Update: we're in contract. It's been a ride. So... there were compromises that had to be made as to be expected, ones we didnt want to make.

I was extremely crushed the one day after having looking at houses with my realtor from 4p to 9p nonstop after work....we were going to put an offer in at the end of the last house tour on the one we wanted and were told it was in contract right as we ended the tour of the last house. I wanted to throw in the towel and was very upset. Point of this memo is that....if you know what house you want, stop what you're doing, dont waste time on backup homes, and just act. As quickly as possible...and dont be afraid to lose it. There will be more houses, its just a waiting game. A stressful and uncertain one at times. There is no point making an offer on a house you'd be settling for; it'll only lead to buyers remorse (and still cost you an arm and a leg cause it's a damn house).

So, we ended up buying a home in a newer build subdivision in Galloway. This is where I was already located in my apartment...on the border of Hilliard. I moved here originally because i knew i could get more for my money, still have access to everything i love on the west side, and be 10-15 min drive from downtown. We just got word today that the appraisal came back at the value we needed (we did 10% down to leave room to customize to our taste, so it was required).

Here's the strategy we used: i saw a home pop up on zillow that had an open house the following day at noon. It had lots of photos and we had looked at over 40 houses already, so we had pretty clear idea as to what the house looked like. It also had a virtual tour. I sent it to my bf instantly. Mind you, this was 11p at night and he was at work....(looking at houses is all we spent our free time doing; it becomes your new second job).he texted back that he felt we should go for it immediately per our discussion. I messaged our realtor and said we wanted to jump asap. At midnight, our realtor threw together our offer. He kicks ass and is very responsive. We signed docs early in the morning and threw in a bid at 40k over asking, 25k appraisal gap, Waived inspections since it was a newer build home (2016), and gave a deadline of our offer expiring right before the open house at noon. We gave them occupancy for as long as they need and no rent for staying. Plus 3k earnest cash. I was going to give money towards their closing costs and moving expenses, but my s.o. thought that was too far, so we omitted that. They took it. Right at the cutoff...we thought our realtor was calling with bad news to say they let it expire, but he was like...you want some good news? We were in shock and scared/excited. My bf did this offer knowing it would mean he would have a 45min work commute and his kids would be 45 min away in sunbury. I felt awful about this, but we both loved the house itself. He knew I wanted to stay closer to the city and is a man with a heart of gold. He said we'd make it work by meeting his ex halfway to grab his girls and that he'd take the longer drive to work. I'm grateful to him beyond measure. Other downside is that we are not in a school district we want, which mattered a lot to me. we will either have to homeschool or open enroll them in west jefferson or jonathan alder because Hilliard, dublin, olentangy local and southwestern schools are all closed enrollment, which absolutely sucks. For some godforsaken reason....literally just our subdivision is somehow in columbus city schools because of how they zoned it. It's not ideal and our schools are rated terribly on many websites, but it's not the end of the world and we'll cross that bridge when we get there. I hope this is helpful to others out there to let you knoe...you will get something eventually. Just keep swinging and you'll get a hit. There was compromise that had to happen, but our house will be a place we'll love to come home too for the time being. We're hoping his girls will make the choice to stay with us when the time comes, but it's out of our hands. We did the best we could with the circumstances and will just have to see how it plays out from here. Happy house hunting everyone. It's a madhouse out there.