How Did All This Happen??

So, lots has been going on in the housing arena for us lately. Since it seems to change on a day to day basis I have been hesitant to post much about it. Plus, it is a huge source of stress for both Deaner and myself and I feel like it is constantly something we are both worrying about. We came to Germany hoping to buy a house so that we could turn our housing allowance into tangible equity. Once we got here we realized that this was going to be a more confusing task than we first thought. We went through a phase when we thought it might just be easier to rent. I spent practically every day going to housing looking for suitable apartments/condos/houses and there just wasn't a lot to choose from. That was when we were turned on to this company here in Wiesbaden that renovates old apartment buildings. Seemingly, it was a dream come true and we LOVED the apartment. I could not have been more excited. They told us it would take between 2-4 weeks to obtain financing but that it wouldn't be a problem at all. Deaner and I submitted all the requested documentation and sat back and waited. We started to get concerned when we didn't hear from them for several weeks. The turning point in our excitement was when we received an e-mail from our architect saying that there was a problem with the bank. She told us that the bank would be more comfortable financing us if we could provide proof that Deaner has worked for the U.S. Government IN GERMANY since 2001!! She said that since we had told her that we VISITED Germany last summer technically it would not be a lie! WHAT?? HELLO??? Last time I checked, going on vacation to a country DOES NOT mean that you lived and worked there! Deaner was livid and of course told her that he would not do anything of the sort.

After all that garbage went down we pretty much wrote them off. They requested a meeting with us last week (even though we had already been looking at another place) and they told us that they had in fact obtained financing for us. Except the whole thing was a little weird. The loan was for 10 years longer than we originally discussed AND it paid off a lot more slowly than we thought it would. After the meeting we decided that we needed to explore other avenues. I'm pretty sad about it. We have found another house that we are probably about to make an offer to buy. I didn't like it much when I first went to see it but we saw it again today for the 2nd time and it is growing on me. It is outside the city which is something I am very nervous about. I really wanted to be in Wiesbaden but the reality is that there just isn't anything to buy in the city that we can afford. We don't want to over extend ourselves because we want to have money to travel while we are here overseas. The bottom line is that this 2nd house will be a much smarter choice for us. It is just hard to accept that I am going from my DREAM apartment to a house that currently has Huey, Duey, and Louie painted on the walls!! Yes folks, that right, those ducks are PAINTED RIGHT ON THE WALL! Deaner continues to reassure me that we can paint them right away but still.........

Today we met with the owners of the house in Hattenheim again. I liked the house a lot more today since I was really trying to envision it with our things in it. First good thing about the house is that it is huge. It is 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms and almost 3,000sq. ft. For Germany, this is BIG. Second good thing is that the kitchen was pretty new. Third good thing is that there are 3 balconies! The cons are will be obvious when you see the pictures I am going to post. Almost everything needs to be painted. I hate all the colors in the house. I am not thrilled about the carpeting in the bedrooms. Again, the colors are hideous. I don't know who picks out carpeting in GOLDENROD yellow and ROYAL blue? Supposedly it was also really expensive. And last, but not least, I do not love the bathrooms. They definitely are acceptable but they aren't anything that I would have picked. Unfortunately bathrooms are pretty expensive to renovate and I am not sure we will ever get to those! Here are a few pictures. First, the dining room area.Attached to the dining area is the den area. It is a nice open area and the den is a few steps above the dining room.Kitchen area.........Master Bedroom and 3 guest bedrooms.There is also a loft space above the dining room area. I'm not sure what we will put up there but we will see.Anyways, enough pictures for now. There is a lot more to see. I'm just praying that it all works out. Deaner and I will have plenty to do ripping out carpeting and painting head to toe. I'm sure we will have plenty of pictures to share. Just need to get the place secured first!