You'd think we'd have the pick of the litter in a market like this. But we went out with our wonderful realtor, Ms. Carol Chapman, and looked at 10, count 'em, 10 houses in a single day, finding just a single one we could even consider buying. Sadly, many of the houses people couldn't afford to keep weren't affordable to maintain either. After starting a bidding war with our last losing offer, we're jumping on this one with a smidgen of hesitation. It needs some work, but it's solid and meets our primary requirement of being highly sellable in 5 years when we leave Michigan.Next step is to qualify for a subsidized Michigan first-time homebuyer's mortgage. With just 3% down and a 5.625% interest rate in a market that lists more like 6.5%, we're glad to be able to get this special loan.
