A Home of Our Own

My husband, Parry, and I have searched for a home for more than six months. The objective of our search has changed along the way.

When we first started out, we wanted different things. Parry wanted a brand new home, something way out of our price range. I wanted an older home, a bargain that we could fix up. After touring many (many) houses with our realtor – we found middle ground. We developed a combined must have list for “our” house.

A couple of weeks ago Parry and I gave our realtor a long list of houses we’d like to tour. This was just before I was about to go out of town on a work trip. After touring several houses on the list, each of us had a favorite.

My favorite was an older two story. The exterior was white with pretty peach shutters on the upper windows. Gorgeous honey colored laminate flooring on the main level. A huge kitchen with brand new appliances, countertops and cabinets. Four bedrooms on the top level. A spacious dining room. The living room and the family room were connected with beautiful French doors. Light poured in from all of the windows. The back yard had ample space for our dogs to run around. The promise of a double car garage and installed central air was included in the asking price. This house was at the very top of our price range.

My first impression of Parry’s favorite was not great. (But keep in mind I still had the two story beauty on the brain.) The 1925 remodeled ranch had two bedrooms, living room, dining room and decent sized bathroom on the main level. The kitchen was just big enough for all of the appliances with a few cabinets squeezed in. In the lower level, a man was working on smoothing out the basement flooring – so we didn’t get a great look. Just enough of a peek to notice the laundry area and two semi-finished rooms. The backyard was mostly fenced in, a decent size. A screened in porch area was attached to the double car garage. (These were two of Parry’s favorite features.) This house was also at the very top of our price range.

While I was away on my work trip, Parry and I talked off and on via cell phone. We considered touring both houses again and deciding between the two. We debated looking for cheaper houses so that we could save money. Neither one of us could decide what to do.

After I came home last week, Parry and I drove past the two story beauty. We saw the beginnings of the double garage that was promised in the advertisement. That convinced Parry. He said to me “Let’s buy it!”. We asked our realtor to tour the two story house again, this time with my uncle an electrical contractor from Arizona who was in town for a visit.

While driving past the house the evening before we were going to look at it, my realtor called and said the dreaded words “sale pending”. It was already all but sold to someone else! My heart was broken!

We decided to look at the 1925 remodeled ranch again. When we looked at the home on Friday morning – it was like I was seeing a different house! This time I noticed the freshly painted plaster walls and the brand new carpeting throughout the home. The backyard looked perfect for our dogs and for cooking out on the grill. Since we had looked at it, the owners carpeted the basement room that was being worked on during our last tour. My uncle said it looked like “a nice little house”.

Off and on the rest of the day my husband and I kept saying to each other “should we buy it?”. On the way to my parents’ house, I stopped buy and picked up the house summary sheet to show my mom. When I looked at the price I thought it was a mistake. The house had been reduced by $4,000! That made it a done deal! We decided to put in an offer on the house.

As long as everything goes through as planned, Parry and I will be the proud owners of a 1925 remodeled ranch home by May 16th. All of the home tours, debating, and waiting have paid off. We are both extremely happy and excited. Moving day can’t come quick enough!