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Ashlee here with what is probably going to be a longer blog post. With pictures (Thanks to Todd for helping me to figure out what was wrong with my uploading!).

This weekend Todd came up to visit me, which was great. He picked me up Friday night and we went to Apache Junction. We stayed the night in our unit. Unfortunately, someone decided the night before to throw a paving stone through the window. Here's some pictures that Uncle Pat sent out (I hope it's okay that I post them here).




Sometimes I just don't understand why people do these things. Thankfully the window didn't completely shatter. It was covered with plastic while we stayed there and we're told that it will be replaced over this next week.

In any case, on Saturday morning we met with our Realtor and went looking for houses. We must have looked at 6 or 7 different homes. Some were decent and others were...eye openers. On that day, we found 1 home that we liked. It is a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath house. It's a short sale home though, which means that if we put an offer in we will likely not hear back from the seller for about 2 months (sometimes longer). And even then, there's no guarantee that our offer will be accepted. So at this point, we don't really want to buy a short sale because of the uncertainties and the time issue. If we don't close by December, we won't get the $8,000 tax credit the government is offering. So, while we liked that one and we'll put an offer in (just in case), we're not holding out breath.

Then we ran around Phoenix doing some errands for the rest of the afternoon and had a nice dinner at a Japanese Grill called Kabuki. It was pretty good and I tried Sake for the first time. It's a Japanese alcoholic drink...think like...a mix between wine and whiskey. It tastes like wine but has that burn that whiskey does. They served it in what amounted to an oversized shot glass. And that was plenty for me :)

We finally made our way back to Apache Junction and spent some time talking to Aunt Wanda and Uncle Pat, who had just returned from a motorcycle trip they made over the past couple of days. They have been such gracious hosts during our stays out there. We're very thankful for their kindness and generosity (and ability to put up with us!).

After chatting for a bit, Todd and I went back to our unit and watched a couple of movies, split a oven pizza, and went to bed. The next morning I woke up and went to check my email. My Realtor had emailed with an updated list (recent listings). There was just one home on the list. I saw the pictures and location and new that I had to see it. So after getting Todd up, I called the Realtor. I couldn't get a hold of her so I sent her an email. Then Todd and I went and had breakfast with Uncle Pat and Aunt Wanda, followed by a swim in the pool.

...Which was interrupted when I saw something near one of the drains in the pool. I didn't have my glasses on and figured it must be a shadow. After all, if there were something there, surely Todd would have seen it?

Or at least, that's what I thought. Until I saw, clearly, this thing looking back at me.

"What is that!?" I said, probably louder than absolutely necessary. Todd turned to look.

"Oh wow! It's a toad. And a big one."

This statement was followed by my high-pitched shriek and a sprinting swim to the other end of the pool. That was the end of my morning swim!

Now, I don't have a phobia about frogs or toads like I do snakes. I just didn't want to share my pool with this big guy. I felt a little bad though. When we left, he was hiding out by the ladder to get into the pool. I could only imagine some poor woman going to get in the pool and having a heart attack when she met Mr. Toad right there.

ANYway....

Our Realtor finally got back to us and we met at the house. I'll put some pictures of the house up now. First of all, here's the basic layout of the house. PLEASE NOTE: This is not to scale! It is not a very good drawing at all, but it will at least give you an idea.


Okay, so now that we have my very bad drawing out of the way, here are the actual pictures of the home:


This is a picture of the outside of the home. I love the two trees in the front. The dirt around the trees is outfitted with a drip system, so I can plant some flowers or something in there! Or better yet, my mom can come up and plant them =)

Just kidding. Here's some pictures of the inside.


When you walk in, you walk into an open room. The kitchen is to your left.


This picture was taking facing the kitchen from the living room (which is on your right after you come in the front door).


This picture is standing in the kitchen and facing the living room. As you can see, it's a nice and open area. I love the rock wall. I think it adds nice character to the house.


Heading towards the stone wall, there's a this doorway. After the doorway there is an office room to the right and a larger family room to the left.


Here's a picture of the family room that you would see. On the wall you can see the door that heads to the side of the house (and to the back). Now, when you go to the back of the family room and turn around, you see another neat little feature of the house...


This built in shelves/entertainment area. Here's a closer look...


I just love it. There's also speakers wired to the walls. Just a note, past this shelving unit, you can see the doorway to the office room that I spoke about earlier. Now let's go back out to the kitchen/living room area...then up the hallway to the other 3 bedrooms!


This is the bathroom that is on the left side of the hallway, past a little pantry area.


Not the best picture, but it shows the closet of one bedroom and across the hallway is the entrance to the master bedroom (which is nice and large, with its own master bathroom!).


This is looking directly into the master bathroom. And to the left is this:


So, it's not huge but it's a nice little spot to get ready in the morning!


So that's the house we saw. I loved it. The only problem is that the laundry room is outside in a room that's under the carport. It's not like it's a huge walk or anything. I think that it will be fine - just slip on some shoes, take the basket out there, switch laundry, and come back inside. Like I said, it's under the carport and like 5 feet away from the door that is in the kitchen.

The location is nice. It's just down the street from a shopping center that Todd and I like. There's a park past the shopping center and a golf course past that. It has easy access to the 202 and we drove from the house to ASU in 10 minutes (though there was no traffic).

This is a house that Todd and I want to put in an offer on. We're very excited about it, though there is one concern...It's not a home that is eligible for an FHA loan. Which means that we need to get qualified for a conventional loan and put 10% down on the house. So we're talking to our lenders to see if we're qualified. While the 10% down is more than we were expecting, we still think we would be able to do it. Please keep your fingers crossed for us.

And that's all for now. Sorry for the huge post! I'm talking to Todd on the phone right now as he's driving back to New Mexico (don't worry, he's using a hands-free device so both hands are on the steering wheel). And earlier this evening I think I got everything printed off that I'm going to need for the rest of the week. My last week at Institute!

I'll chat with you all later and definitely keep you updated on the home!