Sold!

Ok - perhaps the more appropriate question in the previous blog post would have been: Would you buy a house you had never stepped foot in?



I just did.



I don't recommend it for everybody, but it IS conceivable when:

- you have done extensive research on the area in which you want to live, so well that when a new house pops up on MLS and you see the address, you can almost drive to it mentally. You know exactly where it is. You know that the price/sq foot is great for the neighborhood price point. You know how unusual it is to find a 3 car garage (especially in your budget).

- you have an amazing realtor who is a good listener, who knows exactly what you are looking for in a house, who you can trust when he says "I back you on withdrawing your contract - so go for it," who jumps up and immediately goes to the new house and gives you a quick phone call walk through, then returns the next morning to take 83 pictures and emails them to you.

- you trust your husband, and God has granted the two of you incredible unity so that he (your husband) takes your concerns seriously, doesn't present so many nit-picking negatives, and can take a red eye to see the house and video it for you.



So - here's all the ups and downs.



Last week we put on offer on a house we had seen on our trip to Huntsville (we call it "The Red Door House"). We had only spent 10 minutes in it, during which time there was a freak hail storm - so we spent lots of time running around closing the windows for the home owner, and I broke out in hives. The house was incredibly charming and beautiful. It had all the charm of an old house without having 100 yr old electrical and plumbing. It was basically the exact same number of rooms & very similar layout to what we have now, but with a spiral staircase from the loft into the foyer, an indoor laundry, bigger closets, bigger bathrooms and more spacious rooms. The backyard backed up to a community pond/lake which was beautiful, but would require a safety fence for Emma, which would require a tedious approval process from the architectural design committee of the HOA. And it had a small yard and a 2 car garage.

About 10 minutes after our realtor dropped off the contract to the listing agent, the new house popped on the market. In the ideal neighborhood, that we could afford, with a 3 car garage, a big yard, a rec room, a downstairs bedroom, a black & white kitchen (with a double oven no less).

It was a tough call - but at the very last minute (the listing agent was in her car on the way to meet our agent with the signed contract) we withdrew our offer. Scott bought a plane ticket and went to look at both houses. This was risky, because it meant the possibility of losing both houses. In his second visit to The Red Door House Scott he discovered that the homeowner did not have two cats, as we believed, but innumerable cats - including neighborhood toms and feral cats she was feeding in little dishes all around the property. So - maybe the hives weren't a coincidence. God was gracious to prevent us from buying this property.

And - two days later we put on offer on the new house and 36 hours after that (negotiations going on while we were en route to Kansas) we had settled on an agreement with the home owners. SO - unless we find toxic mold - the house is ours! And really - truly - it's pretty close to our dream house.

I am excited, shocked, grateful, grateful, grateful. Why God chooses to bless us with these material things I cannot say, but I would love nothing more than to share - so COME VISIT US!!!! WE HAVE PLENTY OF SPACE.

I am overwhelmed - not looking forward to another entire round of painting and minor home repairs, especially since the 1st 6 months to a year will be financially not as flexible. But - if you look at that master bedroom ceiling, you'll see that something really should be done about that. One funny friend suggested a mirror on the ceiling. Ew GROSS! We are aiming for less tacky - not more tacky.


In the meantime - we're in Kansas - helping Scott's dad prepare to move out of his house and into an assisted living apartment and to prepare his house for sale. Our lives revolve around real estate.

It's a year of constant movement and change. And while I'm excited about that amazing house, which excedes anything I've ever imagined living in, I'm weary.

On that note - it's bedtime. Or, since we have cable here, watch HGTV time: 1st Time Buyers, House Hunters, How Much is My House Worth - yikes even our leisure activities are real-estate oriented. We need to get a life.