We Got A House!

If I could only explain to you how stressful it was to find a house in 1 and a 1/2 days... I was Mrs. Grumpster. Starting off, I had researched a ton of houses and their mileage from the church before we left for this trip. I had it all narrowed down to the perfect choices for us to check out when we got there. But then... one by one as I called to make appointments to see each house, leasing agents would tell me they were no longer available. It's a hot renter's market in AZ. No joke, they are placed on the website and gone within a day.

Something cool though, an agent got a hold of me and said she wanted to research for me and then set up an appointment to show me around to rentals when we were in town. She said she would have the most current ones that were available for when we got there. I thought that was perfect! She would do all of the work for me. She emailed me pictures and prices and we spoke back and forth on the phone about my wish list for our next home. We set up an appointment for Tuesday morning.

We arrived in AZ on Monday, straight from our weekend from Mike & Heather's wedding and visiting family, and visited 2 houses. One I had looked up online at Jake's parents house the day before, they just gave us the lock box code to see inside ourselves, and another we had an appointment for, but the agent stood us up. We called the day a wash and waited until Tuesday to see all of the houses the first agent had for us. It looked like she had about 10. Another agent wanted to set up an appointment for a couple of houses I found at Jake's parents' house as well, but I told her we'd have to call her after our first appointment because I thought we'd be busy all day.

We got there and there were only 3 houses she had to show us. I crossed my fingers and said a prayer. I wish I could tell you it was fun. After each house I got more and more nervous hoping that the next one would be "the one". All 3 houses were horrible. Bug infested, cat urine smell everywhere, bars on the doors, scary neighborhoods, tacky wallpaper... my hopes were dashed. We went to lunch and called the other agent hoping to be shown around to her houses... She didn't answer. We stalked her and her office like crazy. The scary part, we knew we'd be on a plane in less than 24 hours and needed to find something to live in since we were moving there on the 21st (in like a week). Ahhhh!

So what did we do? We went to the houses that we wanted the 2nd agent to show us and looked inside the windows since they were locked - I'm sure we looked like robbers. Kept calling her. We drove around neighborhoods and looked for "For Rent" signs and called. No joke, there are at least 1 if not 2 to 3 "For Rent" signs on each street in AZ. People are foreclosing on their houses and looking for a way out. We made an appointment with a private owner that way. It was gorgeous, inside a gated community, close to the church and shops, but the lady wanted alot more than we were wanting to pay. No luck with that. We kept calling that agent. We got a hold of another private owner, but decided his house was too big for us. We got a hold of another leasing company this way, drove to about 3 of their houses, and found out they were all not available until mid-September. Not going to work. We kept calling that other agent. I was so angry, and scared.

By about 5pm with nothing, we surrendered our dream for a house and visited an apartment complex. The most disappointing thing about that? They were just as expensive, if not more, than the houses we saw online! And small! I'm still surprised we did this all in one day.

Waiting, waiting, waiting... never a call from the 2nd agent who said she wanted to meet with us. Up until last night at 7pm we had nothing. It was between the expensive house from that private owner, an apartment, or the one we saw on the first day with the lock box.

We decided to go back to the house with the lock box and check it out again. To be honest, it was a really nice house... just painted super tacky on the inside in a couple of rooms and about 5 miles from the church and shops. I'm such a city girl I really wanted to be in the hub of things, like 1 mile or less (yes, I know I'm a dork). No joke, you pass the corn fields and the cows to get to this house. But, it was in a great neighborhood and offered everything we wanted at the price we wanted - including a community pool (we think) and a park around the block.

We left the lock box house after our second visit and went to Chipotle for dinner. By this time, I was Super Mrs. Grumpster. Jake and I had to decide... the expensive one near all of the shops but no appliances (like washer and dryer and refrigerator), or the country one that included everything where we could host alot of get-togethers with our youth group but was painted super ugly tacky and further away? I went back and forth, totally discouraged. I really wanted to find something PERFECT.

By this time I just wanted to go home, go to bed, and forget about moving to AZ. Perhaps God was trying to teach me something through this... actually, I know He was. We finally came to a decision. The country one. I called the leasing agent of the lock box house (after 7pm on a Tuesday night mind you and leaving on a plane for Sac the next morning) to let her know we were in and wanted to put a deposit down to hold the house. But I was really not excited about it. We needed something to move into in a week! Jake was excited - he totally balances me out. He's the best. She didn't answer, so I left a message feeling hopeless.

A miracle... she calls back around 8:30pm. Luckily for some reason of all of the houses we looked at, I downloaded the applications for this house at Jake's parents' house and took them with me - just in case we wanted it. She told me she'd need the apps as soon as possible. So we filled them out and my dad took them to work this morning and faxed them at 7am. She told me we could send her a holding deposit later and that the apps would be fine.

And then.... As Jake and I are at the airport waiting for our plane today I get a call. It's the leasing agent. Bad news. She made a mistake. We DON'T have the house. There's another applicant on this house. It's now a race for whoever can get her a $650 cashier's check first to hold the house. Are you kidding me??? We're about to fly back to Sac in minutes. I called my dad and asked for a HUGE favor. He said he'd do it. By this time it's 9am this morning. Did I tell you it was a hot renter's market or what? Again I'm thinking we might be moving with no house. More Mrs. Grumpster. My dad leaves work, rushes to the bank, and amazingly has the check in her hand at her office by 10am. WE HAVE THE HOUSE.

That'll teach me... I wasn't really into the house until I knew someone else might have it. All of a sudden I LOVED the house and would do ANYTHING for it! God wanted to show me a thing or two. Since I wasn't excited before, He was going to force some excitement into me. It worked. :)

So... I'm gonna be a country girl! Yee-ha! :) LOL Below are pics of our house. We will be living here for a year and see if we like it enough to stay longer. If not... like my dad said, we can always look around for something closer or better. Jake and I are going to paint the tacky walls. It's going to be awesome.

For those of you who are wondering... the rent on this house is only $1095 a month. CRAZY CHEAP. It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bath. All of you need to come and visit! We have 2 guest rooms so you are more than welcome!

Our tacky RED door. The owners of this house must have been fascinated by McDonald's or something. You'll have to wait and see the pic for our master bedroom - bright yellow and Ronald McDonald red. No, it's not tolerable brick red, it's fire engine red. To the left of this door is the entrance to the guest bedrooms and guest bathroom.


The living room and kitchen - with that tacky red around the kitchen island. So random.

A different angle of the kitchen and the hall leading to the master suite.

Here it is! Our Crazy Master Bedroom! These are my pictures. The pictures online DO NOT make the colors look this bright.

And the tacky yellow master bathroom, leading to our walk in closet. I actually LOVE that it has 2 sinks. How awesome for Jake and I getting ready in the morning!

The tacky yellow guest bathroom.

One of the guest rooms. I seriously don't get why the rest of the house has neutral colors and then the kitchen island, master bedroom, and both bathrooms are so "colorful". Maybe they were matching their bright furniture?

This is very cool. Our backyard is all set with a BBQ island and patio. It's really cute, even in person. We're on a corner lot so we only have neighbors behind and on the left of us in the back. Also, both the front yard and backyard has grass. My friend Drue from Vegas told us that grass is always nicer than the "desert landscaping", making it feel more like California. We lucked out! I guess we need to invest in a lawn mower and BBQ. I feel so grown up!

And that's it! Welcome home Johns'! We hope you can come over and join us sometime!