We had a fun morning out on a "special picnic," as Jack likes to call them! We met the playgroup at a place called Rocky Branch Railroad and Old West Town. We rode on a train and played in play area but on the weekends they have shootouts and put on a show. It was pretty cool and the kids really liked it.
On Ethan news, we got him officially set up for Speech Therapy. That will start the end of September, once we're back from our two week trip to England!!!!
And for those of you who have been asking (or were just wondering) about the house situation, this is what has transpired over the past few days:
We actually decided that we like a different house, which is two lots down from the one I previously mentioned. Here's the link: http://www.jeremyrutenberg.com/psm/asp/detail.asp?l=2&p=238&o=13
Anyway, we made the offer yesterday and it was a crazy lowball offer. We asked for them to remove a wall to open up the master suite "office" to make it into a loft, for them to pay $12,000 in closing costs and then offered $400,000.
They countered with making the changes to the house, $5,000 in closing costs and $500,000.
Our real estate agent told them that since we didn't need to move and $400,000 was what we wanted to pay for a house that we would have to think about their counter and that we aren't in any hurry. They currently have 14 houses available in that community and that particular house has been on the market since 2007 so if they want to sell they may change their minds in a month or so.
Our agent is bringing two other couples to them this week and tomorrow night might tell them that we'll put $100,000 down in ernest money to show we're serious. But we really don't want to pay more than $425,000 maybe $450,000 at the most for a house. Not when we're currently in a house that's paid for with no other debt. Of course, now that we've been up there looking at the houses so much we REALLY want to move there. Plus, the builder told us the street is full of little boys - from age 3 up! It's an ideal house and location for us, so hopefully the builder will want to negotiate more. He told us he's never negotiated a price on a house before but we know times are much different since he last sold a house. And as our agents broker told her, money talks.
So that's where we stand. I'll keep you posted if anything changes.
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