A step in the right direction...

We did it. We made an offer on a house (ahem, townhome)! It's in a great neighborhood, has 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, a deck and fenced-in back yard and a finished basement with a big family room, and office and a laundry room. That's the good news. The might-be-good-but-might-be-bad news is that it is a "short sale", which, for the non-real estate savvy of you, basically means that the seller is close to foreclosure, owes more on the property than it is worth, and has been approved by the bank to sell it (at a loss to the bank) before foreclosure actually takes place. This could be good because since the seller and the bank want to avoid foreclosure, we could possibly get a great deal. It could be bad, because since our offer has to be approved not only by the seller, but also by the bank, it could take a long time to go through (or could not go through at all)...basically the opposite of what you would think the term "short sale" means. So this is definitely not an announcement that we've bought a house, but simply that we have taken the first step in what is hopefully the right direction. This is the place...
We really like it, so keep your fingers crossed for us that everything will work out!