HOME SWEET HOME

Back in January I decided that I was going to purchase a house this year.  I didn’t really have any expectations and I had no idea how to do it but I knew if I was ever going to get to be a homeowner that now was the time.  Kelly was planning on putting the house that I was living in up for sale and had hoped to have it sold by the time Karly came.  Although I knew I wanted to buy a house the whole idea of it made me nervous and gave me anxiety.  So I put it off and put it off until it was too late.  Kelly put her house up for sale in April and it sold the first week that it was on the market.  I had to be out by the end of May.  I ended up moving in with Kelly and Dave the second week of May and Karly came just a couple weeks later.  After Karly came buying a house got put on the back burner.  Everyone's focus was on Karly and getting her well enough to come home from the hospital and then once she was home other things took priority. 

For some reason things in my life have always been just a little bit harder to achieve than normal.   I honestly never thought that I would be a homeowner.  I have always dreamed of having a house of my own but in the back of my mind I never thought that it was possible for a single person that makes just a decent living would be able to afford to buy a house alone. I tried to prepare by saving as much money as possible, staying out of debt and keeping my credit score high.  That way if the time ever came that it would be possible I was prepared.  I had learned to appreciate the things I had and be grateful for the opportunities that I had to experience new things. I was content with my life.  I have a great job that I love going to each day,  a job that allowed me to support myself and have a little extra at the end of the month to put into savings,  a great family that is loving and supportive,  a few really good friends that genuinely love me  would do anything for me,  2 nephews and 2 nieces that I adore and make me happier than they will ever know and a dog that I love. 

Then one day my Mom called and said that a house came up for sale down the street from her and she thought I should take a look at it. At first I was really resistive and didn’t want to go see it because I thought I would get disappointed and in my mind there was no way that I would ever be able to get a house on my own. She didn’t give up though and called me everyday for a week asking if I had called to set up an appointment to go see it. I decided to call, Sheri Midgley she had just got done selling Kelly’s house and she has been a family friend for several years.   Sheri got right on it and scheduled an appointment for later in the week .  I ended up  really really liking the house and thought it was perfect for me and Buttons.  I went ahead and put an offer on it.  After several days of not hearing from the bank that owned it the call finally came in.  I was out bid. I was really really disappointed.  After that one I kept looking at houses in the same neighborhood. I ended up putting offers on 3 other houses.  One of which I actually got and had a contract and then someone stole the air conditioning unit from it and the owner didn’t want to replace it so I ended that deal. At that point I was done.  I was tired of getting disappointed and I didn’t really see anything in my price range that I liked.

Then out of the blue one day I decided to look at a house that had been listed for awhile that I really liked but it was out of my price range.  It was my lucky day though. They had lowered price  that day and it was in my price range.  I had Sheri take me by to see it again and then had my parents look at and decided that this was the one!  I put an offer on it on August 16th.  Then a week later found out that there were other offers and the seller wanted time to think about the offers.  He finally decided to take my offer! I was so stoked and so grateful.

Everything that could go wrong did go wrong.  I can honestly say that I have never been so stressed and filled with anxiety as I was during this process.  I was physically ill for weeks and was on the chicken broth, 7- up, yogurt and graham cracker diet for several weeks.  I vomited in more parking lots and public bathrooms than I can count.

On October 28th I was sitting at the table carving pumpkins with the kids and just started to cry out of nowhere.  I was supposed to hear from the mortgage company earlier in the day  if the loan was going to be approved. A few days earlier I found out that the bank had made a mistake on my credit report regarding an old student loan that had been paid off years ago but showed up as disputed.  It had to be removed from my credit report immediately in order for the loan to be approved. I thought it was going to take a miracle for the bank to notify the credit reporting agency and for the credit reporting agency to get it removed within the time frame that the seller gave us. All of the sudden that evening  it just hit me that I hadn’t heard anything from the mortgage company.  I took that as bad news.  But 5 minutes later I received the call saying that the house was MINE! I just needed to go to the title company to sign the papers the following week.  I couldn’t believe it.

 

Finally after almost 2 1/2 months I got the keys to MY HOUSE on November 1st!!!  I have never been so excited, proud, or grateful in all my life.  I had finally done it.  I finally had something of my very own that I worked really hard for and earned on my own.  For a few moments (in private) I shed a few tears.  I was getting ready to start a new chapter of my life and I am excited to see what will happen next.

 

The day had finally come!!!  The following day I went and ordered the carpet and had it installed a couple of days later.  Called the moving company and scheduled them for the day after.  My Dad and Dave worked really really hard for several days before I moved in to get an indoor/garage kennel made for Buttons. They mowed the lawns (I have a corner lot so there is a HUGE front and backyard) and installed locks in the house. And Dave spent an entire day hanging up blinds throughout the house.

 

Horrible picture but the only one I have.  Sorry guys!!!!

My Mom came in and lined cabinets.

Chris fixed the leaky bathroom sink, caulked the shower, and hung the blinds in my bedroom.

I choose the absolutely worst day to move.  The first big storm of the year. Moving in the rain stinks!!!  Hiring a moving company was the best decision and use of money that I have ever made.

After the movers left, Kelly came with the kids to help unpack.

     

Then Kelly came and spent the following week with me.  She helped me unpack and organize everything. She bought me shelves for the garage, a new shower head, a doorbell, more things than I can even list.  I truly have the most supportive and loving family and I couldn’t have done any of this without them.   They stood by me through the entire process.  Putting up with my tears, my disappointments, excitement, my vomiting, and never once was there a complaint by any of them. I will never be able to repay them for what they have done.

I also have to say that I had the best real estate agent around.   She walked me through everything and kept me calm when I thought I was going to loose my patients with the whole deal. Every single time I emailed her I got a response within 30 minutes.  If I left her a message she called me back within the hour. It didn’t matter what day it was or what time it was. She went out of her way to explain things to me that I didn’t understand.  She went above and beyond in every aspect of buying this house. So if you live in the area you should contact her.  Her website is http://sherimidgley.com

Here are some before and after pictures of the house. I haven’t gotten everything decorated the way it should be because I’m going to decorate for Christmas this coming week so I didn’t want to put everything up and then take it all down again the next week. I’m hoping this coming weekend to get the rooms organized a little better and all of the holiday decorations up.  I’ll put better pictures up then.

 

Family room  

Kelly and I put the cabinet together and hung it all by ourselves!

my room

Thomas’ room

Noelle and Karly’s room

So there it is My HOME SWEET HOME!!!  I have just spent my first week here alone and it is going to take sometime to get used to but I’m loving every minute of it.