House: Our Search... and Find

June 12, 2010

We talked with Barb Bone today on our way down to Ft. Walton. She is helping with our loan. She told us what we are approved for. It is quite surprising. Her and Jeremy talked most of the time because I was a little confused on all the language. Jeremy knows his stuff so I let him be in control!

June 30-July 1, 2010

Jeremy has been looking at houses. He found one we really like.

July 25, 2010

Over the summer we fell in love with a house in a nearby subdivision on Jubilee Trail. We found it at the end of June at SuperWOW. When we got home from SuperWOW for the day and a half I was home. We went to see it a few times and peaked in the windows. It was on almost an acre, so Maverick would have room to play. Jeremy even got to go in the house with our realtor, Julie, while I was on vacation with my parents. He filmed it so I could see the inside and made a little video for me.

Now, I don't do well with change, so thinking about a house often scares me. I have even cried when I have thought about moving. It's really funny to think I have done that because I cried when Jeremy said we were going to live in the cottage for a while. I think the essence is just change. I get a little emotional when it's something out of the normal. This is probably why I eat the same thing for lunch every day and like a schedule. While at the beach with his family, he wanted me to read Our Iceberg is Melting to help me understand how to deal with change. Anyway, back to the house. The first time I went over there, I was at peace. I could see us living there. I really liked the kitchen. I thought I could really cook in this kitchen. Now that's funny too, because I don't cook much now. I love to cook, but I don't. I think it may be our small little kitchen. I don't know if I don't feel like it's "mine" or what. Instead, Jeremy's been the one that has cooked most of the time. I will however cook up at the rents house. It's strange I know. The house is a 4 bedroom/ 3 1/2 bath. The only real worry we had about the house was the hill. It was a little steep in front of the house, but Jeremy said he didn't care. We even took our parents over there. Cindy was all excited about doing some landscape changes. Gary talked about replacing the wood shingles on top of two windows. Since we've had a crazy summer we have been periodically checking to make sure the house was still there because 90 days on the market scared us. When we were at the beach with Jeremy's family, Jeremy called our realtor, Julie, on Tuesday. She said the house was still available. Phew...

We came home early on Friday (July 23). Jeremy decided to call her to see if we could go into the house. She called back and told us it was under contract and would be closed on the next week. WOW! Within a few days the house was under contract. That's a fast turn around. Needless to say, my heart dropped. I had already thought way too much about THIS house. We planned to put in bookshelves in one of the front rooms. We have even looked at refrigerators. When tears came to my eyes, I had to push them back.

We have both been praying about this house and a house. I prayed at the beach about this specific one. I remember really wanting to make sure this was the one, so I prayed that God would close the door if it was not the one He wanted. During the trip I was also reading Radical, a book by David Platt. One of the key points of the book talks about how we as Christians have fallen into the "American Dream" trap. We no longer are doing as Jesus commanded. Instead, we have settled for a comfortable life where there's basically no risk. We buy all this stuff and there are people living on less than one dollar every day. I became brokenhearted. Before we found the house we really liked, Jeremy took me to a house I didn't really like. It was small and not very cute. Jeremy didn't like it either, but he had been listening to some of Platt's messages and really wanted to be wise with the house. We don't necessarily need a big house. It's just us and Maverick. We don't know when/if we will have kids so a huge house would just cause us to buy more stuff. We even questioned the possibility of having people live with us, whether it be missionaries or newlyweds, but we are open to possibilitieslike this because we want to be wise with the house. We have the funds, but we just want to make sure the huge purchase is where God wants us. I know we often hear about "God's will" but I'm confident God is going to open our eyes to the house he wants us in because we are seeking Him. If the house actually doesn't close, that's probably a small miracle! Right now I'm going to be content. I'm in no rush to move. We've been here 3 years already and gotten a little attached to this place. I know we want something we can call our own, but we don't want to rush the timing. In addition, we've been praying about Jeremy having a full time job. Maybe not having this house is a blessing because maybe soon he will be offered a full time job somewhere else. We don't really know what the Lord has in store, but we will patiently wait.

August 25, 2010

We went to look in one of our favorite neighborhoods the other day. Stone Haven is a subdivision off of New Hope. We have loved the houses in there since they were first built. They were out of our price range and what we needed, but still liked them. They helped give us ideas about what we liked. The houses are close together, but we could deal with it if needed. Well, the other day we decided to go back in there because they have dropped the prices dramatically. They were $300,000+ houses, now they are high $100,000s. We liked the houses yet again and were reminded of why we liked them so much. They are open, have a nice kitchen, and some neat features on the inside. Needless to say, Jeremy found out they were under contract. Sigh... I told the Bible study girls about our house search and about believing God is in control about the whole situation. Why would all the houses be under contract like this?!

Saturday, August 28, 2010

We drove around for a few hours today looking at houses. We drove all over. I already get tired when I ride in cars! This search is going to be a long one.

Thursday-Saturday, September 2-4, 2010 (Stone Gate Park)

Jeremy told me Thursday night that a house we had been looking at for a while was going to be foreclosed on Tuesday. He showed me pictures of the house and we drove by the house. We decided he would go look at the inside the following morning with Julie our real estate agent. He said we would probably have to put an offer on it that day to get it before the foreclosure. I agreed. We had written off this house because it originally sold for $320. This week they went down on their price. It was still more expensive than we would like, but it's beautiful. The family is in denial they are about to get foreclosed on and were trying to do a short sale on it. He is a plumber, they have two kids, and some dogs. They have really customized the house and it looks great. Others have looked at the house but are waiting to put an offer on it until it becomes a foreclosure because they think they can get a better deal. Right now the house is in great shape. Jeremy and Julie toured through the house on Friday and Jeremy ended up coming up to the school and asked me to sign all kinds of papers so we could put anoffer in. He came during lunch. He showed me a video of his tour of the house and then I signed. The offer even said we get to keep the appliances. The bank didn't call back, so right now we don't know if they are going to take our offer or not. We then got an appointment for Saturday morning so I could finally meet Julie and see the house. It is a beautiful house. The colors are perfect. It already has a fenced in backyard with a really cool fireplace. It is flat which is great! I would even be able to put up a basketball goal!! It is open and has a great kitchen. We are praying about whether or not this is the house or not. We love it and could definitely see ourselves there. It is close to my school, but not to far from Hebron and Grace. It's in a quiet little neighborhood called Stone Gate. I'm trying not to let my hopes get high though, so I don't want to think about it too much.

Here are some pictures of it.

Monday, September 13, 2010

So, Jeremy got a call today from Julie. He talked with her last week and she said they foreclosed on the house so I guess the bank didn't look at our offer because it was so late. I have stopped thinking about it because I know there is nothing I can do. Today Julie called Jeremy and said the attorney is not letting anyone else put an offer on the house and we are the primary buyers right now. No one can step ahead of us. The bank is moving slow so it could take up to 60 days for anything to happen. We can back out if the owners do something crazy to the house. It makes my heart sink to think of what they could do to the house. I love it like it is and am afraid. I'm not going to worry. I'm trusting in God. He knows if this is it or not. Julie said to keep looking just in case something does happen to it and they mess it up to a point we don't like it any more.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

I had a dream about the house last night. It shows me I'm a little scared about what the owners might do to the house once they leave.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

We have gotten to take some of our friends by the house. I am getting ready for something big.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

I had a friend text me last weekend and said she took her husband by "our" house. I think it's funny others are calling it our house. Jeremy's still looking at other houses though. At Bible study this week, we were doing prayer requests and I said the house. My friend put it on the joy side of the requests. It makes me laugh because I think of it as a concern in terms on the people leaving it in poor shape. We are still not getting our hopes up high. Praying still...

Friday, October 8, 2010

Since we were told to keep looking at other houses while we are in the waiting period, we went and looked at another house today. The house is in a neighborhood we have gone in a few times in the past month. Wheatfield Reserves is the subdivision. There are some really nice houses in there, however many of them are without a backyard. This house just went into foreclosure. It is a nice house, but now we are comparing everything to the "other" house, the one in Stone Gate. This one has a keeping room, a little pond in the backyard, and a desk in the kitchen which are neat additions. The closet in the master is also bigger. There would have to be more work done on this house though. We are definitely keeping it in mind if something happens with this other house.

We also locked in an interest rate today. Jeremy had a feeling we needed to call Barb so we did. The interest rate was extremely low and ended up going back up a few hours later after we locked it in. We did a 45 day lock in. We don't know if we will even be able to close by then, but we are taking a shot at it. If not, we can either pay to extend the rate for more days or just lose it. We are thankful for little moments of success. It makes us realize we may be getting close.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Jeremy subbed today at the school with Jana. The past few days on my way to school I've tried to strain my neck to see if the house was empty. Well on the way home from school today I just thought about it and asked Jeremy if we could stop by. We did, and it's empty now. There was an eviction letter on the door. All their stuff was gone out of the house and some of the bushes had been cut in the front. I stayed in the car, but Jeremy said it looks like it is in good shape. They took the refrigerator and so they probably took the dishwasher too. It's sad to know the people had to leave and that makes my heart hurt, but I also am excited and looking forward to the coming weeks because we don't know what will happen.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Well, our offer was accepted. We went to our loan officer's house tonight to sign some papers. We will be able to close on November 22. YAHOO!! It's so nice to know our loan officer. I always dreaded getting a house in terms of having to take off work. I am thankful I have a husband who's schedule is flexible and some wonderful Christians that are helping us during this process.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

The house inspector came today. He said things look great. There is a little water in the crawl space because their dog dug up the butterfly bush and some water ran down there. Also, in one of the closets, he said a globe needs to be around the lightbulb. Other than these things, he said there's not too much to worry about. Jeremy got to see the 7 zone sprinkler in all its glory today. Who knew there was such a thing?! My custodians have been collecting boxes for me. We are just waiting to make sure everything with the loan goes through and then we can pack up.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

We went and picked out a refrigerator tonight. We went to Fry's and the refrigerator we liked was one of the ones on sale for the week. The sale ended tonight so we got the deal just in time because the price was going back up tomorrow. We got to the store around 7:30 and found which one we liked. After some debating, we ended up walking out of the store at 8:58 after having purchased the refrigerator. We made it out 2 minutes before it closed. It was a close call but we are excited about our grown up purchase. This deal was just one more thing we are thanking God for.

We are getting an appraisal done right now. It should take a few days. The underwriters are still at work on all our paperwork for the loan.

Last Sunday, my sisters and their families were able to go in the house and check it out. The kids were running all over the place. Cary came up with jobs for Stacy while Daphne found the best place for a Christmas tree! It was so fun to have everyone there at once. Some of my Bible study girls have asked to see it too and I took them over there after school. My chiropractor, massage therapist, and chiropractor's receptionist have lots of fun talking about the house with me! The receptionist, Brooke, is super excited and wants to come over! I'm still afraid to pack up the cottage because I don't know if we will get to close on the 22nd. Jeremy's already said I can't help move because of my back. I told him I'd pack up the stuff, since it's the least I can do!

Saturday, November 20, 2010

I've been packing since Wednesday. My wonderful custodians have been saving boxes for me. Dr. Rod told me my back was really tight on Thursday. It makes sense. I did a little too much on Wednesday as I packed our books. The appraisal came in and it is appraised for more than we are getting the house for, so we don't have to go through the negotiations again and figure out a price. We get to close on Monday at 10:00.