Do I really have enough...

There are days when i feel like I have more than what I need, and certainly more than enough.  However, there are other days that cause me to question if I have enough at all.  I do agree that I have enough to be considered successful in life, however I do feel like there is a major component that is missing.  I have the house, the car, the kid, the education, the friends, the faith, but I do not have the husband.  I know it seems crazy, but I do feel like something is truly missing.  

Do not get me wrong, I have a very supportive family and group of friends.  I have a daughter who I love very much.  Despite all the love and attention I get from these two groups, the love and attention of a spouse/significant other always falls in a different category.  This is the attention that I crave, do not have.  (I know I am supposed to wait on him to find me, and trust me I am trying to do just that. I am just in a place where I feel like if I do not express the way I feel I just may scream.)

I come home, and a home it is indeed, however, I feel like I am missing the husband to welcome me here.  I would love to have someone to debrief my day with, to hug and fall asleep with.  I would love to have someone to come home to to cook for and do all those really adorable things we see in the movies and all go, awwww over.  

Beyond the desires for these things, I also want someone to sit next to during church.  I want to get in the car on Sunday mornings and drive in to church together.  I want to stand around as he talks to someone, and he says Honey, I will just be another minute, sorry to keep you waiting.  That would just melt my heart.  I cannot wait to say, " let me talk to my husband, and I will let you know."  I am excite for the husband God created for me, I am really really excited.  

I have a friend who gave me a very smart piece of wisdom, she told me just as I desire to meet him, I need to cover in him prayer now.  I never thought about praying for my husband, as much as I did praying for a husband.  It may not seem like a big difference there, but there is.  I often pray specifically for the husband I have not yet met, but the one I know God has chosen and is keeping for me.

Tonight would be a great night to hug him goodnight, since I have not met him, I will pray for him and be satisfied.

Flash Forward and Move In

Well, it has been a while and yes, I have many, many things to share.

The last time I posted I had run into a snag with the financing and had pushed back the closing date.  Well I am happy to say I have been in my home for 19 days now, and I am loving it!

We were able to get the financing finalized and were set to close on April 26th at 9am.  I was all packed, down to the couch pillows and headed to pick out new counter tops when I received a call from the lender saying we would not be able to close as scheduled.  Well the underwriter decided they wanted to do a few more things and closing was pushed back a day.  Well this put everything on hold.  I had to call my movers and let them know that I was not moving that day and would try to keep them posted as the process continued.

I was able to close the next day, at 4PM, 30 minutes before a ministry perfomance, but finally, it was closing time.  I took my mother with me and we met the Realtor at the title company, and we were ready to sign on the dotted line.  The blessing in the situation was that I did not have to bring any money to closing, in fact I was told that I had over paid and would be getting a check back.  That was an awesome sound, I mean it was MUSIC to my ears.  So we closed, I received my key, talked to my Realtor, who I consider an amazing friend, and was on my way to my new home, after the performance of course.

By the time I was able to get home, it was after 9pm and way too late to unload the truck.  So, I grabbed what few blankets we could see on the back of the truck, a vacuum (that I went to borrow from my mother) and went in for the night.  We had cleaning supplies ready and cleaned the bathrooms so we could at least be comfortable if we had to go.  We vaccuumed the whole house, and went to sleep. 

MOVING DAY!!!

Since I had already had my movers on stand-by for two days, I couldn't pull myself to ask them to do another day.  So instead, I called on a few of my teens, my bff, and a friend from high school to get the job done.  We unloaded the truck, and went back to collect the last few items.  As we were loading the second truck my mother and another friend were at the house cleaning and unpacking. 

After a couple hours of loading and unloading, we were HUNGRY!  Pizza hut to the rescue!

It was awesome to be in the new house...but...what is all this beeping....

All the batteries in the smoke detectors were about dead, so there was a constant beeping, as each room has one.

So replacing those were on the to do list...

Housing update...

First, I apologize for dropping the ball on the housing blog, but things have been CR-A-ZY!!!

So the offer on the house was accepted, GREAT!!!  There were a few things left to be done.  In the contract the seller agreed to purchase a fridge and update the counter tops, JACKPOT! 
Now with an accepted offer, I needed to get an inspection and set a date for closing.  One thing I learned very quickly, is that you have to be present for everything!

The inspection was scheduled and I was ready.  The day of the inspection, I took a few hours off work, had cash in hand and headed to my new home.  I walked the behind the inspector the whole time, and learned a lot about my new home.  I walked through every detail, except the roof.  I was happy to find that the inspector had a hard time finding much wrong with the house.  While I knew the house had been rehabbed, I was not sure how well it was done.  Much to my satisfaction, it was done very well.  At the end of the inspection, the inspector printed out a copy of the report, put it in a notebook and went over it with me.  It was helpful, he told me the major as well as the minor things that needed to be taken care of, what the expected cost would be and even offered to come back out and reinspect once the work was done. 
I also got a termite inspection since, it was an additional $50 and well worth it to know that there was no sign of the mites!

After the inspection, I put in a request to the seller to fix the things that came up in the inspection, and what do you know, they agreed!  The biggest thing that needed replaced was the electrical panel and that would have cost me a few thousand dollars to get done.

Finally, it was time to schedule closing, April 4, 2012!

It is such a great feeling when things work the way they are supposed to, except when they dont.

I ran into a snag with the financing.  There was an old debt that had not been taken care of and now I have to push my closing back.  A new date has not been set, but I will update you as soon as I know when it is. 

I will do a special blog, with many picture on: THE PACKING PROCESS....

Hampton's Home-buying Happenings --We have a decision...

So I was at work as usual when I remembered I scheduled a meeting to sign papers about the house.  I raced out of the office to the place I should have been 10 minutes before I actually arrived.  While checking in I missed a call from Mikki, so I gave her a call back.  She had been trying to get in touch with me since the night before.

She had something important to tell me, they reviewed the offer and accepted it!!!  Yay, one step closer to owning a home!  Now the important details...financing...I have a lot to say about this and cannot do it just right now...I will update in the next few days...this process is exciting which leads to exhaustion!  

Hampton's Home-buying Happenings Placing an offer..

So Tuesday was a really big day for me.  My kid had a performance at school, and she was awesome.  Beyond that, it was the big day.  It was "Make an Offer Day".  I met Mikki at Subway none the less, (I love that she is so accommodating) to sign the offer.  We had talked earlier in the day and decided to offer $1000 above list and ask for a new fridge, counter tops and closing costs.  It was a little nerve racking.  We gave until Friday at 5 PM for them to make a decision on the offer.

I was not worried about them accepting or countering the offer.  I believe this is my house and I guess I don't feel like things will be anything but decent and in order when it come to the whole situation.

I have since had to sign many papers and prepare many documents that reflect income and such.

So I waited to hear back on Wednesday...

I heard on Wednesday that the listing agent had no issue with putting a Fridge in the house...Uh yeah, a good sign!

More to see--Hampton's Home-buying Happenings 2/28/2012

So I started this whole home search process a few months ago and have viewed many homes.  I must admit I have grown slightly anxious about finding the home that had everything I wanted and did not require me to compromise.  After what felt like looking at a billion homes online, avoiding house hunters for a few months (ill explain why later) and taking my lunch hour to view homes.  I believe I found my jewel.

Not that I am a professional or anything but here are somethings I found helpful along the way.

1. Finding an amazing Realtor, Mikki Armstrong is by far the greatest at what she does.  My Realtor made it a point to make me know I was a priority.  I mean there was one night I was up until the wee hours of the night looking at homes online, I texted Mikki to ask if she could include one of the houses in our Saturday viewing.  (Mikki had given me permission to text her at ANY time)  I sent her a text at 11:30 thinking she would see it the next morning, however, about 10 minutes later she replied letting me know the game plan for the next day and continued working on the details that night, or should I say morning.

2. Know what you want and be willing to reconsider.  I went in knowing I wanted a 3 bed 2 bath, finished basement and garage.  Anything else was a bonus, anything less was not acceptable.  However, I also knew my price range and quickly learned that in my price range what I wanted was definitely possible I just had to decide if I wanted more in terms of space or upgrades.  Going in I wanted both.  I was being unrealistic.  That is another place my awesome Realtor stepped in and explained to me the differences in what I wanted verses what I could afford.  She was very knowledgeable and was able to find a place that gave me both and was less that what I budgeted!  JACK POT!

3. Do your homework.  I researched different home buying programs that are available in my area, and ones that gave the biggest benefits since I am a first time home buyer.  With the help of Mikki, we found a program that works for me.  It is amazing, it pays 20% down on my home as well as some closing costs.

4. Go home and sleep on it.  I did this after each showing.  I knew right away there were some homes that I had no interest in at all, but there were also some homes that I thought I would love to live in.  After getting home and having a chance to go over the practicality of the homes, I often found that the houses I REALLY liked were not always the best option for me.  I had to consider things such as utilities.  While I would love to have a HUGE sitting room, with vaulted ceilings, how much would it add to my monthly expenses to heat and cool those rooms?  These are things to think about, even when you get an AMAZING price on the home.

5. Consider your visitors.  For me this was a very important aspect because I love to entertain and just have people over.  I had to consider if having a home without a large driveway would work for me.  I wanted to find a place where people could park on the street and not cause me to be hated by all my neighbors.  I did not want a place with too many stairs for several reasons. It was also to have a place with sidewalks out front because I am know as the "kid house".  I have a young daughter and am a Children Ministry Teacher so I always have a kid running around some where.  Sometimes thinking about the smallest details will make or break a deal and save you headache in the long run.

6.  Go with who you know.  One thing my Realtor did for me was recommend people to me that she had also used.  She told me at the beginning that she has worked with lots of people in the profession and has lenders that she prefers to work with.  She even went a step further to say, I recommend people that I have had to work with on a personal level first.  She recommended people that she had her own children use, and that made me feel so much more at ease.  I must admit that all the people she has put me in contact with have been AWESOME!!! They work with me as if I am the only person they have to deal with and that make me feel like a Queen!  I love it!

Where has the time gone...

So I am not so great with this whole blogging thing, but I continue to try my hand at it.  I have started another blog about my journey to fitness entitled: Feeling for Fitness.  I am in the early stages, and enjoying ever minute of it.  I will soon be blogging here about the home buying process!

Things in life are going well!  I am in the process of buying my first home!  It is both fun and frustrating at the same time.  I think this will be a large part of my blog focus! 

Well this is it for the moment!