The Waiting Game

Days went by and we didn’t hear anything. I started to wonder if our neighbor had changed her mind about the house. Just in case she hadn’t changed her mind we got an estimate for replacing the roof and front porch, both in need of complete restoration. We weren’t surprised when the estimates came back at $13,000 and $9,000 respectively. We also knew the windows would need replacement and the exterior needed paint or new siding. That was just the outside stuff.

We finally got a call that the family would be at the house one Saturday afternoon. I had plans that day but my husband was available so he went over to see what they had to say. He got the offer and told them that he and I would need to talk it over. I ended up getting back before the neighbor and her family left so I asked if we could come back over. My husband gave me a heads up on the price they were asking and we confirmed what our counter offer would be. We prayed and asked God to open doors if it were the right move and close them if it wasn’t.

We came in and the daughter I had been communicating with said they had talked it over and wanted $20,000 for the house. I asked if they were okay with us looking at the house again and the family agreed. So we looked again, although we knew we for sure wanted to buy it, just not at $20,000.

We came back downstairs and I told the family that while we didn’t want to offend them, we were really only willing to offer $10,000 for the house. Given the condition of the house and the large repairs that were needed right away it we needed to be able to not only pay for the house but the repairs as well. We try to avoid credit, so our goal was to pay cash for everything. Because we hadn’t actually been planning on buying a house when this one came up, we had exactly zero towards the cost of the house and all the repairs. The family was gracious and said they would consider the offer and let us know.

Needless to say, when we got home we prayed and asked God for guidance in the process and for financial resources to pay for what we needed to do.

Love at First Sight

So we walked in the front door. The room was full of boxes and packing supplies strewn about and some odds & ends furniture. My eyes were immediately drawn to these great columns that separated the living room from the dining room.

Photos of the interior were all taken after we took possession of the house unless otherwise noted. You can see the columns in the far right corner.

From the living room I could see into both the dining room and parlor. Already I was in love. All wood floors and lots of original trim. Also windows. Lots of windows. There was still a TON of stuff inside the house but I was able to ignore the stuff and focus on the features. Past the dining room was the kitchen. I walk in to see THIS:

OH MY GOODNESS. It was an original built in cabinet that measured 7 feet wide by 9 feet tall. I loved it. So I had to keep my composure so I wouldn’t let on how much I wanted the house already. There was also a tiny half bath added a few years ago which would be nice for guests.

Next we went upstairs. Did I mention the house had TWO sets of stairs? We surmised that the steps leading up from the kitchen may have been for a butler or servant because they led to a tiny bedroom separated from the other upstairs rooms. There we found a rather large storage closet and also an oddly small door to the bathroom.

For reference my husband is 6’2” and 185lbs. Not a huge guy and he basically filled the doorways. I cracked up but said they had to stay if we bought the house. The rest of the doors are normal sized except the closet doors which are also short for some reason.

We walked through the bathroom (which had two doors) we entered the hallway and went towards the bedrooms. FOUR good sized bedrooms! I was thrilled. Our teens have shared a room their whole lives and they finally had a chance to have their own rooms, AND we could have a spare bedroom PLUS an upstairs laundry in the tiny bedroom at the back of the house. I don’t know if I could have been more excited.

We walked down the front stairs back to the living room and went back through the house to the basement. Since the house was built in 1921 I didn’t really have high hopes. Turned out it was the full size of the house and although FULL of stuff it seemed pretty dry and had lots of windows too. Added bonus, the furnace and A/C were only a couple of years old. I had already mapped out what I wanted to do with the basement before we ever made it back up the stairs.

I mustered all the self control I could and said to our neighbor, “We are definitely interested. Talk it over with your family and come up with a price you feel comfortable with.” Then we said our goodbyes and went home to wait for their response.

The Beginning

The house from across the street

 My family owns a warehouse in a city. We had been looking to purchase a home near our warehouse for a while. Unfortunately the housing market has been crazy and we just didn’t want to get into a mountain of debt to buy a house.

We also wanted to house that could accommodate our growing family. We have 3 adult children. One is married and has a child. One is engaged. The other is single but may get married someday. We also have two teens who potentially will marry someday in the future. We knew our home needed to be a place where our growing family could gather and not be stuffed into a small space (which is what we have now). We also wanted a yard and a close proximity to our warehouse. Try to find an affordable house in a city during a housing market boom. Even small houses or houses that are in disrepair are expensive.

Since we purchased our warehouse a few years ago, we had become acquainted with our surrounding neighbors. Many people in the neighborhood are renters so it’s hard to get to know any of them but there were two houses that were owned by the families living in them. While we weren’t particularly close with them, we all watched out for each other’s properties and would stop for a chat if we were outside. One of the families ended up selling and moving away. The other couple had some health issues and the husband sadly passed away. The wife moved out to stay with family after he passed. I would see her there checking the mail from time to time so I would always stop to talk to her to see how she was. 

After she had moved out, I had asked my husband what his thoughts were about asking her if she wanted to sell at some point, and he was on board. We even discussed and agreed upon the price we were willing to pay if the opportunity arose. However, since her husband had recently died we didn’t want to seem intrusive so we didn’t say anything to her. In my quiet time though, I prayed for an opportunity.

One day she was at the house and I mentioned that the other neighbors had sold and moved away (the new folks were moving in that day). She told me she was considering selling because she didn’t really want to stay there by herself and her children wanted her to sell so she didn’t have to try to take care of a big old house by herself. At that point I told her that if she decided she did indeed want to sell we would like to look at the house when she was ready to take that step. 

My husband and I prayed over the situation and left it in God’s hands. I did contact the owner’s daughter to let her know we were interested in looking at the house if her mom decided to sell just so that the rest family would know we had discussed the possibility with their mom.

Weeks went by before we heard anything. It was hard not to ask about it when I would see her but I also didn’t want her to feel pressured to consider selling if she wasn’t ready. Grieving takes time and it is a huge process to sell and move and all that. So we waited and prayed. Honestly I probably prayed a lot more than my husband did…he knew what the outside of the house looked like so the chances that the inside were better seemed slim. He’s a busy man and more projects aren’t really what he’s looking for.

I finally got a message from the daughter saying they would be at the house on a particular day if we wanted to come see it. I told her we did and asked her to make sure her siblings were on board before we got too involved in a potential purchase. We didn’t want there to be an instance of one of the kids not wanting her to sell and causing family drama or something, and we certainly wanted a family member to have first dibs if they wanted the house. So we agreed on a date to see the house. Then I prayed some more.

When the day finally came, I was a little nervous at what we would find. I had been mowing the lawn for the family for months but had never even stepped foot on their front porch, much less seen the inside of the house. Given the exterior condition of the house, I was cautiously optimistic at best. My husband and I went over and knocked on the door and went inside.

$10,000

So we bought a house. A $10,000 house.

If any of you have seen “It’s a Wonderful Life”, you may remember George Bailey’s drafty old house. When I got a chance to take a peek inside this old gal I knew she had potential. I knew if given a chance she could be a beautiful place once again.