Details

So. The low-down. The house is located in the town of Montverde, to the north-east of Clermont. It's in a neighborhood which is maybe 40 homes tucked away on 3 cul-de-sac streets. There are lots of big old pine trees and everyone has 1/2 to 1 acre of land.

The house is just under 2000 square feet, with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a den. There's an open dining room, family room, and a breakfast nook off of the kitchen. At the back is a screened, roofed lanai and an open slab patio. The yard backs up to a drainage area, small stand of trees, and 2 cows.

The major fault with the house is that the living area smells strongly of dog. It's not a huge deal to us, since we planned to replace the carpet anyway. Other than that, the house appears to be in good shape.

The front of the house, from the street:
The entryway, dining room, and den:
The family room:
The kitchen and breakfast nook:
The kitchen from the other side:
Master bedroom:
Master bath:
Side yard, looking toward the back:
The backyard:

I'd seen this neighborhood before, and really liked it. But Montverde's prices are pretty high because of a very upscale community that bought up a bunch of land during the boom and is slowly building out. So all the houses were listed way out of our price range. I get daily reports from realtor.com, though, and when this house popped up out of our range -- but at least closer -- I immediately emailed our realtor for details.

We saw the house 6 days after it went on the market. The virtual tour photographer had only just been through the house. We liked it, but knew it was way above our price range. So we talked to our realtor about ways to make our offer more appealing other than the price.

JJ and I slept on it, and the next morning we decided that our only reservation about the house was the price. So we ran our finances, figured out how much we could comfortably afford, and shrugged our shoulders and decided it was worth a shot.

It took 2 hours this afternoon to write up the offer (Atlee was a great little trooper). We offered something we're pretty comfortable at and we thought was high enough to be interesting, but was still WAY LOW. Although we didn't have much leeway beyond that number, all of us expected quite a bit of back-and-forth negotiations. Other than the price, we did what we could to make the offer appealing -- quick closing, solid down payment, low repair threshold.

Our realtor faxed off the offer, requiring their reply by noon the next day. JJ, Atlee, and I headed off to do some shopping about 20 minutes away.

About 30 minutes later while I was sitting in the car in the parking lot, watching Atlee sleep, our realtor called. She asked if we could put more money into the escrow account. I replied that I imagined that we could, but what would that get us? Would they start negotiations?

"A house," she replied.

They had verbally accepted the offer, as long as we put more money into escrow to prove that we were serious and wouldn't walk away. We were all -- including our realtor -- stunned. We got a house for way under asking, way way under the second-cheapest house in the neighborhood's asking, and way way WAY under the only house to sell in the neighborhood in 2006 and 2007.

So, now what? Well, it's all still verbal until we see the signed papers, which should be tonight or tomorrow. On Monday, we call and schedule inspections for Wednesday and start getting paperwork to the lending company. After that, I think most of what happens doesn't involve us until closing on February 29th. Then we're homeowners!