WE DID WE DID! and TODAY is closing day! Surprise :) So it's been a crazy last couple weeks. I can't remember if I told the blog world that we decided to stay in the northern ATL area where my family is! We are heading to Little Rock for training coming up next week and originally we weren't going to start looking at houses until like a month before we'd head back here..... It's an 8 hour drive and I love house hunting sooooo we ultimately decided that we wanted to pick out our own house in person. We originally were going to have a late closing date but then again decided if we could close super fast that would help us get a good deal.
 |
| They actually added windows to the garage doors so it looks even better! (I just forgot to snap a picture) |
 |
| backyard (that cement slab is where our back door is) |
Our TWO biggest requirements were 1. to be within a 10 minute drive of my sister and 2. to be able to rent out the house after we move. We really want to get into owning a couple properties down the road so we needed to have the option to lease the house out be in the HOA restrictions. We actually found a really nice house that was 15 min away (so again a tad outside of my requirement) but it was next to a park and grocery store, so I let it slide. We were told we could rent it out and put an offer in that was eventually negotiated and accepted at a price we wanted.... until we got a copy of the HOA deeds. They did not allow leasing as per a new amendment so we unfortunately had to pull our offer.
 |
| Master bedroom with nice ceilings |
 |
| part of the master closet |
We went house hunting one weekend and the house we are buying was in the first neighborhood we saw (there were 3 for sale). I liked it when I first saw it but their HOA fees were very high for nothing. They don't have a pool or anything so I was like nope, not doing it. Well fast forward a week or so and we kept running into problems with HOA's letting us rent houses out (which I get.... I mean as an owner I wouldn't want a lot of renters in a neighborhood.... but as an investor it was key). In GA, finding a good neighborhood WITHOUT an HOA is impossible and I really do like the enforcement of rules. So we decided to revisit the idea of a couple houses we previously saw because the inventory was not out there and if we waited til closer to May we wouldn't be getting deals. Spring is when buyers come out.
 |
| upstairs loft looking into front bedroom |
James and I decided since the house I really liked (that we first saw) allowed renters we were going to go see it again to give it another chance. It just so happened to be a 4 minute drive to my mom/sisters house so CHECK and we can rent so DOUBLE CHECK. It also FEELS brand new.... It was built in 2011/2012ish (there are discrepancies on papers). It backs up to a private road where there is a water treatment plant further down, but that means no houses can be in our back yard. We have ONE direct neighbor fairly close to us on the right but none on the left.... for now or at least until 2017 (when they're supposed to start building next to us). The reason there were so many houses for sale on the small street is because they started this neighborhood back in 2011 and then the market crashed..... they couldn't sell the houses so the builder started a company to rent the houses out. Now everyones leases are up and they are making them sell them all. They gave renters the option to buy first then they put them out to the public. The ones on our side of the street were all renovated and upgraded (mostly). Ours was the last to be done and is vacant so we start to finish did this in about 2 weeks. They put brand new carpets in (exactly the ones I would have picked) and granite counter tops (exactly the ones I would have picked), new paint (a generic beige), and installed some double crown molding to the kitchen.
 |
| kitchen! |
 |
| Kitchen looking towards the living room/ front hallway... nice and open! |
My favorite part of this house is that the stairs are hidden behind the kitchen. It's just so unique! They unfortunately left linoleum floors in the nice new kitchen and all the bathrooms..... I would have also ideally liked to put hardwood in most of the downstairs..... but beggars can't be choosers. Our master closet is GINORMOUS, it's like a walk in turn left and walk down.... It's a good thing because the house does lack storage. It's a two floor house (as most are here in GA). This will be our first house with STAIRS and a MAILBOX!! It was the first thing I checked! I know that sounds silly but seriously, every house or apartment we've stayed at from the 7 years we've been married had the metal box community mailboxes that were like half a block away or down the street. Although, it did get me out to exercise.... but this will be so much more convenient.
 |
| upstairs loft area looking into the laundry room and guest bathroom |
There are a couple other things I'd like different about the house like it has no front porch (I happen to have an overabundance of outdoor furniture), the island in the kitchen needs to be double the size, it's missing a fireplace (yes I want one put in), and it needs a fence but James keeps telling me, "this isn't our forever home" it's to get us through a couple years then we can work on getting something a little more specific. It's a great home with taller SMOOTH (I emphasize that because man that was tough to come by) ceilings. It will make the perfect rental house plus it has 4 bedrooms with an upstairs loft area (that will most likely be an office/playroom).
They didn't have photos listed for the actual MLS because they were renovating it. Some more details are that it's a 4 bedroom 3 full bath house (with one of the bedrooms being downstairs with a full bath). It's 2138 sq. feet. We are basically moving stuff into the house, installing an alarm system, and peacing out. It's very anticlimactic but what can ya do.
 |
| front door area- forgot that was a requirement, can't open door right to living room, so CHECK |
 |
| hidden stairs are straight to left (by the pantry door) cool huh? |
The sellers told us that they plan on starting phase 2 very soon (on the opposite end not next to us) where they will be building a pool and tennis courts/playground... woohooo! So they have big plans for the neighborhood and I'm glad we get to see how it develops! OH and the neighbors to our right have two small kids with fun play stuff in their backyard! It's been very hard keeping Hadley off them as we visit.
Happy Valentine's Day to us :)
