We bought a house

In planning for the arrival of the newest Oakes (we're having a girl!), we've been trying to figure out our house situation. We talked to a contractor and discovered that the expansion project we had in mind was going to be expensive. And, we'd have to move out during the project. Thinking we'd casually look at the market to see what other options we had, we pulled a classic Oakes: we saw a house two blocks away and decided to put an offer on it.

This whole process started about a month ago. The day after seeing the house, we told the realtor that we'd make an offer. Matt started the process of putting things together. Then we found out that when we refinanced two years ago, the mortgage company listed it as a foreclosure - killing our chances of getting financing. Matt went into lawyer mode and spent a few long, stressful weeks working to get the foreclosure removed. Just when the mortgage company admitted it was, in fact, a mistake, and said they'd fix it, the house I decided I now desperately wanted went under contract.

I was upset, but figured it wasn't meant to be. But, a few days later, we got a call from our agent that the contract had fallen through and the house was back on the market. Of course, the mortgage company still hadn't fixed our credit report. After more calls and waiting, we found out this past Tuesday that the issue had been fixed.

We put together our offer and put it in on Thursday morning. Later that day we heard back from the seller with a counter-offer. We then countered again, and found out yesterday morning that he accepted! So, we have a new house!

Here's a photo of it:

If you're familiar with Takoma Park, you've probably seen the house - it's on the corner of Columbia and Sycamore behind the Co-op. The house has 6 (!) bedrooms - 4 upstairs and 2 on the main floor. We'll turn the two on the main floor into an office for me (a real office - with space!) and a den/playroom. The kitchen, dining room, living room is an open-concept space. The old garage, which is on the side of the house, is a large laundry room that we'll turn into a guest bedroom.

The basement has been turned into a rental property with its own entry. It's a one bedroom with kitchen, full bath, and laundry. We're thinking we'll try to find a grad student to fill it. And, now we have a potential for college savings!

One of the best features of the house is the HUGE 2-car garage with loft space in the backyard:

We've told the kids that when winter comes, they can get roller skates and skate in the garage. Finn's super excited because we're going to get him a basketball hoop to put on the right side of the garage.

We close May 22nd. Now we're making lists of what needs to be done to sell our current house and figuring out moving. We're not sure when the actual move will happen, but we'll figure that out in the next few days.