The secret is out - so here's the scoop

We've been kind of hush-hush on this since we didn't really know what we were going to be doing, but since my husband can't keep his mouth shut (I love you, dear) and most of the people we know already know anyway, I figured I'd post the details.

A couple of months ago, my friend, Hillari asked me if we had considered moving at all. They had decided that with the housing market the way that it is, it was a great time to upgrade. Well, at that point we HADN'T considered it, but I told my husband what they were doing, and he got all excited and started looking into it.
What we found out is that this is pretty much THE best time to buy. The prices are very low AND the interest rates are very low. So, we discovered that we could get a BIGGER house, rent out our current home, and STILL possibly have a lower payment than what we have now. Even if we can't get rent to cover the total current mortgage. So, we figured why not?
The thought of moving does not exactly sound like fun to me. We have accumulated a LOT of stuff over the last 8 years that we have lived in this house. Plus, I really like where we live. We have good friends close by, and I love our ward (local congregation). So, I agreed to look, as long as we didn't go to far out of my "comfort zone". (yeh... I need to expand... I know, I know)
So we started looking. We saw a lot of "nice" places. Some that we kind of liked. But none of them felt "just right". There was one that I liked a lot more than my husband. It was right next to a park, in a cul-de-sac, and right down the street from some friends. But, it did need a lot of work, and he didn't like that.
We were actually considering making an offer on that one, and we asked our realtor if we could go back to see it "one more time" before we decided. The day before we were going to go, she sent us another listing that we might like. The price and JUST been reduced so that it fit into our price range. So we agreed to see that one too. We were going to see the one we had liked FIRST, but as we were leaving to head over there, the realtor called to tell us she had lost her key! She had never had that happen before, and was searching frantically for it. We were supposed to meet at the house at 10:30, but she told us to meet us at the other house at 11:00 instead since we had an appointment with the owners then. (She did find her key)

Here is the house we met her at:

Notice the fancy car in the drive way? That was our first clue that we may see some "interesting" things inside.

We knocked on the door. No one answered, so our realtor used her lock box key to let us in. (She had talked to the owner's realtor previously and we had an appointment - at 11:00am). We went in and this is the first thing we saw:

Notice how umm... pretty(?) the purple paint looks with the lovely burgundy carpet? (yikes!)

Here's the kitchen:
I LOVE the cabinets and the counter tops. The green paint... not so much....



The backyard is an odd shape since it is in a cul-de-sac, and it's just dirt, but it is a decent size and has potential.


Then we went upstairs and saw this HUGE "bonus room". It would make a great play room for the kids, once we get rid of the RED paint of course.



So then, things got REALLY weird. (as if the paint choices and such weren't strange enough.)
At this point we had been in the house for at least 20 minutes. Our kids had been running all over, we had been talking about how awful the paint was.... Not being quiet, at all. We went to the first bedroom, opened the door and turned the light on. As we looked around the room, I happened to glance at the bunkbeds and realized there were KIDS sleeping in there!
We didn't know what to do. This was another first for our realtor. Remember, our appointment was at ELEVEN o'clock. Not exactly early if you ask me. So we all run back downstairs, and kind of "pretend" that we are just walking in the door. My loudmouth husband started yelling "HELLLOOO"! Trying to get some response. Finally, one of the kids stumbled out of bed. We told her why we were there, and she went and knocked on the master bedroom door. LOUDLY. For about 5 minutes. And we stood there and waited while they used the bathroom... and got dressed.... just a little bit awkward. Finally, we were able to go check out the rest of the upstairs.
There are a total of 5 bedrooms. Lots of crazy colors. The master bedroom is something of a cave - very dark paint, not much light. (I guess that is necessary if you sleep that late). But the bathroom is very large and beautiful. We really, really like the floor plan.
(I have no more pictures as I felt pretty weird taking pictures with them standing there, in their pajamas and such).

So anyway, that's the story of the house. We hate the paint colors, but that's pretty much the ONLY thing that needs changed to make it very liveable for us. The price is right. So we made an offer.
We got a call Monday morning to let us know that the seller's accepted the offer. But since it's a short sale, we still have to wait until it gets approval from the bank. This could take two weeks, or two months. Possibly longer (hopefully NOT!)
So, if all goes well, we will be moving. It's only about three miles or so from where we live now. Sadly, it is out of our ward, but it is in the Crystal Gardens ward, and we have lots of friends there. It's in the same neighborhood as the guy that Brandon carpools with, so that works out nice for him.

I guess that's it. I'll try to post an update when we know any more.