Closing Time

Closing went smoothly and I got the keys to my new (old) house!

I spoke with the seller after all the paperwork was signed and he had nothing but good things to say about my new neighbors. I even met one today and she was as nice as he described.  

I'm spending the next few weeks painting almost every paintable surface as well as doing some other projects before I move in all my furniture. This weekend is dedicated to deep cleaning and prep work for the painting. No fun. At all. 

The house still feels like someone else's...but I know once it's painted, it will start feeling like home. 

House Hunting (Part 3) - Finding The One

I received an email from my agent, Ken Hutmacher. There was another agent in his office that had a house going on the market the next week. The house just so happened to be in one of my dream neighborhoods. You know, the dream neighborhood that I thought I'd only be able to afford if the price was within my budget because the house needed tons of work.

The listing price was at the high end of my budget. I didn't want to get my hopes up and then have them crushed by a house that needed to be gutted. So I first told him I'd pass. Over the next couple of days, I kept thinking about that house. So since I couldn't shake it, I decided to schedule a showing.

The day before the home was listed, I was able to view the home. It was adorable.
Historical neighborhood, refinished hardwood floors, perfect size for me, and I got that gut feeling. This was a house that I could see myself turning into a home.

As we were leaving, I told Ken I wanted to make an offer.

Alan contacted me the next morning and we were able to get the offer sent to the seller's agent.

That evening I got a call from Alan. There had been another offer. That shows you what kind of market  central OKC is in right now! I was not happy. I had the night to think about what my best and final offer would be. The next morning, I let Alan know what my best & final was and we updated the offer electronically.

At 12:46PM, I received a text from Alan. "You got your house. Pack your bags!!!"

I couldn't contain my excitement! I did a little chair dance at my desk and couldn't wipe the smile off my face the entire afternoon.

House Hunting (Part 2) - Finding a Realtor and Lender

Now that I had my house list, it was time to search for a realtor.

I wanted someone whose full-time career was real estate. There were a few recommendations made to me, but most did real estate part-time. I didn't want to miss out on a house because my agent couldn't go to a showing due to work conflicts.

I wanted someone who was familiar with central OKC entertainment districts and the historic neighborhoods, someone who could give me insight on different areas of the city.

It just so happened that the week I was asking for agent referrals, one of the OKC twitterers I follow shared a link to blog post about historical homes. Come to find out the blog belonged to Alan and Heather Davis, local real estate agents. After reading a few blog posts about OKC and looking over the website, I emailed and received a quick response from Alan Davis. We did a phone interview and I learned that Alan and Heather were both full-time agents with Churchill Brown and Associates. They have both lived in different areas of historical OKC, so they had first-hand experience with my desired location. After speaking, I felt very comfortable choosing them as my agents.

Something I really liked was they worked as a team. while Alan would help with contracts and negotiations, another agent on their team, Ken Hutmacher, helped in my search. Ken would send me listings that met my qualifications and I would let him know which houses I wanted to see. The best thing was he would hear about homes that hadn't gone on the market yet through other agents he knew. He would text me photos and addresses and I would be able to be one of the first ones to view the home. This was vital in the hunt, as most nice affordable homes were being sold within 2-3 days of being on the market.

Both Alan and Ken suggested I work with a local lender. From their experience, the local lenders were more reliable at closing and easier to work with. I had already been pre-approved by a national mortgage company, but I took their advice and contacted Yukon National Bank. Best. Advice. Ever. My loan officer, Jessica Dean, was the best. She was always quick to respond to emails and answered every question I had. She ran who knows how many different calculations for me so I could figure out what my budget should be and which type of loan I wanted. I feel like I learned more about mortgages from conversations with Jessica than I did when I owned my last home! I have already recommended YNB to a handful of people and that is 100% due to the outstanding customer service I have received from Jessica.

House Hunting (Part 1) - The List

Before I started my search, I needed to figure out what I wanted. This was not my first time to own a home and I wanted to go into this purchase more prepared than my last. I made a rushed decision with my last home - I was nearing the end of my lease and had viewed a ton of horrid homes, so when I found one that was cute, I made an offer. I didn't really research location and after moving in, realized I would have liked other areas better. I was young and the home worked for me for that time in my life. 

My list of requirements this time around wasn't very long, but I went into the whole process knowing more of what I wanted than last time.

Location: Central OKC - the area boxed in by I-44 to the west, I-235 to the east, NW 10th Street to the South, and NW 50th Street to the North. 

There are neighborhoods that are walkable and super safe and nice (ie. Edgemere Park, Crown Heights, Mesta Park, Heritage Hills), but finding a home in one of those neighborhoods within my budget would be close to impossible. If, by some miracle, a home was within my budget, it would most likely need tons of renovations (that I couldn't afford).

Central OKC has other areas that are walkable to restaurants, parks, and entertainment (ie. The Plaza and The Paseo Districts). The downfall is this: There are "pockets". What I mean is you can have a street lined with nice homes and 1 block over find homes with boarded up windows and overgrown yards. The crime statistics reflect this as well. The nice "pockets" have low crime rates while the bad "pockets" have higher crime rates.

I started my search online months before physically going inside a house. More often than not, I would find a home within my budget that looked nice on the online listing and then do a drive-by to discover it was in a bad "pocket". So the search continued.

Age/Style: I love older homes with character - no cookie cutter traditional homes for me. There is also a quality of workmanship and materials in older homes that is hard to find in newer homes. 

Dream home style: Craftsman. But I wasn't nailed down to that. A good thing about Central OKC is most of the homes were built before 1960. So finding an older home wouldn't be an issue! 

Must Haves: 

- Hardwood floors 

(I love the look and functionality. Olive is a shedder. It's so much easier to Swiffer dog hair than vacuum it up from carpet.)

- Washer and dryer hookups inside (Sometimes hard to find in older homes - I found a lot of hookups in garages instead of inside.)

- Garage 

(Also hard to find in older homes. If there is a garage, it is often 1-car and detached. I just wanted space for a workshop and protection from Oklahoma hail storms. Nothing fancy or big needed.)

- Updated plumbing and electric

(I knew that if I purchased an older home, there would be potential repair issues due to wear & tear. I wanted mitigate those issues as much as possible by having 2 major things updated.)

Everything else about the house is left up to my gut. Do I like the layout? Can I see myself hosting parties here? Would my furniture fit? Is this a house I would like 5 years from now? 10 years? Does this house scream "Abby"?