Hello, Sunnyside

We ran into one minor hiccup with our financing, but all is well and we are moving full steam ahead on the Sunnyside house. Our mortgage broker wanted to lock in a rate that was a half point above what the credit union was currently offering. We couldn't just ignore the fact that we could do so much better. After presenting him with this, we were able to bring the rate down slightly, and we were comfortable with proceeding with the new rate. We would have saved money to drop everything and go with the credit union, but that would have been more stress and headache than it's worth. At this point, we don't even know if we would qualify for the loan through the credit union while we still own our current home. We've already written letters, made phone calls and presented all kinds of paperwork to our current lender. We've emailed with him no less than five times a day for the last two weeks. It would be awful to kick him to the curb after he's done so much work, an...

The deal came through at the last second, and it looks like we are on track to get the house on Sunnyside. I can't believe it. We thought the deal was dead. Totally off the table. We signed the paperwork killing it...but waited to submit it until closer to the deadline. That's when the seller came back and offered just a little bit more off the sale price of the house as a final offer. I don't know how it made the difference for us, but it did. Ultimately, the seller and us were only apart by an amount of money that, while still a LOT of money, would not make a difference in the long run. We knew we'd regret it if we didn't get the house. We've been shopping for houses high and low for the better part of a year, and we know enough to know that a house this perfect for us would not come around again. The solar lease deal is not optimal, but the seller gave us just enough of a concession during our negotiations that we can kind of justify it. We will buy out the...

Our Sunnyside deal is on the brink of implosion, mostly due to the solar panel situation...as expected. The findings on the inspection were more than just significant. Several things were in need of extensive repairs. Dylan put hours of legwork into getting estimates for all the various things that needed repairs so that we could send a reasonable proposal to the seller and get the deal done. Ultimately, the seller agreed to lower the purchase price so that we could take the house "as-is." That would have been fine, but it wasn't even enough money to come close to fixing just the significant things. Not to mention the extremely crappy solar panel lease deal that would have fallen on our shoulders. If we wanted the house bad enough, it could have been ours. But it would have been at a price that would have been unfair and unreasonable for us. I need to back up just a little bit. I left work on Thursday feeling so empty inside, like I always do. Nothing makes my soul more...

Still, I have not much to report on the negotiations with the Sunnyside house. We have found a loophole in the lease agreement on the solar panels that might help a little bit with that situation. But the bad news is that the roof needs a LOT of work. We are basically signing up for project after project for a long, long time with this house. Right now, that doesn't seem like such a drag. But ask me after we've been at it for a year or more, and I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune. As the issues continue to pile up and I start to get discouraged, Dylan just reminds me that the house is still ours if we want it...we just have to figure out at what price. We still don't know so many things. We're just assuming that the seller will be unwilling or unable to put up any sort of money to fix the things that need fixing, and we just cannot do it all by ourselves. We might be right...but maybe not. He is eager to unload the house, this we know. So maybe he'l...

Negotiations on the Sunnyside deal will begin soon based on the results of the inspection and the whole solar panel lease disaster. It will be very, very tricky. The inspection report was LONG with some serious issues. Several trusses had been cut to make room for storage in the attic, which caused some of the remaining trusses to buckle. This could involve a structural engineer to evaluate! An A/C unit is completely dead, the roof needs attention, and about 600 other things. It's a beast. We still want this house. We're trying to decide how much we'll let these issues cost us, and I think we can figure it out. The guest house looks easy to permit and finish, according to Charlie. If we go all in on this, we're looking at expanding the master suite because it has no closet space and also possibly enclosing a formal dining room so that we have a pantry for the kitchen. We were going to wait until we've lived there to do any renovations, but now we're looking at...

Right now, I'm cuddled under a blanket watching Fixer Upper and feeling under the weather. (My diagnosis is strep throat, but we'll see what the Minute Clinic has to say in an hour and a half.) The boys are with my mom, and Dylan is at Sunnyside with the inspector. This could be a critical weekend for this house. As it stands, we are already into this house for about as much as makes sense to us. Not to mention the added expenses that are sure to turn up as a result of the inspection. Add to that, we will undoubtedly have some tough decisions to make regarding the solar panels. We have no idea where the buyer stands on any of this, so it's not really worth feeling it out until we know something. Soon, we will know something. This is the weekend that will probably make or break the deal. Do we really want to start devoting dollars toward this deal when we're already pretty maxed out? In the last few years, I've really been big on "financial freedom." I...

The earnest money has been sent to the title company, and we are elbow deep in paperwork for the home loan. The inspection is Friday, and Charlie, our contractor friend, will be meeting Dylan at the house to look at the feasibility of finishing the guest house. Things are very much moving along, but at the same time, we still have significant hurdles to cross. It's exciting, it's complicated, it's scary. I would love to get this house, but getting it won't come easy. Not many things in life worth having every come easy, though. I've gotten ahead of myself a few times and think about if we end up in this house, what an incredible blessing it will be. And what on earth did I do to deserve such a blessing? We have so much right now, and other people are in such need, and how is this even fair? But then I circle back and remember that the house isn't ours right now, and it might not ever be. Even if we do get the house, it doesn't do anybody any good to think ...

We have gone under contract with the Sunnyside house. (The one that had the full price cash offer on the first day, which recently fell through.) I'm still hesitant to get excited because we have some hurdles to cross. I'll get to what those are, but I figured this was a good time to lay out the reasons why we've determined this house to be perfect for us. Even if we don't end up in this house, this is a major moment in our journey and therefore worth documenting. Before I begin, I think we should cover some hilarious features of this house so that we can just get those off the table right away. First, this over-the-top water sculpture featuring multiple dolphins spitting water into the pool. Where do you even buy a thing like that? Also, the house is the color of baby poo. It was built in the 1980s, and it most definitely looks typical of an 80s house in Scottsdale. But, how, why, what ever made that an acceptable color? In my next life, when we win the lotte...

Remember the perfect house? The one with the full-price cash offer? Well, it's back on the market. I know better than to get my hopes up this early in the game, but I feel like it's a win. Maybe just a little win...or maybe it'll turn into a big one. If nothing else, it's a reason to remain positive. Coming off the wake of the Las Vegas violence, our struggle with selling our house pales in comparison to the real problems of the world. When we are reminded that actual horrible things are happening to human beings, it's a real punch in the gut. We might get this house, and we might not. Either way, it's no reason to be disappointed nor will it be necessary to excessively celebrate our good fortune if one day it becomes ours. It will be what's meant to be, and we are grateful for every moment...whether it's a tough one, a teachable one, a winning one or anything else. The focus now is to be grateful for our blessings, kind to our neighbors and to do ou...

We took the kids to a birthday party on Saturday afternoon, and by the time we arrived back home, it was getting dark. For some reason, I noticed as we pulled up to our house that our For Sale sign was missing. It occurred to me in that moment that it had actually been missing for a few days. Since it was dark, I thought that maybe somehow I just missed it. I put the kids to bed and then went back out with the flashlight, and sure enough, it was nowhere to be found. We even drove around the next morning to see if it had been discarded somewhere in the surrounding desert...but, nothing. So strange. We told my brother, who decided to give it a couple of days to see if it turned up, but at this point it's been about a week since it went missing. Our best guess as to what happened is that one of the guys hired to put up and take down signs accidentally took our sign down instead of someone else's. At first, I didn't think much of it. It's a been a few days, though, since ...