Moving update

So as I said in my Halloween post, I left for Houston Saturday Nov. 1 bright and early.  I left my house around 4:40am and got to the airport around 5:30.  I made it through security fine (I really don't like traveling by myself, I get so nervous since I don't fly very often).  My flight left at 7:00 and I got to Houston around 10:30 central time.  I had a quick nap and lunch and then Doug and I were off looking at houses.

We saw 11 houses on Saturday, most of them were in the same area, so that made it nice.  The area we looked at was nice and we liked a lot of the houses.  We looked at quite a few new homes this first day and a lot weren't even done yet, but would be soon.  We really liked this one, 1714 Laremont Bend.  It was new but completed and had an amazing kitchen and great backyard - our two main areas of interest.  The back yard went into the natural preserve, so there were tall trees to provide shade and you could hear the birds.  It was just a really nice spot.  They others we looked at were nice too, but you can't buy trees that easily.  It was a pretty fancy house and I worried about decorating and making it look cute - but I loved the kitchen.

We got done looking around 6:00 and we were both pretty hungry.  We found a local place that looked good called Rudy's BBQ.  It was great.  They sell their meat by the pound, they just weigh it for you and either put in on a bun or just serve it with some bread.  They had a few sides to choose from too and their cream of corn was delicious.  Since this was our first time they let us sample a bunch of their meats- yummy.  I had the smoked turkey sandwich and Doug choose the pork loin sandwich.

We went back to the hotel and sorted through our notes and got ready to go back out the next day.

Sunday we went to church at the ward where that house was that we liked.  The ward was great and had just been split and the Stake had been split 2 weeks prior. We got to watch the new bishopric be put in and hear from all of their testimonies - it was a great meeting.  R.S. was also very good.  It was a lesson on visiting teaching, so basically all meeting was hearing stories of sisters serving others or being served.  It was a great way to get to know some of them and hear their testimonies of service.

In the afternoon we went looking again with with our Realtor.  We looked at one house and then asked to go see the 1714 house again since we were nearby.  When she went in to get the key from the builder she could tell that there was another couple in there looking to put an offer on that house.  The builder said that he would let us have the chance first, since we had looked at it first.  So Doug and I walked through the house a little more carefully and came to a decision to put an offer on the house.  We signed a bunch of paperwork, but it wouldn't be totally complete contract until they got some documents from our lender.

So then Doug and I were pretty happy and our Realtor canceled the rest of the showings for the day since we had made an offer on one.

We went over to a member's house for dinner that Doug happened to know from Logan (small world).  It was nice to visit and get more info about the area.

Monday was a bit more crazy.  At first we thought we were going to have a day to go on a date, since we didn't need to look at houses anymore, but then Doug started thinking about the numbers of the house payment and insurance and things like that and also got concerned with some of the documents that the builder said he needed.  He wanted us to give him our credit report and scores.  But he is not our lender and he doesn't really need those.  We were already pre-approved with Wells Fargo and the bank said it was company policy not to give those reports out.  Anyway, long story short, it was a long day of phone calls, calculations, and thinking.  Because of our situation with Halliburton and depending on what we sell our house for and depending on when it sells we realized that this house might not be the best choice for us.  They said they could only set the closing date for 45 days out, and we wondered if we didn't sell the house by then or if we didn't get a decent price we would be not as comfortable with this house financially.  So since our contract is not completely signed we will be able to back out if we need to.  We have until Sunday or Monday.  So if by chance our house sells in the next few days then things can move forward, but if not, then we will have to look elsewhere.  It was quite an emotional rollercoaster during this trip, but things will work out in the end.

So Tuesday we looked at some more houses as a back up plan since I was still in town.  These houses were more spread out and we got to see some different areas which was good.  We had to finish at 1:30 so I could catch my flight home.  The plane sat on the runway for at least 30 extra minutes due to a storm delay.  There was a bit of turbulence going up and landing in Denver, but it was ok.  I had another friend pick me up and then I picked the kids up.  The girls were happy to see me, the boys weren't that excited :).  It was a bit crazy getting things put back to normal here at home, but it was good to be together again.

Over the weekend only two people looked at our house in Firestone.  I was pretty discouraged with that. I'm afraid that since it's so close to the holidays that no one is looking to move.  I know it will sell eventually - it has too.  But I hope it happens before I go totally crazy from being a single mom at home with 5 kids and trying to keep the house looking good.