Our New Home

 Well finally after 16 years in a mobile home I bought my first house. I absolutely LOVE it. I didn't have to move, I could take my time and find a home I loved. Sure the trailer needed work but just normal cosmetic stuff and some subflooring work. But all in all it was a nice little place. That was my first home. That was the place I "saved" my kids. But that is a whole different story all on it's own, better reserved for another time. For whatever reason this home just did not sell. It was on the market for just under a year. I don't really understand why. It isn't the best neighborhood in the city but it isn't the worse either. My mom keeps saying it is because it was meant to be mine, which I think just may be the case. 

  Now  most people want modern and new. Me....I wanted old and antique. I love the old wooden staircases, trim and floors. My boyfriend has the same taste and he agreed so the search began. We have limited income with both of us being disabled so price was obviously top on the list. Dave (my boyfriend) kept saying I don't know....which basically means I have faith in ya babe but this one I gotta see for myself lol. 

 We had kind of a hard time finding a realtor. Mostly because they wouldn't call back. One actually set up an appointment to look at a house then called a few hours before to say "look I had an unexpected and eventful evening and would have to come back into town to show you the house" HUH. Wow, ok, well we will find another realtor. Sorry to bother you as I scratched my head. We found a realtor that we liked and the search began. 

 I kept telling Dave that I was going to find us a home cheap that we loved but even I started to doubt that after looking at about 10 houses. I just can't believe how some of the houses are set up. It was important to have wheelchair access to the major rooms in the house for me. God willing I won't go to my chair but in reality I probably will. I wanted the original woodworking that hopefully wouldn't be painted. A basement and garage. The original wooden staircase that hopefully wouldn't be painted. And hardwood floors. Ok so far this list seemed almost impossible. 

 Most of the older homes were in the not so nice neighborhoods. My dad cracked me up. He kept saying it doesn't matter where you live any more, any where can be bad. Ok dad well the difference is in getting shot or not lol. I would get online every day and search the house listings, call the realtor and off we would go. We had so much fun looking at houses. My parents would meet us and my mom and I would ohhh and ahhh together. She loves the older homes as much if not more than I do. I had this idea in my head and just couldn't shake it. I really wanted what I call the short door going to the attic. That is the little door you walk through that leads out to that cool attic space you can stand up in. That door that leads out to a whole little world all in it's own in your house. We found a house that I really loved, made an offer, they accepted, but the paperwork they sent to us just seemed shady. They wanted the money before closing. Ummm ....no. So that deal fell through. I really became discouraged at that point. But we had only been looking for a few weeks. Patience is a virtue. I kept repeating that to myself. When the right house comes along it will all fall into place. And that proved true. 

 Now this house listing kept drawing me back. I would go every few days and look at this listing. The pictures were horrible. They didn't show much detail. But something about it kept pulling me back. I mentioned it to Dave and my dad a few times but I really don't know why I didn't put it on the list of houses to look at. 

 Then another bump in the road. Our realtor called. She lost her license because she didn't have the money to pay her realtor fees. And the search for a realtor begins again. We found Pat Smith. An older woman who was very helpful and just the sweetest thing. So after only 2 months of searching I added this house to the list of houses to look at. We fell in love with this place once we walked through it. It has everything except the garage that I wanted. Plus one thing I didn't have on the list. A dishwasher. Yeah! I forgot to put that on the list. That is a good idea. With my MS I may not be able to wash dishes later. How could I miss that one. Lol. 

  The house originally started out at a price of 24,000. After a few months they dropped it to 19,900. After several months at that price we came along and walked through. My dad had surgery on his foot and couldn't make it to look at the house with us. We told Pat that we would be getting in touch with her probably the next week to look at this house and another again once dad got back on his feet. 

  Jump forward a week. We meet my parents and Pat at both houses. Dad gives the go on this house. Picture me doing cartwheels inside my head. Woot Woot. I LOVE this house. Now comes the teeth clenching. They had in just a few days dropped the price to 17,400. Now mind you this house has been on the market for almost a year. Right around 11 months. It was a repo. Banks do not like to hang onto houses. Lets put in a ridiculously low offer maybe they will bite. The worse they can do is say no. So I say ok lets offer 12,000. Dad adds that they also need to fix the window in the back door. Sitting on pins and needles on Friday we send the offer. On Monday they accept! Double Woot Woot. I found the house we love for major cheap. I am on cloud nine.

  Ok now Pat also added that the bank turn on the utilities to save us the turn on costs. Doing more cartwheels in my head because this deal is just getting better and better for us. The Lord is watching out for us on this one. Then the phone rings. They turned the gas on and the furnace is broken. A short moment of oh man. Then mom says and by the way the bank is fixing the furnace for you. More cartwheels! Thank you Lord. And more cartwheels. 

  The day before closing Pat wanted us to meet at the house to do a walk through. We get here and the bank did so many extras for us. Instead of fixing the glass in the back door, they replaced the whole door. They also replaced the faucets in the kitchen and bathroom. They fixed the furnace. And they accepted our crazy low offer. 

  So I found us a house that we love. It has the original woodwork that has a few paint splatters but that is from them probably using a paint gun and not taping. No big deal with a little work I can get that off. The original wooden staircase with a closet underneath. The short door that leads to that dreamy attic space. We pulled carpet up in the dining room and the hardwood is there! Wooden columns leading into the living room. 10 ft. ceilings. A sunroom on the back off the kitchen seperated by a snack bar. 3 bedrooms. A full basement with a bedroom and living area. The funniest part is the basement. There is a hole in the middle of the floor for a toilet. That just cracked me up. At some point they must have had a flood down there because the bottom of the walls are gone. I wonder if the plumbing maybe cause the problem because the toilet is gone. I don't know but man did we laugh when we saw that hole. So I did get the second bathroom I wanted I just have to build it. 

 Thank you Lord for all of the blessings and everything you have given us with this house.