What a Day...

So, I've just spent my lunch break reading about buying a bank-owned house (a REO). Man, is there a lot to know...I feel overwhelmed about buying a house in general, but this is just a whole different monster.

I asked Justin to make an appointment with our real estate guy to sit down and just flush some things out. We need to have an idea what the other houses in the neighborhood have sold for, and what HE thinks is the lowest offer the bank might consider. I get that we can offer whatever we want, but it would be nice to have a baseline of what the banks have been doing lately.

Not only that, but I'm getting the impression that there are a lot of other costs that no one has told us about. For example, the inspection. I THINK that an inspection was written into closing costs (which we would be proposing that the seller pay), but isn't that usually something that the buyer pays? Wouldn't I WANT to have my own inspector looking at the place? And who can the inspector be? Is it a licensed home-inspector guy (does such a person even exist?)? Or can it be anyone I want--say, my dad?

This is all so overwhelming, and I think I need to buy the above book and sort of wade through it. It's from Nolo, so it should be pretty reputable, right? I hate feeling like I don't know what's going on!

In other news, life is kind of stressful lately. Work is also overwhelming, and I'm just feeling like there aren't enough hours in the day. Between work, Justin's band, trying to deal with this house stuff, DESPERATELY trying to get to the gym, and still see our families and friends... it seems like we have just been going, going, going. I almost feel like I need a vacation where we don't go anywhere, but just stick around home all week!