everything's bigger in Texas

Even though we've known we were getting relocated since Christmas, we didn't tell too many people because we weren't sure which market it was going to be. But now its officially official!  We' re  heading to Dallas!  Cosmo got an amazing promotion and we're excited to be off on another wonderful adventure! So that's why we were in Dallas for Easter and that's why I flew in last week.

Cosmo has actually been there since the end of March but again, we didn't tell a lot of people because we wanted KJ to get used to the idea on her own and we wanted her to tell her friends when she was ready. Plus we didn't want it to affect her playing time on the lax field or on the volleyball court. 

The Dallas housing market is positively insane right now and incredibly competitive. Homes are receiving multiple, above-asking offers within hours of hitting the market. Because this is not our first rodeo (see what I did there?), I was confident Cosmo would do the initial groundwork and KJ & I would fly in, put an offer on the best of the bunch and that would be that. Yeah.  That didn't happen.  Cosmo was busting his hump to look at houses the minute they were listed and presented 3 offers on 3 different houses in our target area over the last 6 weeks. He was getting so frustrated so at the last minute he called in the big guns (me). 

Thank God my parents were back in PA and were able to drop everything and stay with KJ!  I flew to Dallas Wednesday morning and by lunch time I was hitting the streets with our realtor. It was a very disappointing day and was beginning to understand Cosmo's frustration. Thursday was a better day. Several houses had hit the MLS that day and Keith had appointments set up.

I've kind of lost count of how many addresses we've had since we've been married and obviously every house has been different as far as square footage, layout, quality of materials, etc. but nothing had really prepared me for Dallas. First of all, there are no basements.  That is just so bizarre to me. Also, almost every house we looked at had a study. We don't need a study.  Cosmo doesn't work out of the house and has a very nice office at his place of employment thank you very much.  And game room / media rooms on the 2nd level are big in Dallas. Which is great. Since there's not a finished basement, we need someplace for KJ and her new friends to hang out.  And the house had to have a pool. And be in our target area.

So we saw a house we both fell in love with Thursday afternoon. We loved the layout, the updated kitchen and masterbath and the backyard was a tropical oasis. We were the first ones to view the house. And then we saw another house that was going to be our back-up if house #1 didn't pan out.  Both houses were expecting multiple offers and were not going to make a decision until Monday evening, after their weekend open houses. On Friday we sat in Keith's office and finalized our offers for both houses. I flew back to BWI Saturday evening somewhat dejected and not very hopeful.

Sunday was Mother's Day and KJ made me a delicious pancake breakfast and my folks headed back home. Cosmo called me later that afternoon and said "soooo, how do you feel about owning a home in Texas??" I was pretty shocked because we weren't supposed to know anything until late Monday and there was always a chance our offer wouldn't even be accepted.

So now things are moving right along. We submitted a good, solid offer and there wasn't any need for additional negotiating.  Yesterday was the inspection and we're looking at a mid-June close!!