matt

This past weekend we went house hunting around South Orlando and to our surprise, we found one we liked. We found a sub division that is being built (well, it's nearly all built) and we found a lot we really like. Basically, it will be a two story, 2100 square foot, 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 2 car garage home that has a pond in our backyard inside a gated community. We've been doing research on the whole thing and it all sounds pretty good. So good that we've put a deposit down and Thursday will be the big day. On Thursday we'll go and fully decide to buy or not.

To be honest, I didn't expect to find a house I liked this quickly. It took us weeks before I could decide on a living room set I could live with but when I saw this community and the floor plans and the house, I was really impressed and knew instantly that this was the house for us. I've been to the area about 4 times now and when I was there yesterday, I had a moment to look out from the porch of the model home to the pond, a view that our house will have, and thought to myself "Yes, this is where I want to be and this is the place I want to raise a family". It's beautiful and I'm hoping things go our way so we can sign for it on Thursday.

Yesterday I met with the realtor for 3.5 hours to negotiate, although not much was negotiated. The builder is firm on the price and what comes. The way it works is they include the "bare bones" and you add on only what you want, which is a good idea. The issue is everyone says we should haggle over the price but I spent literally 3.5 hours arguing every point I could think of as to why we should get something extra, be it some more wiring or some money off the price. On Thursday we'll hear more back as to if any of our requests will go through but I have my doubts. Regardless, I do believe it's a great price for what we're getting and I'd be happy with the product we have. Hopefully things will work out, but we'll have to wait and see.