Big news {part 1}

Okay, before I go on to write about the big news, I need to let you all know that I totally did not see the suggestive nature of the cactus bloom until both  my sister and husband pointed it out to me. I guess I was so caught up in taking the photo and then cropping and editing it and a few others, that I didn’t even notice that it resembled a certain body part. *ahem* So without further ado, I hope you can get that image out of your head and enjoy this one (with the flower now in full bloom)

Soooooo….. last week, I eluded to some big news… no, I believe I said it was BIG news… and at the time we really thought that there was a chance of big news in our future. Over the past few years, Ray and I… well, Ray mostly… have been keeping an eye on the housing market here in town in the hopes that we would find a house that we could call home. We bought our townhouse with the understanding that it would not be the house that we live in forever, but with the decline in the economy and housing market it started to look like maybe we would be staying in our home longer than originally planned. Well it looked that way until last week.

Ray found a home online that looked too good to be true. It had charm. It had a nice chunk of land. It had a great price considering the size of the home, the lot and the houses around it. We drove by the house (it was empty) and took a closer look at it from the outside… it needed work out doors, but from what we could tell, it looked in good condition. We couldn’t understand why it had been on the market for so long… was it the fact that it was in an unincorporated part of town? That it had septic and sewer? We contacted our realtor and told her we were interested in it and wanted to see the inside.

She in turn sent us a long list of other houses and in that list was another one that caught our eye. It was a bit further outside of town, but on an even larger plot of land and in a cul de sac. We looked on Google maps to see what was behind the house and saw that it was just farmland… I think both of our hearts skipped a beat. We both started planning what we would need to maintain such a large yard (almost 2 acres!!), but more importantly we started making plans on how we would use it. There were only a few pictures of the interior… it looked outdated, but otherwise it looked okay.

We met with our realtor on Saturday. She did a quick walk through of our house and let us know that it would show nicely. I had busted my butt all week trying to clean and declutter the place, so I was glad that my hard work paid off!! We drove to the first house… the one that started all of this. Words can not describe the disappointment I felt as we walked through the house. The photo’s online had looked good, but once there we saw just how much work the home would need… it  was not meant to be.

We drove to the next house. Both Ray and I crossed our fingers. This was the house with the huge yard… this would be the one. As we drove through the quaint little subdivision, I could picture us being there… the kids riding their bikes in the street… trick or treating at Halloween… this one would be the one. We got to the home and the first thing we did was take a look at the yard… it was perfect! Standing back there was like standing in your own private little world, complete with birds singing and nosy little chipmunks. I was sold… that is until we walked into the house… I started making a mental list of the work that would need to be done.

The first few rooms weren’t too bad… they needed repainting and new carpet/floors – I could deal with that. The kitchen was an okay size and the cabinets were older, but they looked like they were still in good shape. The counter top would need replacing, but that could wait. Ray thought he felt a slight slope in the floor – not good. Up two ‘steps to the dinette… odd… old orange shag carpet would need to be replaced. We then went through a huge laundry/storage room to the garage. There was so much clutter… it was hard to look past it, but I was determined. The house became a maze… up a few steps here, down a few there. There were questionable additions added onto the house. We walked out of there a bit overwhelmed and in shock. The work that needed to be done to the other house was nothing when compared to the work that this house needed to make it not only look and feel like home, but to also make it feel safe for us and the kids. We loved the property the house was on, but the only way that we would buy it is if the price were to drop lower… much, much lower.

We drove on to look at four more homes, but if you want to find out about that and what happened afterwards… well, you’ll just have to come back tomorrow 😉