The First Look!

Well, a little over a month ago, I was searching online for homes for my sister.  Actually, I have been helping her search for a couple of months now.  Well, much to my surprise, I ended up seeing a home in my favorite neighborhood for pretty cheap.  It was listed at $83,900.  And in the weirdest of stories, I had actually ended up checking out this house two years ago when it was for sale then!  I did a walk-around of the property and loved it!  I just couldn't get approved for another loan at the time.  It sold for $101,000 then...after being listed at $104,000, I believe.

Needless to say, I was ecstatic to see it for sale for so much cheaper.  Agh, this was NOT supposed to happen!!!  I was supposed to get out of more houses and get back into stocks again!!!  But I loved the house, it appeared in good condition, and at this price, it was a steal.  Unbeknownst to my sister, I immediately called up my realtor and asked him to walk through it for me.  He did it that day.  I told him to then put an offer in on it that day!  I said $84,000.  It was just a heck of a deal.

I kept it a secret.

The following day I was informed that multiple offers had been received for the house.  Because it was such a good buy, I upped my offer to $87,000!!!  Even at that price, I was thrilled!  I was literally interested in it at $104,000 two years ago, so this was a no-brainer for me!  Of course, I was going off of my realtor's words alone.  He said it needed new carpet, paint, and appliances, but it looked great other than that.  Done.

A few days later I learned..."You have a new house!!!"  Imagine my surprise when they took my original offer of $84,000!  ha!  I texted my sister and said, "I blame you."  I then led her on for quite awhile before dropping the news about my purchase...she was dumbfounded!  Oops!  :)

Well, the closing was set for April 8.  Perfect.  I was able to get April 5-9 off, so I traveled home on April 6.  Of course, I was eager to get a head-start on the property, so I headed over to check it out (for the first time in two years!).  It looked great!  It needed a new front door, lots of love on the overgrown landscaping, some paint on some trim and the deck, but other than that, it looked great!

My new house!!!  Well, as of tomorrow anyway.  :)

I immediately started work on the landscaping even though I wasn't closing until tomorrow.  The grass was so thick...and brown!...unlike the neighbors' yards which showed a beautiful spring green.  But oooooooooooooooh how thick it was!!!  I literally could not do an "out and back" pass on the massive yard.  I had to literally empty the mower bag every 1 1/2 rows...which created a very, very slow process.

The long mowing strips that filled up the bag way too quickly!

I wasn't but 20 minutes into the mowing when a car pulled up.  A man got out.  Uh oh!  It turns out he was the listing agent for the property, and I won't lie, I was a bit nervous as to what he would say about me being there before having closed on the property.  He asked if I was the buyer, and after telling him "Yep, I am...and I was trying to get a head-start on the mowing before the rain tomorrow."  He didn't care.  I then told him I had never even seen the property, and he offered to take me inside!  Really?!  Woo hoo!

So we walked inside, and I was literally overcome by the smell.  It was horrendous.  I had to pull my sweatshirt over my nose and mouth as I walked through the house.  The carpet was filthy, and I mentioned something about the moldy smell, and he said, "Yup, that's blood."  "Ha!", I said.  Of course, the stains did look like they could be blood spots, but I didn't think much of it.

I did maybe a 3-4 minute walk-through, and then I let him grab his sign, keypad, and go.  But I was thrilled with the condition of the home.  Outside of poor paint, nasty carpet, a horrendous smell, filthy bathrooms, and a couple large holes in the drywall, the house looked great!  It appeared structurally sound.

WOO HOO!!!

I headed outside and continued mowing...it was such a tedious process.  Mow, empty, mow, empty, mow, empty.  I seriously wondered what the neighbors were thinking of the noise.  Vrrrrrrrrrrrrr, quit.  Vrrrrrrrrrrrr, quit.  Vrrrrrrrrrrrr, quit.  It had to be...interesting.

I worked throughout the afternoon, filling up bag after bag of grass and leaf clippings.

Look at all of those leaves and grass!!!  One of many loads.

I then used Dad's help after he got off work at 4:30 P.M.  One of my biggest goals during this short trip home was to remove tree branches that had fallen on the house several weeks ago after a windstorm.  The branches were high, but with an extension ladder, and a telescoping saw, I was able to cut them down one by one.  Trees are soooooo heavy!!!  One of the braches slammed into the roof and gutter but didn't do much damage (thankfully).  Dad then cut up the branches, and I loaded them into the truck.

The branches that had fallen on the roof.

Now gone!

I also tackled several of the volunteer trees, the much-overgrown bushes around the deck, and the various low-hanging branches from the tree.

Look at that wild growth!!!  Volunteer trees everywhere!  And bushes gone wild!

Every bush needed tamed!

We were losing daylight, but what a successful day.  About 1/3 of the yard is mowed, the three huge branches are cut off, and much of the branches from the yard are cut up and ready to be hauled (another tree was laying in the yard).

A snapshot during the work!  Branches everywhere in the yard!!!

The final load of the night...right at dusk.

A third of the yard is mowed and bagged.  I could go over the same area and probably fill up more bags.  So much overgrowth!

Not bad for not even owning the home yet!  We finally called it a night at dusk.

In the first day, I ended up taking home three truckloads full of branches, grass, and leaves.  There is still so much more left!