First a little background about us...
Jeff and I have always enjoyed going for leisurely Sunday drives after church with the kids. We often visit our parents, picnic at a park, or have a fun family game night or cookout with friends. We also like to dream about living here or there, or look at beautiful pieces of property and homes for sale. We have renovated two homes together, and built another. We knew we would build again if things worked out in our favor, and this time we wanted to do more ourselves.
So, back in Sept of 2014 we were out on one of these drives...when we happened upon a pretty little lot in Hyde Park. We both instantly fell in love with it!! We immediately called the listing agent to find out if it was something we could afford. She was really nice, she told us the asking price, which gave us hope, and then kind-of-sort-of mentioned that the seller was eager and would likely negotiate!! She encouraged us to submit an offer. Oooh!! This was exactly what we were hoping for!!
Over the next few days, we prayed about how we felt and what our next steps should be. We felt sooo good about it. We felt like it was such a blessing!! We couldn't pass it up!! After another week of preparation, we made arrangements with the agent to submit an offer, then quickly got our house in order for an appraisal. We were going to use our home equity to get a loan for the property. It's kind of risky adding a loan to our current budget, but we felt like we could do it, at least until we got our house sold. Our aim was for 6 months...we knew we wanted top dollar, and sometimes it takes a few months (4-6 average) to get it. In the back of our minds, we felt like if we didn't sell our home, we could sell the property... so we moved forward...
When the appraisal came back it was way low...like 40,000 lower than we expected!! We were very disappointed! Luckily we had enough equity to make up for most of the difference, and with some talking with supervisors and managers at the bank, the loan squeaked through by a couple thousand dollars! Whew!! Our offer was accepted! We went to work big time on stream-lining our home. The idea of showing it and having pictures of it listed online was stressing me out, it's never clean with our family of 7!! So the more we could pack up and put in a storage unit the better! We officially listed our home around November 5th. We had many showings, and 28 days later it was under contract!! We couldn't believe it!! This was another great blessing to us! I don't know if I could make it another month with a perfectly tidy house!! It's so overrated and not any fun!! ;)
Then began the hunt for a rental home and an architect, and possibly a builder/ general contractor. We had quite a few options, but ended up choosing a home just a couple blocks from my mom! :) The kids are able to stay in their same school, and can walk home. Another blessing! Plus it's fun being able to ride bikes over to Grammy's house! :)
Looking at house plans and making decisions about what we wanted has happily worked out for Jeff and I. We are blessed to be on the same page about most things. We want to be practical, and up-to-date, and we want things done with quality. Not too fancy, but with "good bones". Something we can grow in, grow old in, and something that we could sell and make a good profit on if we needed to.
Well, this home, on this beautiful lot has quickly turned into our dream home! We met with a general contractor who is a childhood friend of Jeff's, and decided to hire him. We designed a really cool house with his architect, and although many things are the same as everybody else's, it has some unique characteristics that we love!! One of those being a 20 ft wall of windows in the great room, a walk-in pantry/office off the kitchen, and a one-of-a-kind vaulted ceiling with a hip, which Jeff designed himself-- with the ok of a truss expert! :)
So fun, right?!! :)
I'll post more pics and progress as we go!
