Buying a House (Updated)

(See Update at the end) I have never had so much trouble finding a home than we have had here in Longview.

We have a great agent, but there just aren’t a lot of 4 bedroom homes in our price range. They do exist but you have to weed through the listings to find them. We looked together a couple of days, but then my wife had to go back to Florida. So I’ve kept looking. If I had money, I would build a lot of homes with 4 bedrooms in this price range. You could make a killing here.

At one point we had a contract on a large home near the church. But, the inspection revealed some major issues. Like, the septic system was about to overflow into the yard. The electrical system had fire issues and major grounding issues. The rafters on an addition were not supported properly. So, we pulled out of the contract.

Which put us back on the search. Today, I was in the process of signing an offer on another house that was dry similar to the one we had in Florida. But it was a little more than I wanted to spend. Still, in order to get the house we needed, I was willing to try.

If this offer wasn’t accepted, we were going to move into an apartment complex I found that has 3 month leases, and look again after Christmas. We are right at the limit of being able to close on a purchase before Thanksgiving.

As I’m signing I get a call about a new house on the market today. It’s right in our price range and it has been completely updated. It’s in a good location. So I didn’t sign the offer, and I’m seeing the house tomorrow. If we like it (My wife sees them via FaceTime) we will make an offer.

Wouldn’t it be just a God thing if we found a better option just before we made an offer on something that would stretch us? If it doesn’t work out, we can decide whether we want to offer on the higher priced one, or rent for a little while.

Update: Well, we went, we saw, and tried to buy that house. It was not to be, however. We cold not come to an agreement. Another home we had been interested in came on the market, and I went to see it: Too small, wrong rooms. One we had not been able to see at all finally gave us an appointment, and i went to see it.

While I was in my car waiting to go in, I scanned the Realtor.com app for any new listings. Low and behold I happened to see one, located less than a mile from where I was waiting. So I drove over. Turns out it was a house we had seen back when we first visited town. Back then it was priced much higher. Since the the house was purchased by a RELO company, and they had dropped the price considerably.

So we offered, and they countered and we now have a contract on a great 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath within a few minutes of the church.

Not the Dave Ramsey Way, But…

We did it. After selling the house we are debt free.

I thought about calling the Dave Ramsey show and asking to do one of those debt free scream things. I could imagine how that call would go…

Dave: Now on the line we have Scott who is with us to do a debt free scream, that’s so great! Scott, what’s your story?

Me: We owed a lot of money and in just over 5 weeks we got rid of it all.

Dave: Wow! How did you pay off all that debt so fast?

Me: Oh, we didn’t pay it off. We sold our house. But we’re debt free!

Dave: Did my people even screen this call?

 

Yeah, probably not going to call him. I’m sure he’s busy, anyway.

It is a weird feeling though. Maybe because where we live is so tied to our identity in Western Culture. If you live in an apartment or house, own or rent, alone or with roommates or with family or with your parents, these are all a part of our American identity.

We’ve bought and sold a ton of houses. I’ve paid my fair share of fees. It would be OK with me to never own again. Of course renting in Central Florida is as or more expensive than buying.

Right now we are focused on find out the next thing is. And without a mortgage hanging over us, we are freer. Someone calls tomorrow, we can move immediately. We can save. We can prepare.

For the next step.

Next Steps

We sold our house!

OK, we have a contract on it. But barring unforeseen circumstances, end of May we don’t have a home. Er, a house. Home is where the heart is, right? House is where the stuff is. Of course, Our stuff might be in a storage unit. But we have family nearby if there isn’t a more permanent plan in place.

That’s the weird part of this. There isn’t a plan in place. We felt that we should put the house on the market. Then, within 6 days, it gets a contract. OK, great. We should not only get out of the house clean, but even walk away with a small amount of cash. Last year we would have had to bring cash to close.

Now what?

A few days ago, before the house sold and before the car situation was figured out, Mandy and I were talking about the 3 biggest obstacles for us: Car, house, job. Then one after another the dominos fell. Car was taken care of. The house sold. Now we are wondering about the job.

I am like many Americans, underemployed. Unlike many Americans, I had a say in getting to this place. In order to do what God has called me to do, I need to have a day job. I took my current position to supplement my freelance work. Then my freelance work dried up. So now we are looking for something else. Maybe something in Central Florida, maybe something somewhere else. So we have put out feelers. It’s weird because I explored a position a while back and ended up not feeling like we were led to follow it. I’ve written about my dream job before. But my day job doesn’t have to be my dream job. Just needs to have benefits and pay enough to live on. I have no idea where we will end up.

Today I was reading in Joshua.

“Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them… Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:2-6, 9

What’s the next step? I don’t know for sure, but wherever we go… God is with us.

Time to cross the river… Time to leave the wilderness.