Closing

Andrew and I live at the end of a dead end street. Now, just for the record, this isn't some kind of analogy or something-- we have neighbors on either side of us, but the one to the south is the last one on the street. Here is our house on the right, and the last house on the street, to the left:

Our neighbors were super nice people, an older couple named Richard and Mavis. Richard had a stroke at some point, and his mobility was a little slow, so Andrew felt it would be neighborly to cut their grass. Mavis always came out and thanked him for doing so, and we enjoyed having great neighbors.

At the beginning of the year, we were sad to find out that Mavis had passed away. Not too long after, Richard joined her. It was really sad to see them go, and Andrew and I wondered what would become of the house next door.

Now, I'd be lying if I said that Andrew and I hadn't talked about the possibility of buying the house if it ever came up for sale. We assumed that, when the house didn't go up for sale right away after Richard passed on, it'd be several years before we'd see any kind of sale there. But, after a few more months with other family members in the house, we came home to a large FOR SALE sign in the yard.

The real estate market in Houston didn't suffer nearly as badly as most places in the country. In fact, as our neighborhood turns over from small ranch houses like ours to two-story, multi-lot houses like this:

...we find that sales in our neighborhood are happening quicker than ever. When would we have another chance to buy the house next door? Not that we planned on tearing down both and building a megahouse like people in our neighborhood, but why not take the opportunity to upgrade from our 1200sf current house, to something bigger, with more bathrooms? Never underestimate the importance of bathrooms.

So we put in an offer on July 4th, one day after the FOR SALE sign appeared in the yard. The offer was accepted, we went through the complete and utter circus that is closing on a house (complete with inspections and negotiations and so many decisions!) and we got the keys on August 15th, just nine days ago.

We're excited to move in next door, but before we do, there's some work to do...

Whoo boy... Anyone got a few gallons of paint?!