Buying a House

So, we were planning to see quite a few more houses on Tuesday, but when we got through on Monday there were four or five houses that we thought all could have worked out for us, with two of those that seemed especially nice. After looking at the list of appointments planned for the next day and deciding that none of them looked like they really compared with our top two houses, we decided to cancel the Tuesday appointments and schedule second looks for those two houses for Tuesday morning. We went and saw our second choice and then went to look at our first choice again, which confirmed for us that our first choice house was the one for us. Although there were several very nice things about the second choice house, including the dining room painted in a beautiful dark red paint, (so I looked at the paint cans in their basement and wrote down the color of it so we can paint the dining room that color in the house we chose). After looking through our top choice house the second time, and taking lots of photos, our realtor told us to take some time and think about it and let him know when we decided what to do.

We walked across the street and down a trail through the woods that line the north side of the neighborhood, and then stopped another couple who was walking with their baby and dog on our way back to the car and they told us how much they loved the area. We drove just up the street to see how far away the elementary school was (it’s about half a mile from the house). And then we called our realtor and told him we wanted to make an offer on the house. If anyone happens to be looking for a good realtor in the Rochester area, by the way, you should get a hold of Leif Mergaman with Nothnagle Realtors (which is the big real estate company out here). He has been absolutely wonderful and we would definitely recommend him to anyone. We went over to his office that afternoon and prepared all the paperwork. We decided to offer the sellers 8 thousand less than the asking price in hopes that they would accept the offer and we could get on with the whole house-buying process without a lot of offers and counter offers back and forth. The next morning we heard from our realtor that the sellers had counter offered $1,500 higher than our offer, and we accepted. We signed some more paperwork and made some phone calls to the banker in Utah who has been handling our loan.

Then we headed off to the preschool that had been recommended to us. It is held in a local church and we were able to meet the teacher for the class Eli will be in, and she seemed great. The classrooms looked really fun and it sounds like they do a lot out here with preschool, including a play that the kids put on in the Spring. I’m sure that it will be a great place for our little boys while we are living here. Later on we went to the elementary school. The schools here have really good reputations, and we are excited for Kolby to start Kindergarten in the Fall. They have a different way of doing things out here with the schools, though, we’ve realized. In several of the districts in this area there are both primary schools and elementary schools, and the primary school might be grades K-3 and the elementary school will be 4-5. So, Kolby will go to Dudley Elementary for Kindergarten through 2nd grade, then to North Side Elementary (which is right next door to Dudley) for 3rd grade. We walked around the elementary school and talked to some of the teachers before speaking to the school secretary and filling out the paperwork to get him registered. She told us that there are 12 kindergarten classes at the school – 6 morning classes and 6 afternoon, each with 14 to 20 kids per class. (That seems like a lot of young kids, especially since it’s not the only elementary school in the area – there are at least two other elementaries not far from that one at all). They also have a really nice-sounding bus system here. The school taxes here are very high, (which is wonderful that they have their priorities straight here), but all of the kids in all of the districts here get buses that pick them up at their driveway or within one or two houses from theirs. And the parents don’t have a choice if their kids get morning or afternoon kindergarten. They told us that our neighborhood has afternoon (which will be nice, since they mentioned that the afternoon classes are not quite as full as the morning ones). And I also met the principal and vice principle who both seemed nice. We are looking forward to Kolby being able to go to that school.

We are also excited about the location of the house. It is in a town called Perinton (in the Fairport area), which isn’t too far from Michael’s work. The house is on a quiet neighborhood street where we can see quite a few back yards with play equipment in them, so we know there are a lot of young kids there. Across the street from our house there is a walking trail that goes into Beachwood Park, where there is a greenbelt with tall pine trees which runs along a small stream, and beyond that is a wooded area with well-maintained trails. The trees haven’t really gotten green here yet, but some Spring flowers are starting to come out and we can’t wait to enjoy the green Summers and colorful Falls here in the future. The elementary school is within walking distance of the house, and although the buses will take the kids to and from school, it’s also nice to be able to walk and use the large playground at the school. The town of Perinton has all these adorable old houses and churches, and the Erie Canal runs through the middle of “downtown” Perinton. We will be in the Fairport ward, which we loved when we visited on Sunday. We felt very comfortable there and it seems like there will be a lot of young families with kids.

We also drove yesterday to downtown Rochester. We went to the George Eastman House, a museum of photography (the home of the founder of the Eastman Kodak Company). That was something nice to do on this trip, since it would have been difficult to go there with all the boys. Afterwards we drove through downtown and then along Lake Ontario, and it looks really beautiful. Since the big buildings of downtown aren’t right at the edge of the lake, it looks a little cleaner and has more of a beach feel to it than Lake Michigan did in Milwaukee. We’ve been told you can swim at the beaches on the lake in the summertime.

Well, I am waiting to post pictures of the house until after the inspection is done and we know we are all set on buying this house. But the inspection is scheduled for tomorrow and the house seems to be in good condition, so we aren’t anticipating any major problems. My dad warned us not to totally fall in love with a house before the inspection because you don’t want to be emotionally attached if some major problem is found and the deal doesn’t work out, but I have to admit that I am really getting excited about this house. The night after we made the offer on the house I stayed up late and made three lists: one of things that we want to do to improve the house (like removing the wallpaper in the kitchen and painting), a list of tools that we will need for those improvements, and a short list of furniture we will need for the house. Michael and I are both really excited to work on little home improvement jobs and to do things like plant a garden and play in the backyard with the boys. And I’ve been spending some of my free time here and there looking for ideas of what colors to paint the different rooms in the house. Anyways, I’ll try to find some time early next week when we get home to post some photos and give some more details about the house. For now I guess we’ll just keep our fingers crossed that everything will go well with the inspection tomorrow.