It's Official!!!

As of today, I am under contract to be a homeowner yet again! This was all so unexpected. 3 weeks ago today, on a whim, I contacted a realtor to show me a few condos in the fairmount section of Philadelphia. It was more to be informational than anything - I wasn't planning on purchasing anything until the fall at the earliest. But then, I came across this spacious, outdated, empty condo right across from fairmount park in a 20 year old low-rise building with a single car garage. I couldn't let this opportunity pass me by, so we started collecting information to decide on what to offer. But, as I wrote in my last post, I was a day too late as someone else made an offer and executed an agreement. I was really bummed. But my realtor was committed to helping me find my new home, even if it took a year.

Every night, new listings that met my search criteria would be emailed to me. Last Thursday night, a listing with a fuzzy picture of the exterior of a building that looked very similar to the one that my "lost" condo in was sent to me. So my realtor and I rushed to see the condo. It was smaller but still a decent sized one-bedroom - in great condition. It has new rosewood floors, new kitchen cabinets with granite countertops, new washer/dryer and air conditioning condensor. It also had a single car garage as well as an open parking space behind the garage. The asking price was the same as the outdated one. It was almost too good to be true.

So Monday morning, my realtor and I were busy putting together an offer - it was off by Monday afternoon. Then we waited. and waited. and waited. 30 hours later, we finally got a counter offer. This negotiation process has been a long ordeal. The sellers wanted a July settlement date since that's when they're moving to San Francisco. I was fine with that only, I couldn't lock in a mortgage rate with it being 4 months away, so I had to make the deal contigent upon capping the rate I could lock in. Naturally, that made them nervous so they asked if we could push up the settlement date and they could rent from me for two months. I wasn't thrilled of the idea of being a landlord, but in the end, with lots of protection for me with the agreement my realtor put together, I as able to lock in a low mortgage rate, make money off the rent they will be giving to me, and have extra time to put more money away (to furnish the condo the way I want to). So after 5 days of negotiations and amendments to the agreement, all parties signed the contract today - so it's officially my condo to lose right now!

I don't want to get ahead of myself - there's still the inspection, and reviewing the condo documents, and getting the mortgage approved. But, i'm remaining optimistic and looking forward to being a homeowner again come May 14th!

I feel like everything is coming full circle - i'm finally in a career that I enjoy and can see myself in for quite some time and i'll be back in my own home in the neighborhood i've greatly desired to live in (and train in). I'll have a social life back. And i'll be within walking distance to my office. Please keep all your fingers and toes crossed and pray that all this comes through for me!

Chaotic 2 weeks

I'm tired today, and I don't think it's only to do with losing an hour as we sprung forward last night. The past two weeks I was splitting my time between my old and new job. The old one is pretty much functioning without me and the new one needs both me and my clone to put in overtime, so i've parted ways with the old one. It feels pretty good to cut those ties.

Last week was a great week of training for me - 12 hours of workouts that I stayed on top of and executed the way there were suppossed to be executed. I felt great. Then, I went home shopping - I couldn't resist looking considering its a buyers market out there. I found the perfect place for me. A large corner one bedroom condo with views of center city, the art museum, across from Fairmount park. 1 mile from my work and it had a single car garage. It needed some work, which I was looking forward to doing. It had been on the market for 140 days. As I was waiting to get some answers regarding the property before making an offer, someone else came in and made an offer. I was one day off! I was pretty heartbroken.

This week of training went by the wayside - I worked 24/7 to beat some deadlines at the new job. Now that i've parted ways with the old job, i'm hoping to figure out a new schedule - now that we're into march and only 2 months away from the start of my season, I can't afford to not be on top of my training. That, and I start to feel like a fat pig when i'm not working out. I went to the Flyers game with my cousin last night. It was nice to catch up and watch an awesome game (we edged our way into the 8th playoff spot in the East with the win).