Done and dusted - or at least half-way there

We bought a house today. Well, at least made a commitment on one. After a long and tedious battle in trying to decide between Erik's house and Vicki's house. We finally landed on Erik's. We made an offer, he made a counter offer, and we took it. And I, for one, am just thrilled. We'll work out details starting on Tuesday or Wednesday next week, depending on what Hurricane Gustav does. We have to go through all the formalities, including inspections, arranging the loan etc., but for all intents and purposes, we're home owners. It's thrilling. It's been a long, long time since I've owned a house. I didn't realize how much it meant to me until we finally said, "Go" on this one. I'm very, very happy.

For those of you that want to dig deeper, I put pictures and captions on FaceBook. The pictures were taken on two different days: the first when we viewed the property on our own with the sales agent and the second when we viewed the property "open house" with our realtor, Marla, yesterday. You can tell the difference between the two days because they dressed up the house with plants and do-dads for the open house.

For those that want the gory details, read on:

We ended up picking this house just because it is so darn pretty inside. We loved "Vicki's" model home too, but it had a lot of hassles and we just ran out of energy to deal with them. Vicki came down a lot in price -- $6000 lower than Erik's offer -- but she couldn't tell us whether we could move in right away, plus the whole upstairs would need repainting, plus it was a model and had some wear in it, plus we had the problem of what to do with the furniture -- some of which we liked, but much of which we didn't, and finally we couldn't figure out how to convert one room into somewhere to practice our dancing. We loved the lake access, the landscaping, the nearness to the community pool. In the end though the problems out-weighed the benefits.

The new house is in Telfair subdivision. That's a newly opened tract of land just opened in Sugar Land, Texas. We're about 23 miles from downtown Houston on Route 59. That'll be 30 minutes at the best of times and 50 minutes during commute ... or so we think. The house is built by David Weekly Homes and they tout how "green" they are.

The subdivision has lakes in it, and you can kayak and canoe on them. No one could tell me if there's any fish, but there's a lake at the end of the street, and you can bet I'll give it a try.

I'm very, very happy, and thanks to Robert Mondavi, more than a little drunk tonight.

Like manna from heaven

OK, I know you're tired of hearing how tired I am of house hunting, but every once in a while ...

We looked at a townhouse to rent today: would have been nice, but filthy dirty inside, as predicted given its price.

We looked at a house to rent today: almost OK, except that the standing water in front apparently really is a problem because as we walk to the front door we see a bright orange citation sticker from the City of Houston saying the house is out of compliance -- mechanical failure. Don't want to deal with either of the two issues. Home for lunch. Fade out.

Fade in -- 40 minute drive to Sugar Land southwest of Houston. Ever faithful Lisa-the-Sat-Nav claims she knows where the new subdivision is that we're trying to find. Two different people at work independently recommended it. At one point Lisa insists there is a road to my left and that I get off on it. Except there is no such road. After much driving in circles and calling Lisa some pretty unflattering things, and in her case anatomically impossible, we punch in another house and let her take us there.

It turns out we're back at the same subdivision (Chelsea Harbour) in which we found "the house with the pumping station" and "the house with the prison". We'll never mind, they're on the total other side of the area, and this house looks good. Near the entrance to the subdivision, but not too near. Near the swimming pool, but not too near. On the 'lake', that allows boating and supposedly has fish in it. We prowl around the outside of the house, peaking in windows.

I notice the house next door is the model home for David Weekley Homes, and it's open. I go inside calling for the sales person. No one home, but a sign says, "Smile, you're on closed circuit television." So, I call Wife in and we proceed to prowl around. It, like all models, is decked out. Extra landscaping. And tons of other little touches. The sales agent, Vicki, shows up, and the bomb shells start falling. Yes, the house is available right now. She's asking $375,000, but will discuss other prices. And, everything in the house except the electronics like television, closed circuit video, etc. is being sold with the house. I ask, "You mean the furniture. Certainly not the accessories like pictures, tableware, etc." Answer, "No, everything stays." Wholly kow.

We re-evaluate the whole shooting match. This means, we could just buy some kingsized sheets and move in. No drapes, no dining room furniture, no bedroom furniture for three extra bedrooms. This is a horse of a completely different color.

I slapped the photos out on FaceBook. Peruse the photos by following the link, and give me your opinions. We're too shocked to be thinking straight.