I can't really tell you all about our new house without first explaining how we got here. I left you yesterday with pictures of some various homes we saw while on our search. Our house hunting was basically a two-way street. For some of the homes from my post yesterday, we didn't make the cut-- for others, the house didn't make the cut.
First, let me say that the market in this area is doing fairly well. Homes are selling pretty quickly and it's quite competitive (which MJ and I learned the hard way). When MJ and I first started looking into moving, we discussed where we would like to live and where we could afford to live. Let's be honest, I was dreaming of this...
MJ, on the other hand, was dreaming of divorce. HAHA, just kidding. Although, he did think I was insane when I told him I'd like to move back to Fairfax County where I lived prior to my move to Tennessee. I'll show you in pictures what I'm talking about-- that house above sold for $715k, consists of almost 8000 sq. ft. and is located just a few miles from our house. The house below sold for $655k, consists of a small (in comparison) 2400 sq. ft. and is located in the heart of Fairfax County. AYKM?!?!
Granted, they are both beautiful homes, but I think I'd fork out the additional $60k for the additional 5000 sq.ft. Not a hard decision in my book!
Because of this (and because I want to stay married to my husband), we decided to begin our search in Prince William County where the homes are a bit more affordable. We had no preference as to whether it was a regular sale, foreclosure or short sale as initially were were just looking. Fast forward a few months and MJ and I had made the decision to move as soon as possible which meant no more short sales. We had found some beautiful homes, but the thought of having to wait 6 months and fighting with the bank-- or multiple banks-- just wasn't something we wanted to do.
We found this one first. This was a foreclosure and was on the market for $399k. It was in need of quite a bit of TLC (as do most foreclosures), but it had almost 5000 sq. ft. and it was in a great neighborhood. We put an offer on it along with someone else and the bank denied both offers. Because of the amount of work needed, MJ and I decided that we did not want to offer too much more because it would cut into the money we had for repairs. Instead, we walked away.
This house sold 2 months later for $394k.
Then we found this one. It was a regular sale and had just come back on the market after the previous offer fell through. It had recently been renovated so it was in great shape; however, it was in a neighborhood with zero amenities and it had a small backyard with little space for a fence. It was on the market for $395k so we decided to make an offer. There was nothing to lose, right? Within two days we found out that there was another offer on the table and ours was not accepted.
After two failed attempts, we put things on hold and waited 2 weeks until we could go to Virginia and look for ourselves. We flew to VA on a Thursday evening and spent the entire day Friday and Saturday looking at homes. It was beyond exhausting! All of the other homes in yesterday's post were looked at and considered by us so here's my review of each in a nutshell:
Too Small; lots of building still going on; funky shaped and small backyard
Still being built when we saw it so it was hard to picture the finished product; didn't like the floorplan; no amenities and small neighborhood
The one below--I liked it, MJ didn't. Great price; great square footage; gorgeous, gated community; teeny tiny yard with 3 ft. fence (can you say runaway dog??)
And finally, a big contender in our home search. Foreclosure in a small, but nice neighborhood; GREAT square footage; awesome master suite; rough looking kitchen; in major need of some TLC; FABULOUS yard!!! In the end, we decided not to put an offer down as we thought the repairs would well exceed our budget.
And the winner...
You'll just have to wait until tomorrow for that:)
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