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.