We had looked into buying in Denver before now, both to allow us to invest in property out here and to have a place to call our own, regardless of whether we end up staying here longer or moving back to the UK and renting it out. We had complications with Visas and so forth so didn't think we could buy here for the time being. A few weeks ago, after having a long chat with a Mortgage Advisor out here we figured a budget and a way to be able to purchase a property in Colorado.
Our house lease runs out at the end of June and we were hoping that we could extend that on a monthly basis to allow us to find and secure somewhere perfect. Of course, the path of any river doesn't run true and the last week, the agent advised us that the best they could do was extend us until the end of July or we would have to sign another full years lease. This would stop us from being able to invest for another whole year which we really didn't want to do.
So, of course a panic ensues and we start frantically house hunting. We had a list of criteria that we really wanted from our house...
1/ The opportunity to make improvements to the property.
2/ Good sized garden.
3/ Garage for Nic
4/ Space for the dogs
5/ Good area; close access to Nics work/ Ethans School and hiking/ biking trails.
6/ A good house for Nerf wars (Ethans caveat)
7/ Family kitchen.
8/ 3 bedrooms minimum
9/ Within Budget- obviously.
Now, the US house buying process is flipping amazing in comparison to the UK. In England there's no way the timeframes would have been possible, but as typical in the US, everything can be drive through fast. Obviously there needs to be time for closing, approval blah blah blah so basically we were left with a week to find a house. Huh! Oh and I go to England next week for three weeks, just to make life easier ha ha!
We spent a frantic few days online shopping for houses, creating lists and meeting with a Real Estate Agent. Here you have an Agent. That agent works with you for every house viewing and puts the offer in, deals with all that side for you. Its great as allows you to build a relationship with them and you can be totally blunt if a house isn't suitable. Our agent Julie is a friend of mine who moved to Colorado from Manchester a long time ago, she is just amazing. She said House Hunting is like Online dating, you swipe left if you don't like it, and click on possibilities. But, it all ends up on a feeling and sometimes you just know.
We spent Friday morning looking at houses. The black gloom began to settle in as nothing sat right. We didn't walk into anything that really excited us and the compromises just seemed to get bigger and bigger. We found two that were possibilities and booked to go back for a second viewing the next day. At home we all felt pretty low, I spent a few hours browsing and booking to go see more homes online. One included a Highlands Ranch house. When I showed Nic the listings later, he began to get more positive as we looked through the Highlands Ranch listing. We had ruled the area out before as it was a bit too 'Suburbia' for Nic, a tad ' Stepford Wives if I'm honest. However, the more we looked at it the more it started to worm into my head. We had booked to view 8 houses after 3pm the next day. I went to sleep thinking about the house and woke up thinking about the house. It was the first house that I had felt drawn to just from looking at the photos.
I messaged Julie Saturday morning to suggest that we start with the Highlands Ranch house that afternoon as we were quite excited about it. She got straight back to me and said that we could slot in a quick viewing in about an hours time! We flew up to Highlands Ranch feeling excited for the first time and finally pulled up in front of something that just sung to me. Looking round was almost cursory as I just knew it had that feel. It was the right place for us, ticked all the boxes and just felt like home. It needs some modernization in areas and the basement is an unfinished space just waiting for us to do. It felt like a happy home. We cancelled all other viewing there and then and arranged for an offer to go in on the house.
Then we waited, all day and evening to hear something back biting our nails and jumping on each buzz or blip of our phones. We knew another couple were heading back that afternoon for a second viewing which meant they were probably keen too. Showing her commitment to us, Julie called at 7.15pm to confirm that it's ours! The contracts were electronically signed online by both parties straight away and job done.
Next stage is the Earnest money downpayment which shows our commitment to the property and the survey on the house. We are keeping our fingers firmly crossed that nothing awful comes up.
If all is well, the house will be ours from July the 20th. Which means our lovely friends Katie and Tom will be the first people to come stay in the new house.
For now, we are keeping everything crossed and will have a busy and stressful few weeks ahead.
Eeeeeeek!
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