Blessings in Disguise

Why it's a good thing the homes we wanted didn't work out.

The first house we tried to buy is across the street from where we lived when we lived in my mom's house.  My father in law inspected the home (that's his job) and did not want us the buy the house.  The house was fully remodeled but since buying it the new home buyer has had to replace all the kitchen cabinets (because they were in such bad shape), get a new roof, get a new AC, they had the retention wall in the backyard replaced and now water is leaking into their back room through the back door, they had to have several large trees cut down in the backyard because they were too close to the house.  Obviously we know all of this because they are our neighbors.

The second house we tried to buy was an entire cluster of issues.  The homeowner was crazy (and she got even crazier so we heard with the new home buyers), it had tax issues, and those tax issues caused the process to drag on forever.  If it hadn't dragged on FOREVER we wouldn't have know that a convicted rapist had moved in across the street.  Once we found out the tax lean was lifted the very next day.  Obviously we let our contract run out.  That was divine intervention for sure although we lost well over a $1000 dollars on this home.

The third house we really liked and it was behind my moms.  We were tied up in the second house for a time on this one but we got out bid by a cash offer.  The cash offer then fell through because of a failed inspection.  Worked out in our favor because we were able to see their inspection report and realize the repairs were expensive.  Needed new wiring and a foundation repair.

The fourth house we tried to buy...we just loved it.  The inside was open and airy.  Built around a gorgeous courtyard in the middle.  Luckily our good friend is our insurance agent and told us in the next few months the house was going to be put in a new flood plain and flood insurance is very expensive and unpredictable.  He didn't have to put in the extra leg work to find that out but he did.  He was very honest and said if he was us he wouldn't buy it.  Dodged another bullet.

The fifth house was  new build and I backed out on the deal and we lost a bit of money.  I would have never been as happy there.  Not really a bullet dodged but a lesson learned in what we really wanted and holding out for it.

The sixth house we tried to buy was a remodel from a house fire.  We put in an offer after my step dad looked at the house.  After we put in our offer we found out there was already a full price offer so we retracted our offer.  My step dad then told us that not all the rafters in the attic had not been replaced and seemed to be weakened from the fire.  He didn't tell us because he was just waiting for an inspector but we ended up passing on the house.  Thank goodness.

Now, we bought the 7th house we offered on.  Seven.  God's perfect number.  It's fitting.  Everything with this house has gone nearly perfect.  It's just right and feels right.  Everything moved quickly, was under budget, had a lot of pluses like the AC and roof.  We have a lot of work ahead of us, and we've done a lot of work already, but we're enjoying the process of making this house our home :)