Shopping Trip!

We have been getting really frustrated looking for a home here. It seems every time we find one we like, it gets too expensive or something fishy shows up in the inspection. Last week we pretty much decided on buying an apartment and paying the ridiculous assessment fees each month just to have a place of our own. Even then we faced fierce competition. Needless to say, I was starting to get pretty down about it and wondering if we were even going to have a place to put our baby in September.
This morning, while I was sleeping off a long night of hip pains waking me up every 15 minutes, Marcus was looking at the realty site just in case anything new had come on the scene. He saw a house we had really liked, in the neighborhood we LOVE, but had been far too much for us. The price had been reduced and he decided to calculate the costs of the house, though we still thought it was out of our budget. After looking carefully, we decided we could afford it. So on a whim we called the realtor to see if we could look at it sometime. Shockingly he said "How about today?". Of course we said yes.
We met up with him and started falling in love immediately. Its a color we had both decided we didn't care for, but somehow it was very nice on this home. Kind of a mustard/golden yellow. And freshly painted! When we walked in I immediately felt at home. It has a large welcoming entrance with a walk thru kitchen just to the right of the entrance and hallway to a bath and two bedrooms to the left. Directly in front, at the end of the room, are the stairs. To the right of that, on the other side of the kitchen, is the living room. It is quite nicely laid out. Off the living room is a brand new covered deck and a lovely little yard that has been very well cared for.
Up stairs you first enter into a big area that is being used as a second living room now, and probably should be in the future. It has big windows and a Juliet Balcony, which I am sure Neko would LOVE. The master suite is off of that room. It is a good size with a full bath and a walk in closet. That's a real rarity in Sweden. The ceilings are wooden, but can be painted or stained. All of the walls have been freshly painted except the bathroom, but that wall needs attention anyways. There is even a skylight in the master bath!! Overall, we got a good feeling. We saw a few things that needed changing, but they were cosmetic. We decided we loved it and would put an offer in. We have done this many times before, and had no expectations since we had always lost. But we felt a little better knowing the owners had already bought a much more expensive home and really needed to unload this one.
After a few phone calls back and forth, we got it! We are SO excited and nervous about the whole experience. I still cant believe our offer was accepted at all. Its near the asking price, but they will be making almost nothing on the deal. I feel a little bad about that aspect, but pretty great about the overall experience. I am starting to wonder if destiny intervened for us. It is everything we wanted and a price we can afford.
Now we just need to wait until we get to move in. Due to a law in Sweden that you must provide 3 months notice to break a contract on an apartment, September first is our proposed moving date. We know the apartment company will have NO trouble finding new tenants for our great apartment. We have really loved it, and modernised it for the next occupant.
I will try to add the link to our new house at the end, but keep an open mind. For some reason the current owner would not allow many pictures, and even for us while viewing it to take pics that show personal spaces or items. We will however be barraging you with pictures when we take ownership mid August. Probably some before/afters of the things that we will be changing.

Well, that's basically all I have for today. I think its pretty big news, and I am SO happy to share my "shopping trip" with you all!!

Also I would like to take this time to say Happy Fathers Day to all of my brothers, my dad, and my step-dad. I love you all and you are all on my mind today.

Sorry!! The link to the house doesn't work anymore!! I will take pics as soon as we get in!