The Ramblings of a Tired But Hopeful Potential Homeowner-To-Be

On Sunday afternoon we headed south to San Juan Capistrano to drive by some potential properties and to hit one open house that looked promising. Most of the drive-by's were uneventful. One property would be called an...ahem...doody hole. Then we went to the open house.

While not our first choice on the outside, the inside was perfect for us. It had that feeling of "I'm home" that I have rarely experienced in our 1+ year of searching. So much so that I cried. That has never happened. We made a very aggressive offer, as you must do in the So Cal housing market, and now we wait. This is the part that stinks and has made it impossible to sleep. That has also never happened.

Matt and I have made offers on multiple handfuls of homes, and have considered (ran the numbers on) over 100, so that means we have seen well over 100 properties. Some were beautiful and well-maintained and immediately purchased IN CASH by investors. One had blood on the entryway walls (I did not view the remaining walls to see if this was the norm). Many had been converted to "apartment-style living" with a tenant in each room and a lock on each door. And one was so thoroughly trashed that we believe the living room was used as a parking space for the family car. Needless to say, it's been a long road.

I don't think I've ever blogged about the house hunt because it's such a frustrating issue that I don't want to waste the little Luke-free time I have focusing on the topic. But today, it's all I can think about. I was up with Luke for a feeding -- we're still working on that -- at 1:30am, and then could not go back to sleep. My mind was full of concerns and questions and what-ifs. I finally got out of bed at 3am to go check the California sex offenders registry and the crime rate statistics for San Juan Capistrano. This was what was keeping me awake. How could I have never considered this resource in the house hunting process? Turns out, there are only 5 offenders in all of SJC (and none within a 1 mile radius) and the crime rate is one of the lowest in Orange County. Then I re-checked the local elementary school and viewed their API scores, just to make sure. I emailed my mom to tell her a little about the house. Then I checked MLS to see if the house was still listed as active, just in case. It was. I tried to go back to bed and make myself stop thinking about the house, then Luke decided at 5am that he was done sleeping. No amount of coaxing would convince him otherwise, so we got up before the sun. Needless to say, I'm tired. Please blame any rambling on that.

So now we wait to see if the offer on the house in the registered sex offender-free, low crime, California Distinguished School winning district will be accepted. My fingers will be crossed until Tuesday at 5pm when our offer expires. But, my hope is that they call me riiiiight....NOW! Nope. How abooooouuuuut.....NOW? Still nope. **sigh** I hate waiting. Thanks for listening.