Doug thinks perhaps I'd better set the record straight about the house. There has been some rumored and expressed concern about the condition of our new house. So this is the true story of the Church House. It is long, involved, and you may just want to skip to the end, but if you really care, keep reading.
We were happy to keep renting our great and spacious building, it has served us well for three years. We weren't really sure where life was going to take us in the near future. Doug applied for jobs all over the country, we considered grad school out-of-state, etc. In July, Doug walked into the perfect opportunity for advancement at his current employer in a different department working for a great boss. Too good to pass up! With things more permanent and a bit more money in our pockets, our good friend Ben suggested we take advantage of the excellent tax rebates/credits available this year. Long-story-short, we looked into it, got approved, began house hunting.
Knowing this area very well (ie. living here FOR-EV-ER), we looked in two very specific places. An area in our current ward and an area near our old ward (where I grew up). There was also very specific criteria: very large yard, three bedrooms, at least 2 toilets, a garage, preferably an irrigation well, in a nice (established) neighborhood, not on a busy street... all under $200K. It can be very tricky to find such a place. There happened to be one house around the corner from my grandparents' house that had 1/3 of an acre and met the other requirements as well. I was sure "this was the place!" I contacted a Realtor (Shelle Winkler) who was referred to me (best Realtor EVER!) and she set up appointments to look at three houses on a certain evening. The first was my #1 choice, the 2nd was one I was sure we would not buy since it looked so ghetto, the 3rd was a good runner up. My #1 house was so hodge-podge remodeled and totally hokey! The 3rd house was just not us. And the 2nd house was the one we fell in love with. It was immediate. As soon as we walked in we felt "home". I've never experienced that before, but I felt happy as soon as I was inside before I'd seen the rest of the house. The house was listed like it was a short sale, but really it was an estate sale, so that was good news for us. We wanted to place an offer.
Shelle sent us a list of comps for the area, and in talking to the listing agent found out that someone had made an offer the week before, had an inspection, and then walked away. The listing agent sent us a copy of the inspection so we knew what we were getting into before making an offer. We sent in a very low offer... the same day two other offers came in. They accepted a cash offer over ours and several days went by where I felt very ill whenever I thought about the house, all the while thinking, "That house should have been mine, that house was meant for us." Days later, in talking to Shelle about being in back-up position if the current offer fell through, we decided to increase our bid in case other offers should come in. It just so happened, they were indeed having trouble getting things firmed up with the cash offer and the listing agent was meeting with the attorney that very day, so we slipped in our bid and hours later we were accepted and signed. ...Do we feel like this house was meant for us?! Heck Yeah!
In this whole process, things just went right for us every time. Shelle voluntarily set up her own bids to make sure we knew what all would be involved in getting things right. She played with our kids when we had to bring them. She let them call her Charly and humored them when they wouldn't quit asking her to "come 'ere!" The underwriter took the inspection report home overnight and in the end required the seller to fix everything that was pointed out in the inspection. The estate had set aside $16,000 to put into the house to get it up to bank standards, so they began hunting for bids to do the following:
New roof
Full exterior paint
Replace subfloor, mudsills, etc under house from moisture damage and wood-boring beetles.
Extermination of beetles/ carpenter ants
Install vapor barier
Insulate Pipes
Replace hose spigots
Replace main water line
Repair various plumbing
Re-grout tub surround tiles
And various other minor things
At first glance (as you read in my last post), it appeared that things were not being done very well, but when Doug went through with the inspector to check things over before we closed, the inspector was amazed at the thoroughness of the contractor and the very considerate measures they took to do a good job instead of cutting corners. Instead of just re-grouting the existing tile in the bathroom, they replaced all of the tile; instead of cutting the section of bad water main pipe they replaced the whole line to the street, they installed high quality attic vents, the list goes on! They went above and beyond what they had to and we are so grateful!
So, our house may look really crummy in pictures, and the short version may make it sound like the true money pit, but in the end we got so stinkin' lucky I can't even believe it! In fact, every single thing we were looking for. It truly is completely livable as is- everything works, but to make it more convenient for a family of five in a small house we are indeed making several improvements right off. Like the kitchen. With three babies, truly I need a dishwasher. And there will be many years of trying to catch up on the delayed maintenance, of updating, and making it our own, but most of that comes with any house.
I knew this house was waiting for us. After 45 years, this house will again hear the sounds of family life, of giggling and playing and tiny bare feet running down the hall. We will breathe new life into the old musty place and it will sparkle.
After the signing, Shelle said, "I think the only reason this whole thing came together so well is that you two are good people. There has to be some other force at work here." ...I'm not going to argue with her.
