We put an offer on a house

We put an offer in yesterday for this house. It is a pre-foreclosure. Needs new flooring, paint is in great shape but I don't like the color, change kitchen counters and possibly paint cabinets, reface them or replace them. There are 4 bedrooms upstairs and almost a full finished basement. One area we will turn into another bedroom with a walk in closet (Julia's request). The basement has a full bathroom which will be nice for her.

There was another offer put in on the same house yesterday. It is a bargain...we went a little higher than the first offer. We shall see. We are not going to turn this into a bidding war. We'll just go find something else.

The inside layout is very nice. 20' entryway and formal living room. There is a dining room that we will most likely turn into a music room. The kitchen is a decent size; much bigger than what I have. It is a considered a gourmet kitchen because of the double oven (convection on the top oven!). It has a glass electric cook top. If/when we redo the kitchen I will have that changed to gas. There is also an office on the main floor. I can't remember the bathroom on the main floor. All of the "tile" in the house is vinyl. We will replace that. White tile in the entry...it would have been nice to have the wood floor go all of the way through from the kitchen to the entry. Something to think about. There is a family room with a fire place off of the kitchen/eating area.

The upstairs has generous sized rooms. The kids room are larger than Jenna's, but smaller than Kerst/Kendall's room. Jack and Jill full sized bathroom for 2 of the rooms upstairs. The other room has a very nice sized full size bath. The master bedroom isn't as large as what we have here, but is a nice size. The bathroom is a decent size...not as insanely large as some of the other homes we previously saw (as large as the master bedroom). It also has a fireplace (two sided) in the master bedroom and bathroom. The master bedroom suites in a lot of the houses take up half of the entire upstairs. I think that is insane. Maybe because I am too busy to spend time in the bathroom.

The basement is 80% finished. It looks like they had a room set up for game tables. Funky lights (crystals on the ceiling light). Plumbing for a "soda fountain". We will most likely put a kid in that room until we finish one of the two unfinished areas as a bedroom. Full bathroom in the basement. Large nook off of the stairs in the basement for a computer area. There are also 2 areas in the basement that are kind of odd spaces. Not sure what to do with those areas...one could be for entertainment/media. If we get the contract and close on this home...I sure could use some advice!

Our realtor suggested painting the cabinets. She said that a 3 layered paint roughed up is really neat. Kind of like what Brooke did in their flip house. She said she has seen some cabinets painted black with a red and mustard paint underneath. When you rough up the edges, the other colors show through. That would probably look pretty sharp. We want to paint the trim in the house. It is wood, but seems to be a little rough in some spots (animals/dogs?). I would like white trim anyway to make the colors pop more. The wood on the window sills are rough too...paint...

It is an exciting opportunity. I also like the price compared to the other homes we are considering. It would be a dream to build, but my frugal side kicks in...thanks dad and mom.

There is a hot tub in the back...next reunion at our house, that will be the bathtub for the kids. ;o)