The Johnsons: House Hunting

Last weekend Jeff and I traveled the 6 hour trip to beautiful Savannah! We got in late Friday night and was up early the next morning to begin our house hunting adventure. Before heading to Savannah I had selected around 20 houses for us to look at while we were there, thinking surely that would keep us busy all weekend. Boy was I wrong! We got through all of them, besides several that had gone under contract, on Saturday and the day ended in a big disappointment! There wasn't one on our list that we loved. They were either in bad areas, crappy neighborhoods, or didn't live up to the pictures we saw online. Go figure! So, by Saturday night we felt like this was going to be unsuccessful trip.

After house hunting all day on Saturday we decided to hit River Street for dinner. This place is AMAZING! You have to walk down a long steep alley, or go down really steap stairs to get down to River Street but when you get down there if feels like you have stepped into a different era. You step onto a Cobblestone street with a trolley and it is all picturesque. River Street consists of old buldings lining the river front full of restaurants, bars, and little shops. So anyways, Jeff and I went ate dinner and sat on this balcony overlooking the water while listening to live music, then we decided to walk around a bit. The cool thing about River Street is that you can walk around with an open container. So, we went into this bar that had all these frozen drinks lined against the wall where we got to taste a few and then pick one, and then proceeded to walk around River Street with cold drink in hand! It was awesome! Especially since it was extremely hot and humid outside. We decided not to stay out long because we had to start from ground zero the next morning in our house search!

So, the next morning we get up early and start house hunting once again. We had found a few more houses online the night before that we wanted to look at and our realtor had several more as well. So as the day progresses we are feeling more hopeful and found a couple of houses we liked but not really any that we just absolutely LOVED. We did find a builder that we LOVED and really wanted a house of his that fit in our price range. Well, we ended up going back to one neighborhood that he had several houses in and looking at a house that was currently occupied but the people were in the process of moving out and the house was soon to be available. Well, after looking at that house we noticed that the builder was building one next door and I love looking at houses so I begged Jeff to just walk through it with me because I was just curious of how that one was laid out. Well, we walked in and it was everything I had ever imagined. The layout was PERFECT! I loved it! Well, I loved what I saw so far. It is still under construction, only the dry wall is up. Well, since we weren't looking at the house in a serious manner we just ran through it within 5 mins and left. We thought, surely that house was out of our price range, we better keep truckin...

Well, after several more houses and me still feeling unsatisfied, my realtor asked me what my ideal house would be out of all the ones we had seen. I responded with, the one that wasn't finished and is probably out of our price range, go figure! Well, turns out Jeff agreed as well! So there we were both set on the same house! It was kinda one of those things where you walk into a house and automatically you just know it's the ONE! haha Somewhere you knew you would feel right at home! Well, we went and sat down with our realtor, crunched some numbers and determined that yes, we could indeed afford the house! With that being said, we called the builder and asked if we were to make an offer, was there still time to for us to make selections on the house in regards to floors, countertops, colors, etc. The builder so there was, so that made us really excited. So, after talking to the builder we decided to give him an offer. Let me remind you, we only saw this house for all of 5 seconds and we were making an offer! If you have never bought a home before, once they accept your offer it becomes a binding contract and there really aren't any second thoughts or guesses. lol So, us making an offer was a very bold move I must say. So, after we wrote up the contract, we headed over to the model home to meet with a lady to let us pick out our selections! Oh, and a little FYI, this was around 8pm on Sunday night! haha I think everyone was starving by then b/c we were so busy that day that we didn't even stop for lunch! So there we are making selections and within 10 mins of giving them our offer, they counter-offered, and then we counter-offered and by 9pm we had a deal! We were so excited...and starving! So, while we were waiting for the new contract to be faxed over for us to sign Jeff ran up to a little pizza joint to get us all pizza and celebrate! I was very excited about getting to have a part in what the house was going to look like. We got to pick the wood floors, the color of granite countertops, carpet, bathroom countertops, stainless steel appliances, tile, etc. We also asked them to do a coffered ceiling in the living room. If you don't know what that is here is a picture:

Well, by the time the contract was signed and we were on our way back to the hotel it was 10:30pm! What a long day! But definitely an accomplished one! After we left the model home, I talked Jeff into driving out to our new house to look at it one more time before we headed back to Alabama early in the morning! So, we pulled up to the house and it was pitch black outside and we took a tour of our house in the dark! haha All we had were our cell phones for flashlights! After walking through the house and paying close attention to all that it entailed, we were more in love with it! It was absolutely PERFECT! It was more than we had remembered and we were so stoked! We can't wait to move there in November! Our closing date is November 4th! Hip hip hooray!! :) Here are some pictures of our new home!