Our "New" House!

I'm sure that by now you've all either been told or figured out that we were able to buy a single family house last fall.  The whole process got rolling in September.  We thought we would be stranded in our townhouse for many more years since we owe so much on it.  I had talked with several mortgage companies to either help lower our interest rate or to get a second mortgage.  They wanted to have nothing to do with us so I called the broker that helped us with our refinance 5 years ago.  She is absolutely amazing and prequalified us right away for a decent amount and referred us to a Realtor.  He suggested we look for some place outside of Waconia to get more for our money but we were pretty set on not moving too far.  We were able to look at a few places just a couple days after meeting him over the phone and the first house we looked at is the one we ended up buying!

This house had everything we were looking for in a house: 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 living areas, an oversized garage and a big backyard.  It was just a little disappointing walking through it, however, because everywhere we turned we saw more evidence of how the previous owner had taken zero care of this place.  It was a foreclosure, a teenage party house, and probably a lot of anger here as well.  Just so turns out I have a husband who's been itching for a new place to be able to do some work on!  The house was essentially livable, you just have to look past a few cosmetic items which we will be updating/replacing as finances allow.  There isn't a basement to refinish but in time, we will probably replace most things or touch them in some way.

Here is a picture of John and me with our Wood Duck home right before we closed on November 22nd.  We moved one week later on Black Friday, November 29th!!!  This whole process went so fast and smooth I can't believe it!  We did a little cleaning and painting in between there and everything just fell right into place.  We got all moved before Christmas and settled before all of the spring festivities!

And then for the townhouse, we are renting it out.  We tried to go the Renter's Warehouse route but really had bad experience with them.  It was their "off season" since we were looking for December 1st move-in and they kept asking us to lower our price.  I showed the place to a good half-dozen individuals which was that much more than Renter's Warehouse lined up for us.  We ended up finding our tenant through Craigslist and just used Renter's Warehouse for the lease.  So far everything is working out but we are definitely still involved with the Larkspur place but it is nice to still be engaged.  Our tenant moved in as we were moving out and is loving his space!

What an answer to prayer this has all been.  We are thrilled that we can give our kiddos a space they can stretch their legs in.  Lots of good memories will be created here.  Also a big shout out to our parents and family who helped us move and watch the kiddos.  We couldn't have done it without you guys!!!  Stay tuned for pictures of what we've done inside!