The Holmes Family: A House :-)

The housing market in Washington D.C. is incredibly expensive, even with the recent crisis. Brad and I have been actively looking for a home since last fall to not much avail. We wanted to find a home that we REALLY liked but also wasn't too far from Brad's work. In this search, we discovered that there is a bus in Germantown (it is about 8 miles north of where we currently live) that goes directly from the shopping center Milestone to the NIH campus. The estimated commute is 30 to 35 minutes, which is nearly identical to the commute Brad does now by car! Also, we have always liked the city of Germantown, because of the library, Chick-fil-A, Butler's Orchard, Aldi's and all the other amenities with being a little further north and more in the "country". A side note, we have also explored living even further north in Clarksburg, the houses are newer (but have higher & even "hidden" taxes) and the schools are good but it made me sick to my stomach thinking of Brad spending all that time to get to and from work every day.

All this to say, we had settled on mostly looking in Germantown for a home but then we were faced with the dilemma that not all of the schools in Germantown have the best reputation. But just last week, Brad found a house that was a short sale that was in a good school cluster (we may be still homeschooling but want to have the option of being in a "good school") and was in close proximity to the bus and was in good condition!!! We have looked at several short sales/ foreclosures over the past few months and most all of them they are in terrible condition. And we did not want to tackle a project like that with having three little ones at home. So this house has felt like an answered prayer. In the four days that it was on the market, there were 7 offers given, including ours! We were not the highest offer and there was another offer identical to ours BUT we were CHOSEN!!! Our realtor personally knows the other realtor and was able to speak on our behalf and tell her that we were willing and able to wait for the bank approval! We are THRILLED that our offer was chosen and we are continuiing to pray that God will open and close doors for this house. But we already feel like His hand has been upon us getting this far in the process. More good news is that we have read that 2011 is a good time to buy a home in D.C. (read here). We just now have to wait and wait... we are hoping and praying that interest rates do not go up too high in the coming months.

I do not want to put the cart before the horse, and get carried away with telling you everything I love about the house. Instead I will wait until we find out for sure if we are going to get it or not!!! We would appreciate your prayers. :-)

20603 SUMMER SWEET TER, GERMANTOWN, MD 20876

PROPERTY DETAILS

Light and Bright home. Lots of windows. 9 foot ceilings on the main floor. Gourmet kitchen with 42 inch cabinets and center island. Entertainment sized dining room. Trex style deck off of kitchen and family room. Family room with built in storage and bookcases. Huge master suite with 2 walk in closets. Laundry upstairs 4th bedroom has built ins.