May 2022
We have some exciting news to share...WE BOUGHT OUR FIRST HOUSE!!! And boy has it been a doozy! So buckle up, follow along, & be prepared for a good laugh because there is surely never a dull moment when you stick with the Stegalls.
As many of you know, after Alec and I moved back from southern California we moved in with my dad to help us save some money so we could purchase a house. After living in our first apartment in Dallas and the one in California, we just decided we wanted more space, to make “a house a home”, & to start building some equity. Shoutout to my dad for being such a gracious host and allowing us to live with him and also shoutout to Alec for living with his father-in-law. Neither is easy but we made it work and are so grateful for the time spent together and all the sacrifices that were made.
After 4 months we decided we were in a good enough place financially to start looking and boy did the process move quickly! On March 31st, we reached out to a realtor recommended by a close family friend to get the balls rolling. Then we had to pick a lender, get pre-approved, and share our ideal house specs so our realtor could get to work! By the weekend we had already received a list of houses that met all of our criteria and were excited to tour our first home on April 3rd.
Once we wrapped up at church that Sunday, we drove over to the house & immediately fell in love. Yes, yes we know…that’s exactly what you aren’t supposed to do but we couldn’t help it! It was in a great area, close to Dallas with great hardwood floors, high ceilings, and beautiful windows.
So after touring, we immediately reached out to our realtor and put an offer on the house. Now this house was a little different than others because the seller was a company not a person. So no one was currently in the house which would make the closing process quicker too! Overall we had a really great feeling about this house + the circumstances surrounding it.
By Monday morning, April 4th, we were notified that the seller accepted our offer and were ready to continue moving forward. After electronically signing some documents, we were officially under contract by the end of the day! We were shocked at how quickly things were moving along & just felt like God was really opening tons of doors calling us to take this next step! Next we needed to find an inspector to get out to the house during our option period. We booked one our realtor highly recommended for Friday, April 10th. Throughout the rest of that week we finalized our lender (using a mortgage broker to ensure we got the best prices + deals) and paid our appraisal fee.
After our inspector shared his report with us, there were some repairs and negotiations that needed to be done before we moved to the next process. Our realtor got our option period extended so we could get experts out to check some more things the following week. By Thursday, April 14 we had all the information we needed to negotiate our terms before signing. That night we went to Fuzzy's to celebrate being done with the option period and deciding to move forward in purchasing this house. From then-now we have been able to go to the house a handful of times to daydream about our future in our first home together & make plans on decorating and designing!
On signing day, Monday May 2, we went over to the new house before signing to do one final walk through (and man are we glad we did this). After taking some pictures in the dining room to commemorate just a momentous day, we walked around the house. When standing by the back door we noticed it smelled kind of like mildew. The previous evening we had had a huge rainstorm in Dallas and there was lots of water in our backyard so we just assumed that was the cause of the smell. As Alec continued inspecting the house, he went to the laundry room and nearly slipped. After turning the light on he noticed a ton of sitting water in there and immediately tried to find the cause. When looking for something to mop up the floors he opened the door to the garage and panic set in. Our entire garage had flooded. In a flash Alec goes into hyper drive mopping the standing water out of the garage and I call our realtor. She immediately gets on the phone with the seller to help us resolve this situation ASAP.
All in all we are feeling extremely blessed. In situations like these you can only laugh, think about all of the positives, and move forward. Something I used to not be good at but am grateful Alec has taught me in our almost 9 years together. Praying all goes well the rest of this weekend and early next week with the repairs, so we can officially sign on Tuesday, May 10! Thanks for your love, support, and prayers along the way and stay tuned for more details to come next week :)
xo,
the Stegalls
Be sure to check out this list of home vendors we put together if you're in the market for buying/selling a house or just need some repairs done!
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