I mentioned before that this buying of our new home—our first home—came about rather suddenly.
The truth is, we weren’t really looking for a house. Last winter, we were seriously shopping, seriously looking for a house to call home. After countless abodes and a couple of rejected offers, we decided to take a break from the house-hunting and move to an apartment instead.
Rent at this apartment was cheaper, but it was filled with its fair share of peeks into the challenges of home ownership, what with leaking roofs, broken appliances, infiltrating ant armies. Even then, I wondered if this season of apartment dwelling might be preparing us for the day when we might have a home of our own.
Even though we hadn’t looked at a house in months, I kept praying that God would prepare a “humble but sturdy” home for us. I prayed in faith.
Then, out of the blue, my husband told me that there was a house nearby that I might like. Evidently, he’d made it a habit to keep an eye out for homes for us, to keep poking around even though we weren’t actively looking. It’s insights like that that make me cherish this husband of mine all the more—that indeed he is always looking out for me, for my interests, for my future. Even when I have no idea.
He called me to his computer, and I looked at the quaint little Cape Cod. It seemed too good to be true. We phoned our previous agent and asked about the house. It ended up that it was a short sale that was already under contract, but then our agent pulled together some similar houses to show us.
We were back to looking, even though we didn’t really expect anything to come of it.
We went and looked at a handful of houses, but nothing caught our eye. We went out again, and as we made our way from one house to the next, they started feeling like one of them might actually work. We got to the last house and walked away surprised that there wasn’t anything major about it that we didn’t like, like there had been with every other house.
In fact, we actually did like it.
Not just in a well-you-have-to-compromise sort of way. Not just in a well-if-we-rip-this-up-and-change-that sort of way like all the other homes we'd looked at had been.
It seemed as though that little prayer for a "humble but sturdy home," uttered on the couch months before, was actually coming true...
Click here to read Part 2: The Story of Buying Our House.
Related Posts
The Search for a Home
A Prayer for a “Humble but Sturdy” Home
Daydreaming about our someday, future home
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So exciting you guys have a house! Congrats! We're probably still a ways off from buying and will have loads to learn before we do, so I'm really excited to get a peek into this whole process you are going through as you share on the blog!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kaitlin. I got engaged recently and my beau is looking into buying a little home for us to start with when the time comes. I think this series would be very helpful for me to know what goes in during this process. :-)
ReplyDeleteI was hoping you would write about your home-buying experience! I can't wit to read part two.
ReplyDeleteIt's encouraging to me that you guys were able to find a home. I know that even when it seems that this season of my life will never end, I have to stay positive =) Thank you, Carmen!
Thanks, ladies! I really appreciate that because earlier today, I started wondering if buying a house is so normal that this behind-the-scenes kind of info would even be interesting to anyone? I'm glad it is to at least some of you!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to share more as we start fixing up the house and making it our own little home :)
Jackie, I thought I'd be in the renting season forever, too! I actually didn't mind it too much, but I'm really excited to be a homeowner. It's still such a funny feeling :)
Congrats on having a home! It can take a long time to find the right house. Indeed, even when taking a break from house hunting, it pays to keep one's eye open for opportunity. Eventually, like what happened to you guys, a good home will be found.
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