OUR OFFER WAS ACCEPTED!!

To those who ache and cry sometimes because you want some change in your life SOOOO much, don’t give up!!

My husband and I have been trying to buy a house for years. Covid clearly put a huge kink in that. Every. Single. Offer. we made was either “second best” or completely looked over because we were previously in a zero-down, first-time homebuyer program. Last week we decided to try again, and got in contact with a new real estate broker and mortgage broker duo we were referred to.

-Three days ago we found a property we were very interested in.

-Two nights ago I finished putting together our mortgage application. Also saw the asking price was reduced by $15k! Description changed to describe family emergency and desperation to sell.

-Yesterday morning we were pre-approved for a 3.5% down FHA loan.

-Yesterday late afternoon/early evening I went and saw the house with our agent.

-Last night we submitted an offer.

-And today (11/03)we signed the addendum on our offer acknowledging the terms the seller accepted!!

We went from applying for preapproval, to having an offer accepted in less than 48 hours! Hallelujah! If all goes well, we will be HOME by Christmas!

It is a 2-acre piece of overgrown property with a 2BD 1BR mid-50s home on it. Unfinished basement, unfinished large 3rd room. Huge jetted bath tub! Unfinished shop and a pond. A well and a septic tank. A SAUNA on the back porch! And a fire stove.

We are SO excited! It is not a large, or tiny home. It is roomy, but cozy. We have ached to have our own place, our own space, where the kids can spend all day getting dirty, and romp around with dogs, goats, chickens, and so on. Grow a garden, preserve/store food. And we can truly put ourselves into this land and house to make it ours and continue growing our family. I am in tears in gratitude and excitement.

After a miscarriage almost two weeks ago, I have felt more determined than ever before that I wouldn’t wait any longer than absolutely necessary for my life to be what I want it to be. And now, we no longer feel like our life is on pause🥰

Edit: funny, ironic thing about feeling like our life was paused; I decided earlier this year, after more failed attempts to buy a house, that I was tired of waiting for a dog. More details are in my response to a comment below. But, long story short, we are getting TWO! We paid for them before we even decided to try to buy a house, so everything is happening with such perfect timing and we are SO excited to be able to bring these fur babies home to a real property they can romp around on.

I am just in tears over the perfect timing of EVERYTHING. Our son has been terrified of dogs (for no known reason to us, other than just not getting to be around them often) his whole life. He warmed up quickly to the English Springer Spaniel when we met that fur baby, and he was excited and didn’t understand why we couldn’t bring her home. But the Rottweiler was who he was ALL OVER. No fear. He wouldn’t stop playing with the puppy and his mom for over an hour! I almost cried!

I’ve always loved my family, and my life and everything my husband works hard for. But it has been so different finally accomplishing these things we’ve wanted for SOO LONG, and worked so hard for. I’m loving everyone else’s stories too. Thank you for sharing!!!

UPDATE!

Today (11/05) we did the home inspection, collected and dropped off water samples to test the well, and dropped off our earnest money. The inspector def has a list of stuff for us to do, but none of it (that the seller isn’t already taking responsibility for) is expensive or extensive, and almost everything needed is already on the property!! Everything is still happening so perfectly, and we are so in love ❤️

Update #2(11/10)

It has been more arduous than expected, but with better results than expected, to turn my living room into a TARDIS as we have emptied our storage unit to avoid being charged another month at nearly double our original price. Cost just went up last month. We were gonna get rid of it anyway, so more perfect timing. We just get to live around our clutter for a couple weeks before we haul it up!

Update #3(11/15)

It’s harder than I expected to deal with the extra clutter. My husband and I have def been irritable…also turns out closing date has to be extended; due to the holidays, the appraisal won’t happen until nearer the end of this month. But at least it’s scheduled! We are a little nervous about the appraisal. FHA financing is pickier than conventional. And if, for some reason, the property doesn’t appraise for at least as much as our offer, we are in trouble. However, there is only one nearby property valued less than $75k over our offer, so we feel positive about the financing. We just have to work through whatever the appraiser insists on being repaired before approving our FHA loan. We continue to have perfectly-timed experiences that encourage us about things working out. Like finally getting a $555 check from travel insurance for a trip we had to cancel in MAY bc our children became ill. Money is tight while we prepare for our down payment and pay for the process of the sale. But this is what we have been working toward for years. It’s so close! We know everything will work out, even if it’s different than we expect.

I continue to love seeing all the wonderful stories and achievements. So exciting!!