Here's one of the reasons:
This is our new house.
We've lived here for about two weeks now. It has been a crazy-busy time that started in May.
One day in late April, I told Matt I kept feeling a nag in my spirit that we needed to move closer to our church and the people. Then I asked if it would be okay for me to "casually look." He said yes.
You see, last year we met a married couple who are Realtors. Some friends gave us the lead when we thought we might buy last summer. We set up an appointment, talked with them at length and both felt strongly afterward that if we were to buy here at some point, we'd use them. Shortly thereafter, they set us up on their online listing of homes currently on the market and the wife invited me as a friend on Facebook.
Since the online system generated an email of new listings every day, I discontinued the activity last year when we decided it wasn't the right time. Fortunately, I retained a copy of the link and my password, so in 5 minutes I was able to get online and change my search criteria to see the houses currently available in the area and in the price range we wanted. I also began receiving the daily email updates again.
After a couple of weeks of perusing the listings and looking at the houses on the daily update of new listings, one house caught my eye. We already knew what area we wanted to live, but there weren't many homes available in the area, much less in our price range.
It happened to be a Sunday afternoon when I saw the house online. When Matt came down after his nap :), I showed him the house and asked if it'd be alright for me to go look at it. He said yes.
I contacted the lady Realtor through Facebook and she replied immediately, saying she'd set up an appointment to see that one and a few others that week. For comparison's sake I agreed to look at others, but thought the one I was interested in would be it or we wouldn't be ready to buy. It was a location/price range issue.
We looked Wednesday afternoon at six houses. The first one she showed me was the most expensive, of course, and happened to be in her neighborhood. As we walked around she asked what I didn't like about the house, I told her there really wasn't anything I didn't like, except the kitchen (being all white) and the price :) Of course, I told her I loved the layout of the kitchen, but that my taste is more along the lines of dark wood, stainless steel, granite countertops, ceramic tile...a richer, weightier look. Otherwise, I liked it very well. It just so happened that the floor plan was the same one as her house!
Afterward we looked at four others, each with the price creeping a little lower toward the one I saw online; the one that lured me to look in the first place. I didn't like this one because it was a flagged lot (they put houses in funny places when land is costly). I didn't like that one because it was semi-detached. I didn't like another one because of the floor plan. No. No. No. Definitely No. When I looked at the last one, let me just say it looked a lot better online. The floor plan was so broken up the house looked WAY smaller than it was. It looked no bigger than my home in TN and it was almost double the size in square footage! I warned my Realtor in advance that I'm a floor plan snob and I felt I proved it on that tour. :)
Before I looked that day, I told God that I needed Him to "wow" me with the house He wanted us to have. That I needed to love it in order to know what He wanted for us. By the end, I was telling our Realtor that we weren't sure we were going to buy now anyway. That I really needed to love one of them to be willing to move forward and I just didn't. That our budget might be a little too tight for buying in the area we want and we'd be fine with waiting.
She began gently talking about interest rates starting to move up. I heard "buying power" and knew she was talking straight with me because in one year with higher interest rates our buying power may not be any better than it is now. The only thing I knew to do at that point was to head home and give it some thought. With not much on the market in the area we want and the economic environment being right, I sure wasn't willing to settle.
As I drove home, mulling it all over, I told God, "Well, I guess you don't want us to buy now. I asked you to 'wow' me with the home you have for us and I was not at all 'wowed,'...wait a minute, yes I was. That first one. I really loved that one...but you didn't 'wow' me with the price!" lol
At that point, I called my parents and told them about my house hunting venture. When I got home, I began crunching numbers and found that we actually could afford the house...that I hadn't taken everything into account. Matt and I discussed it that night. We went over the budget and tried to think of any and everything that would cost more or be an extra expense with that house in that location. The location we wanted.
Each day for the next week, it was a back and forth proposition. Yes we can afford it. Oh, I forgot about xyz. No we can't. Oh wait, yes we can. Whew. But then I forgot about this...we can't. Actually, that works out too. One by one, day by day, something came up that seemed to crush it and then it worked out when we reviewed the actual cost to our budget.
To review the timeline, on Sunday I saw the house online, on Wednesday I saw it in person, (we went to Indiana for the weekend), on the next Tuesday Matt saw it, by that Thursday we made an offer and on Friday it was accepted (1 hour before we left for Memphis for the weekend). Yes, dear friends, start to finish we had a contract on a house in less than two weeks while taking two weekend trips in the midst of it. God has an interesting sense of humor ;)
It moved that quickly for two reasons. The sellers were motivated to close by the end of June because they'd already moved out and were ready to avoid another house payment (a total loss on the interest portion). We were motivated to move by the end of June because our lease would run out then and the timing seemed perfect based on a nearly clear calendar for June (a rarity for us). Since we were obligated to put in our notice that Friday by midnight to be out at the end of June, we had to get word from the sellers quickly as we negotiated the price. Really, folks, God worked out every detail. It was amazing.
During the month of June, there was A LOT of packing (almost 200 boxes people; we have A LOT of stuff) and there was A LOT of attending to details. Changes of address, transitioning services, logistics planning, etc. I was even called in to work the whole week before we moved! (I'm a very, very part time temp who fills in when Matt's admin is on vacation and she took off that week, last minute!)
My parents came out for a week and helped finish the packing, helped unpack the first things we'd need and set that up (kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms), helped clean the new place and fix up the old before we turned over the keys. We had people in and out of the old place looking at it for the possibility of renting it after we were gone. It was utter craziness. In the end, we settled in very well, very quickly at the new house (Thanks to Mom and Dad!) and I've since heard that there are new renters (we met and liked) at the old place so we get back our full deposit. I think they moved in a couple days after we left.
Have I said yet how God took care of everything?!?! It's unbelievable sitting here now, in our new living room (den, family room, main room...whatever you call it), thinking back on the last 6 weeks and what an amazingly blessed whirlwind we somehow found ourselves caught up.
When we took the plunge, the only lingering issue was the length of Matt's commute. I checked with him yesterday, once again, to see how it's going. He said, "It takes 20-30 minutes to get there. I haven't been timing it exactly, but it's definitely shorter than the commute before...as long as traffic keeps moving like it has so far." Eeeek! I can't tell you how thrilled I was to hear that. Even his commute is shorter now! Whoohoo!! And I'm hearing much talk of this thing called "working more from home." Eeeeeeek!!!!
As you can imagine, I have much more to tell you. Pictures to show you. Ideas and plans I have for making this place our own. And yes, I've already been shopping. A new house requires new organization and thus new tools/equipment. :)
If I can find time amidst the routine chores, setting up the house, finishing new projects, spending time mid-week with friends who are closer now, shopping for things to fill in the gaps (curtains and rods alone, whew!; we have many more windows here), having servicemen over to give estimates/do work and fitting in all of our summer traveling, I'll keep you filled in on the latest. That made me tired just thinking about it.
Needless to say, I'm having to determine to pace myself and prioritize well. Let me just say, though I want one, I can't imagine doing this with a baby or pregnant. Kudos to all of you who have.
Here's to blessed new beginnings on the other side of the bay.
