Process Pending...

After a nice visit from the Jones parents on Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday of last week, Carlton and I have weighed the pros and cons of all the purchase options we have for a home that suits us best. We got great, detailed feedback from Carlton's parents as well as his grandmother. She took 3 days from her busy Atlanta realtor's schedule to visit Moultrie and provide us with her expert realtor's opinion on the houses we looked at... what a treat! Thanks, Grandmama!

A) While I was (and still am) absolutely head-over-heals in love with the cedar-brick house on Poplar Drive, Carlton and I felt it was still a little more space and maintenance than we knew we wanted.
Windows needed re-sealing on all the panes. We would be expecting to install a new ac unit for the house within 1-3 years (plus, with one unit for a two-story house, the upstairs was a bit warm compared to downstairs). Some of the cedar shingles were original to the home's 1976 construction and would need to be replaced.

And, to top it all off, with all that amazing, homey space inside, I would have a LOT of space to buy furniture for and decorate!

B) While the Joneses were in town we also visited a house that Carlton and I had not considered before. A house in the neighborhood of Moultrie meant we could be living next door to surgeons, lawyers, and even across the street from Carlton's boss! The house hadn't been lived in for two years and every. single. surface. inside the house needed to be replaced, knocked down, and uber-sanitized. Everything was original to the home when it was built in 1978, and it was grotesquely obvious! But it did open up my designer's eye and allow me to imagine: a two-story front porch complete with french doors opening from the two master bedrooms upstairs, a 100% total remodel of an entire kitchen that would allow for a walk-through butlers pantry from the dining room into the kitchen, etc, etc. Oh, come on! You know you love that eagle crest guarding the portico!

With such a great deal on the home, how could we frown upon the 2" lime green or cobalt blue shag carpet and wood paneled walls? Or, the psychedelic flower power wallpaper in the bathrooms? We would easily invest $100,000 into this house and sell it for a great, healthy profit. But are we ready for such a commitment? We hadn't looked at this house because we didn't really want a remodel project and this one was a remodel--literally--from the floor of level 1 to the ceiling of level 2.

And, even more so than the house on Poplar, I'd have 5 bedrooms, an office, a dining room, a breakfast room, and a living room to furnish and decorate after the renovations were finished! Whew! While it's probably the best investment we could make in Moultrie real estate, we're just not prepared for that level of commitment.

C) After weighing our options with these other two front runners on our list, Carlton and I kept coming back to a small starter home in a great neighborhood. It's priced well within our price range and allows lots of wiggle room if any emergency home repairs pop up as soon as we walk through the front door. It's relatively small, compared to the other homes we've considered, with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a living room/dining room combo, and a kitchen with laundry room. The one car carport is narrow and... cozy, but it keeps the MINI sheltered, and that's all that matters! And a major plus is that we can afford to fence in the backyard for Puppa as well as buy furniture to fill the entire home, rather than one room at a time. I'm ready to nest! Y'all. This nasty blue-gray sleeper sofa's gotta go! While we haven't put in an offer yet, we're getting the official seller's disclosure notes as well as tax information and other documents for forewarning/preparation. Then, if everything looks good, we think we're ready to put in an offer! To keep anticipation levels high, I'm sticking to my recent teaser photo with this one and only offering one hint about the house until things are official:
How could we go wrong with this?!?