more house details

So here's the deal on the house.  The seller is from Colorado, but moved here for a two year assignment for work.  They bought the house, knowing all along that they would sell and move back to Colorado.  It went on the market last Sunday (which is when we saw it), and we would have put an offer in that day, but the seller was out of the country.  Now we're told by the seller's agent that he will start accepting offers next Monday.  They are scheduled to have an open house on Sunday.  So we decided to write a preemptive offer and just make it sweet enough for them to see that it would be easiest to go with us instead of waiting.  I included a letter that let them know some about us, especially that we, too, were from Colorado.  They have til 4pm Saturday to respond.

I feel like if it was any other time or place or situation, we might not be so pushy with a deal like this.  I take that back, we definitely wouldn't be so pushy.  It's the hastiness of everything that is freaking me out! 

But for one, we really do absolutely love the house.  It's in a great location and is beautiful and doesn't need any work (which is good because it's at the top of our budget).  Second and more important, the market is awful for buyers right now (here).  With so few houses on the market, the good ones are being snatched up within a few days after getting multiple offers at well over asking price.  We're trying to avoid that situation as much as possible.  As much as we love the house, we're not going to get into a bidding war.  There will be other houses that come along.  Third and probably most importantly, interest rates are at 3.5% again, and we (Randy especially) are hard pressed to get into a mortgage at that rate before they go up at all.  Leave it to Randy to constantly be thinking about how much more we would pay in interest if it goes up to 3.625%. (p.s. it's a surprising amount!)

So that's the deal.  Our realtor is going to try her absolute best to present our offer in person today.  If the agent and seller completely refuse to even look at it, we have to wait til Monday or even Tuesday.  We're just praying.  I feel surprisingly unemotional about the house.  I guess I'm just sort of prepared to lose it, which is what I do to prevent myself from being let down.  Plus I never really thought we would find a house this nice in our price range anyway.  The bottom line is that we trust that God will provide, and we know He's in control.  If this isn't the house He has for us, there will be another one.  Surprisingly level headed coming from me, right?!
What's that?  You want to see more pictures?  Good idea.

On the side of the house in the backyard.  About where Randy's hand is, there is a lemon tree!

More backyard.  We really love the yard.  It's hard to visualize from this, but there is a path behind those first bushes that leads up to a sitting area with a bench.

Front yard. Really beautiful landscaping.

View from another side of the yard.  One of those trees is an almond tree!

Not a great shot, but this is part of the living room with the sliding doors out to the backyard. Yes, it's west facing.  Good thing it has central air!

Hallway. Original hardwoods throughout.