So we thought we would look at some houses...

We started out just looking at houses online with sites like www.zillow.com and http://www.trulia.com/

Our lease for our apartment was going to expire at the end of December, so we thought we could take our time and look for the perfect house. We spent several weeks just looking at the listings on the aforementioned sites, narrowing down our likes and dislikes and pretty much figuring out the things that would be most important to us. For instance: we both hate stairs, so a rancher was definitely our first choice. Peter loves to cook and is the chef , so he wanted a nice roomy kitchen with more counter space than we have in our apartment. I dreamed of a pool, or at least a yard that would make a good home for my dream pool.    

    Once we had some ideas of what we were looking for, we started going to the houses we liked and looking at them from the street and sometimes the driveway. On occasion the house was empty and we peeked into the windows. We did this for a couple of weekends before we decided it might actually be fun to see the inside! So we found a Realtor. I don't know how most people go about finding their Realtor but we did it real simple like. We called the number on the sign in the front yard of a house we liked, asked if someone might be able to show us the house...TODAY. When you're Living Norman, if something is meant to happen, it usually happens this way. Lo and behold, there was someone available to show the house and he would meet us there in 45 minutes. Boy were we excited.

    Vladimir is Russian (duh!) and quite the character. He showed us the house and told us if we were interested in seeing more houses give him a call and meanwhile he would look for some listings and email them to us to look over. He sent us an email that night and we began our search. We looked at a bunch of houses, but none were the right fit. At the same time Peter was still looking on Zillow as well. Peter actually found our house. We both agreed it was the right size, and pretty much what we're looking for AND it was in the neighborhood I wanted. Most of the houses we'd looked at so far were nice, but too far from work for Peter or just not in the area I was hoping for. So finding this house in the neighborhood I wanted with most of what we're looking for is promising. Peter emailed Vladimir and we got an appointment. August 22, 2011 we walked into what would become our first house. As soon as we walked in the front door I got the "feeling" I was hoping for. The living room was big, has gigantic windows and looked like a room we could actually put our furniture in with room to spare. All this went thru my head in seconds. I walked into the dining room while Peter and Vladimir went down the hall to the bedrooms. In the dining room I looked out the sliding glass doors and (cue the heavenly chorus of hallelujah) there's a deck leading out to....wait for it....A POOL! So I'm already in love. I walked into the kitchen and love love loved it. It's cozy, not as big as what Peter probably wants, but it's so nice and obviously recently remodeled. New fridge and dishwasher for sure and the sink...Deep sink. Our apartment sinks are so shallow and we hated them. By this time I'm positive this is THE house. I turn and see two steps down into what they were using as a master suite. Wow. Peter walks into the kitchen at this time and I say "This is the house. I love it. It's perfect." To which Peter says: "You wanna look at the rest of the house or do you just wanna make an offer now" (with a grin). Ok, yes, I made this huge decision almost instantly and without even seeing the rest of the house. But when ya know, ya know. Ya know? I did look at the rest of the house (a couple times) and was still positive it's the house. So I'm looking at Peter and praying he feels the same way. He did. At that point we pretty much decided to make an offer. And again, when you're living Norman things just happen this way. Vladimir asks if we want to go back to his office (30 min away), or just fill out the paperwork here in the car. I cannot possibly handle a 30 minute drive so we do it in our car. I'm in the back seat, Peter and Vladimir are up front. He has all the paperwork needed for the offer and we get down to business. As we're filling out the papers another Realtor pulled into the driveway with another couple. OH EM GEE!..I'm bouncing in the seat now (typical Tami style) poking Vladimir saying "Hey, go out there and tell them to get out of our house. They don't need to even bother. It's ours!" Both of them are laughing at me. We get all the forms filled out and head home. To say I was anxious would be an understatement. We should hear something in the morning after the offer is sent to the owners, according to Vladimir. It was early afternoon when Peter called the next day. We chit chatted for a couple minutes and then he says "Oh, and they accepted our offer." I'm like "WHAT? Seriously?" Yes, he was serious. They accepted our offer just as we wrote it and just like that, we're buying a house. Wow. Who knew it was that easy.

    So much for taking our time and riding out the lease on our apartment. We'll figure it out we tell ourselves and just trust in God. He always makes a way and takes care of us.
Live Well...Live Norman
P&T