WE HAVE A HOUSE!!!

I can barely contain myself! We have a house!! I'm trying to control the excitement a little bit, because it's not officially offical. (read: it hasn't actually closed yet) But everything leading up to the closing has gone really well, and we say it's a go! We had our offer accepted, we have the financing all lined up and ready to go, and the inspection on the house actually went really well for being an older house. There's not much that will stand in our way now; it's just a waiting game to hear that it's official.

The inspection showed some concerns, but nothing really big. And certainly no deal breakers. It was all things that we expected. The roof looks good, but it needs cleaning. We need to update the drainage system from the gutters. The house is built partly into the hillside, so it's a big concern to get water away from the house. But that's if it ever rains, which it never does around here! ;)

We also need to get a couple of appliances, and a couple of windows need to be fixed. Besides the little bit of things that need to be done now, there's definitely a lot that we would like to do to the house during our time there. For example, the upstairs bathroom needs SERIOUS updating, but it's totally functional for now. There's a ton of cleaning to do, but really... it's ready to go.

OK, more details:

1832 sf (house), 7000 sf (lot)
3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths
Full living room, dining room, PLUS a separate family room
1 car detached garage with power and a garage door opener (Stephen is thrilled of course)
Lots of storage everywhere - great space in the kitchen, master bedroom has his & hers closets, and the closets in the two other bedrooms are about 4 feet deep with equally wide storage cabinets above. It's near the end of a dead end street, so it's super quiet. And PAVED alley access (which doesn't happen very often in Tacoma).

There's so much more to say about it, and I can't wait to share more pictures and stories about the whole scary, exciting process. And of course, a house warming party will be a top priority once we get settled in.

Well, really I won't have too much of a problem controlling my excitement. All I need to do is start thinking of all of the packing and moving we get to do in the next 4-6 weeks, and that makes me look like this: