Adam and I are obsessed with the HGTV channel and anything that is like it. We watch interior design, DIY, outdoor shows from the AM to the PM. We enjoy it and it gets our brain juices flowing. Except… we live in a 675 sq foot, 1 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment. Our brain juices could flow all day but we couldn’t do anything with it. We have completely outgrown our apartment. We have books in the closet, living room, kitchen.. We have DVD’s EVERYWHERE. We can’t fit another sewing kit in our house if we tried. That’s where this all started. Our brain juices were flowing and we saw a commerical for the First Time Home Buyers $8,000 tax credit. That intrigued us. So what any normal person would do we went to bankrate.com and pulled up the mortgage calculater to see what we could afford. It was a pleasant surprise to say the least. I applied for a pre-approval with a mortgage broker who convienently works with me part time. Also another pleasant surprise. Adam and I had agreed we wanted to spend up to $135,00 on a home. That would keep our mortgage payment and housing expenses roughly to what we pay now (in an apartment I KNOW!).

Adam and I started looking at houses, well condos, about 6 weeks ago. We were looking in the Quail Landing development in Ahwatukee. It’s an older neighborhood and that’s exactly what we want. It’s also close to where we live now. There were a few condos that interested us. They all averaged about 960 – 1100 sqaure feet. Not too big but bigger than what we have now. These condos were listed from $65,000 – $115,000. After looking at about 8 condos in the neighborhood, Adam and I decided that we wanted to look at single family homes. These condos were very awkwardly laid out. They had the laundry in the kitchen with no door?! I didn’t like them at all, Adam sort of liked them because of the price but in the end thought that if we were buying something it better be something we want to be in for the next 5-10 years.

Next came the single family homes. That opened our eyes to everything that goes into maintaining a home. What people do to their houses… I was surprised. Side Note: Adam and I are not the normal type of buyers. We are looking for good bones in a home with the opportunity for us to update/remodel parts or all of the home. Now we aren’t looking for a super fixer upper, we want to be able to live in it and work on at room by room, but we want to be able to make it our own. End of Side Note. We looked at about 40 houses. There were a few we really liked but decided they were either too far from our target neighborhood or too much work needed to be done before we moved in. We finally found a house we really liked and we wanted to put in an offer in on it. We talked to Adam’s parents and they came and checked out the house for us to make sure there wasn’t anything that we overlooked that could potentially be a problem. Dave, Adam’s father, found a few things wrong. There was termite treatments and some termite damage in the garage but nothing that looked new or not dealt with. He said he would be okay with putting in an offer and that was our green light. We take their opinion very seriously, they have done this numerous times before. This residence is a seller owned (not short sale or bank owned), so we thought it might be a little easier of a process…. Well we were wrong. We put the offer in and low-balled them on the price.  Well they countered above their list price to include our closing costs. My realtor called to see what it was all about.. The listing agent said his seller wasn’t going to sell unless it was at full list price or above if we wanted our closing costs paid. Adam and I decided to walk away. We didn’t want to deal with that kind of seller, it’s a red light. We also found out that the listing agent really only lists high priced properties and this was the lowest priced property he was listing. We think it might be an ego thing. It doesn’t matter though we have found a much better house closer to where we live now and much bigger and much more unique.

The house I fell in love with and Adam finally fell in love with is about a mile from where we live now. Tucked way in the neighborhood in a cul-de-sac. It’s a patio home but once you walk through the double doors you don’t feel like you are in anything less than a large ranch style home. It’s 2 bedroom, 2 bath plus a large den. It’s about 1,800 square feet. It’s very unique… It’s got an atrium in the center of the home, it’s got a fire place that you can see right when you walk inside the door. The master bathroom is definitly something you need to see in person to appreciate. It does need some cosmetic updates don’t get me wrong. But it’s the perfect house for me and Adam. We put an offer in on it a few days ago about $20,000 lower than the list price. This property is bank owned. They came back about $5,000 lower than the list price, which is what I had expected but Adam is doing all the pricing so I leave it up to him…. We are countering this weekend with about $4,000 less than their counter with closing costs paid. I hope they accept our offer. I really want this house and I really want to get the tax credit too. We really need the space. Our lease at the apartment is technically up in the middle of April but we are going month month. Which is alright but it increases the rent about 100.00 a month. I want to get my office out of my living room… I want to have a guest room and a 2nd bathroom. I want that house and I want it now!

Anyways, I will update more when I hear more about the house. Everyone keep your fingers crossed. We hope this goes the way we plan. If it does you will all be invited to a house warming party!

Antonette Walsh

Love you Dan.

-Us

Daniel Michael Hendrix

August 23rd, 1980 – June 15th, 2009

Wedding Party

Brides Court:

Maid of Honor: Bethany Blevins

Bridesmaid: Alyssa Shannon

Bridesmaid: Nichole Walsh

Bridesmaid: Lauren Scott

Flower girls: Olivia Hagan and Evee Walsh

Grooms Court:

Best Man: Matthew Hardy

Groomsmen: Regis Gerard

Groomsmen: Jordan Mcrae

Groomsmen: Tyler Hagan

Ushers/Greeters: Michael Hagan and Drew Hagan

Mother of the Bride: Kelly Isbell

Mother and Father of the Groom: Elizabeth and David Scott

Basic wedding info:

Date: January 22nd, 2011

Location: Phoenix, Arizona

Colors: Black, Teal, and Copper

Attire: Black Tie/Evening Formal

Theme: No theme

We have also decided that I will be walking down the aisle stag, but to the solo of Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd. A tribute to my father.

We are looking to have the Ceremony/Reception at Monterra at Westworld in Brett’s Barn. That should be exciting.

Other than that we have been way busy with other things to get too much of the planning started.

Maid of Honor: Bethany Blevins

Maid of Honor 2: Amanda Lenzmeier

Bridesmaid: Alyssa Shannon

Bridesmaid: Nichole Walsh

Bridesmaid: Lauren Scott

Flower Girl/Jr. Bridesmaid: Olivia Hagan

Grooms Court:

Best Man: Matthew Hardy

Groomsmen: Regis Gerard

Groomsmen: Michael Hagan

Groomsmen: Drew Hagan

Groomsmen: TBA

Usher: Tyler Hagan

Mother of the Bride: Kelly Isbell

Mother of the Groom: Elizabeth Scott

Father of the Groom: David Scott

Here is some general information – to get you in the mood.

We have decided on..
Colors – Tealish/Black/Copper
Location – Arizona
Theme – 20′s or 50′s style. (We are still going back and forth).

Alright, we also need help in deciding a venue and photographer. Two of which need to be decided early (for $ wise, and sanity of planning all other aspects).

Here are some ideas we have pulled together so far.
Photographers:
Kimberly Jarman
Justine Miller
Dream Lenz
Photography by Jo
Purple Nickel Studio

Venues:

The Waterfront
Stonebridge Manor
The Wright House
Pera (it’s an SRP facility for employees)
Taliesin West (Frank Lloyd Wright school of Architechture)

Other than that, I would love any suggestions, referrals, ideas, etc. I will be updating the more regularly so the families know what is going on with us. All of you live on opposite sides of the country, so we have to meet in the middle. Thank god for the internet.

Also, to get this ball rolling. Please leave your email address, and mailing address (or email to either one of us, contact info to follow), so we can get our guest list and all that jazz going.

Thank you,

Antonette

We are going to need some references. If you recently got married or know someone who got married or you are just awesome and know everything, please leave a comment or email me with some suggestions for the following…

Ceremony/Reception Venue
Photographer
Florist
Caterer
Bartender/Host
Offciant/Minister
Musicians
-DJ for the reception
-String Quartet or something similar for the ceremony
Videographer
Wedding cake/Decorator
Transportation (ie Limo)

and anything else that you may think might be helpful.

All ideas are welcome.

my email is antonettewalsh@gmail.com
Feel free to contact me there or on here.

Thank you.