Big Changes Ahead!

 With the creative stagnancy has come a more fortuitous life event...

My family is currently negotiating a contract for a new home! We’ve already put in our bid, but it is pending prior to an appraisal and inspection. Provided these are all negotiated well, it should be final in about a month.

Last week, we started by trying to arrange showings for our top picks. Unfortunately, while waiting for the realtor at our first showing, we already weren’t too thrilled about the work we’d need to do on the outside. The realtor was running late and we ended up calling to cancel it. This wasn’t the house for us.

Within a day, all of our other showings (7-8 other houses) were snatched off the market and cancelled by the realtors. So, change of plans. Instead of arranging showings, we made up another list of potential houses and decided to just drive out to look at the outside, see if we even wanted that before arranging any more tours.

So we picked 6-7 more for a drive-by visit! We drove about 4 hours that day and weren’t really thrilled about any of them on closer inspection. Some needed too much work, some just didn’t have enough property or privacy. It was a bust, but we got home, lined up another 6-7 to look at (I apologize that this is so non-specific, but I truly lost count).

This time, it was 5 hours of driving. I packed some granola bars and brought along some coffee for this one. The first two houses, we absolutely loved. The ones after just didn’t compare. So we called up the realtor and asked if we could look at those two. This is how we met Amy Broermann. She was the most attentive realtor we’d spoken to yet, immediately disclosing the possible issues with both. The issues with the second house on the hill were worrisome, possible foundation slippage, which would be a HUGE costly fix if confirmed. Since it wasn’t our number one choice, we asked to take a tour of the first one. Major repairs had already been addressed and fixed and the minor ones, some possible electric and water issues, would be covered by the seller. So far so good...

And so we got to this house early and spent some time drooling over the outside, getting more excited as we got a closer look. This was our first meeting with Amy and she was not only from the area we were coming from, but she was really friendly and disclosed everything through the tour, asked us to check windows and lights and poke and prod at everything. 

To be honest, it has a really odd layout. Two bathrooms but all of them are off of bedrooms, no ‘guest bathroom’ off of the main rooms. Again, not a deal breaker just odd. It’s listed as a three bedroom, but we could easily make a fourth out of the room listed as a study. There is a sizable main room and a big kitchen/dining area with a small laundry room and the first garage off of it.

I say ‘first garage’ because the SECOND building was listed as a garage/rec room...

Which would be perfect for my Dad! The upper rec room is actually substantial enough to be a two room suite and the garage area could fit two cars... with a THIRD smaller storage room that could also house a car. Even though there is no bathroom in this building, it is possible to covert the storage room into both a small bathroom and a modest extra bedroom.

Although my nephews would have to share a room at first, we have plans to do just that, work on extra rooms, continuously making this home more accommodating to a big multigenerational family.

It’s still in negotiation, but we’ve all been learning and researching to make the transition, knowing that even if this deal doesn’t work out, we’ll reach our goal eventually. I have great faith that Amy will be able to find us the right home, regardless. We’re preparing for how we’ll get around town, get everyone to school or work, what we need to do to take care of utilities, and so on.

It will be a stressful but exciting process. We’ll likely all be bipolar on highs and lows as we maneuver these transitions.

Still, I have high hopes that this will be the new start that we need. I am hoping a bit of hard labor and nesting might interest my muse for a return. Amy has already soothed a lot of the unknown stress of the process, a true professional that knows her work and is great at explaining to all of us in simple terms what all we need to know and consider.

I truly look forward to being able to say we have a new home. I truly look forward to the work we’ll do to make it our own. I really feel like our family is bonding through this, that we appreciate each others contributions and each other.

I am hoping to return to blog again, saying we’ve got the home and are beginning the work. I may not be inclined to blog often, but I am hoping to take lots of photos of the process and post some substantial news  when possible.

Until then, wish us luck!

*Ive purposely left out addresses and locations for privacy reasons. In respect to the sellers and realtors, etc. some names are withheld as well. I may offer some of the house’s history later, but again, I’m aiming for some discretion. I have no intention of disclosing information that could damage interest in any homes prior to discussing these issues with the realtor, who will be more knowledgeable on their severity. I only mention Amy because I have to highly recommend her to others. This is encouraged by her personally and I am more than happy to recommend her!