything we wanted in a breakfast joint and more.  There were tons of people there but we only had to wait about 5 minutes for a table.  We both had fantastic meals and we left feeling satisfied and ready for some hunting.

We met up with Lisa, our realtor, at the Lake Forest Baird & Warner office.  Right off the bat, we knew we had a winner.  She is funny and outgoing but also direct and can get down to business.  We had intended to talk to a few realtors, but once we were done with her, I looked at Mike and said, "I think we've found a winner."  We went through some paperwork and talked about the basics.  She also set us up with a daily MLS search that gets sent to my inbox each morning.

She took us to this house in Lake Forest we had wanted to see.  It became quickly clear why they hadn't posted pictures of the bedrooms.  They were so small and the ceilings so low, there was absolutely no chance we could be in a place like that.  I actually hadn't really realized that we'd need to take Mike's 6'5" bigness into account--he couldn't stand up the basement!  I just assume all houses are big enough for him! There was also some seriously HIDEOUS wood paneling that covered every inch of every bedroom. We'd never rule a place out because of wood paneling, but we just were NOT feeling it.  Needless to say, it was a bit of a disappointment but was exciting to see our first place.

Next, Lisa took us to a place she thought we'd like.  It's a short sale, so we weren't allowed to take pictures and there aren't any on MLS listing, but we LOVE, LOVE, LOVED it.  In all honestly, the place was such a mess, we wouldn't have wanted to take pictures--but we were able see past all of that.  From the front, it looks like a single level ranch, but it was built on a hill, so the "basement" is completely finished and has a door that leads out to the backyard.  And oh, what a backyard it is.  It looks over a ravine and has a fantastic deck on the second level (which we would definitely want to build stairs up to so it could be accessed from the yard).  Unfortunately, it was a bit over our price range...though we have continued to talk about it all week.  We are definitely going to keep our eye on it.

Last, we met up with a different realtor to look at this house.  It was one that I had found and really liked from the pictures.  We both liked it a lot, but in the end, the fact that it had practically no yard made us rule it out.  We just enjoy being outside, hanging out, throwing a lacrosse ball around, grilling...you name it, we want to be outside doing it.  And if there isn't a yard, it isn't for us.

We ventured back home, feeling exhausted and fairly overwhelmed.  We really started to realize how much this whole house hunting thing can take out of you. 

But we've begun the process and we couldn't be more excited.

Day One, Part One: Dressed to Impressed

When I woke up Saturday morning, I spent several minutes in bed fretting about what to wear for the showings. And should I straighten my hair? How much makeup? Knowing that we were seriously starting this house hunting adventure, I thought perhaps it might be a good idea to show up looking at least marginally classy.

And then there was Mike. Sporting jeans he’d probably worn the past 2 days, an faded “Evergreen State” t-shirt from a trip to Washington we took a few years ago and the scrubbiest, nastiest hoodie in his collection, he was ready to go. Granted, he was on his way to coach hockey before we went to our showings, but I was astounded that he wasn’t at least bringing a nice shirt to change into.

After about the sixth time I asked him “Are you sure you don’t want to bring anything to change into,” he looked at me and said, “Hannah, being dressed like I can afford a $500,000 house doesn’t mean I can afford a $500,000 house. If they don’t want to sell us a house because I’m wearing this sweatshirt, then screw them.”

And you know what? He’s totally right. Wearing fancy, designer shoes or clothes or accessories, in the end, is not going to buy you a house. I think this is a mistake that a lot of homebuyers (especially young ones) make—they think that no one will take them seriously (or people will take them more seriously) unless they are dressed to the nines. Ladies, should you wash your hair and slap a little lipstick on? Yes. Guys, should you shave that five o’clock from two days ago shadow and make sure you have some deodorant on? Yes. But do you need to make yourself out to be something you’re not? Absolutely not.

Which leads me to another in my series of HTFACUIP.

Tip #2: Expensive, designer clothes ≠ expensive, designer home. Sure, there are people out there who will undoubtedly have both. But keep dreaming if you think that strolling in with your Gucci sunglasses, Jimmy Choos and Louis Vuitton bag is going to buy you that half million dollar house. While what you wear to meet an agent or see a house should be a reflection of you, it should, above all other things, be comfortable. If this means your nicest, designer clothes, then by all means go ahead and wear them. But I’m guessing for most of you a comfy pair of jeans, your favorite sneakers and fun t-shirt accurately represents you. In the end, only one type of money talks—the money a bank is willing to lend you for a mortgage. And last time I checked, they don’t send a banker to check out your closet before approving you.

So wear what you want and remember that the only thing that really matters when it comes to buying a house is whether or not you have the money to back up the offer. Mike may have been strolling around looking a bit scrubby, but in the end his checkbook can back up a purchase like this far better than I could on even my most fabulously stylish day.

…but I still wore heels and trendy spring scarf (sticking out of my coat in this über mature picture below taken in the front porch of house #3...more info in the next post).

♥H