Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Our house to make a home.

This post has been a long time in the making. A year long- literally. I am happy to be able to share it now!

I haven't been too blunt about our future plans for our (growing) family, but have casually hinted at the possibility of us moving to NW Iowa once Kley graduates. 

After a lot of waiting, praying, making plans, changing plans, and making new plans, we have some official news!

Kley is graduating in December (can I get a round of applause?!?), and after that we will be moving to Orange City, IA, where Kley will be joining his dad's law practice.

Last July we started our house search, back when we thought Kley was graduating last May. We happened to be in NW Iowa for my cousin's wedding, so we met with a realtor and looked through a few houses. None really panned out, but it was super helpful to get a head start at looking, just so we could know what the process is like. It also helped us get a handle on our budget and all the lovely things that go along with buying a house. The initial house I loved was way out of our price range. Oops.

Since then, we have been keeping a close eye on the three NW Iowa realty websites (meaning checking them almost daily), and had my MIL walk through several houses for us over the last year. It's hard when you don't live there. Houses go fast in a small town. There aren't a ton available, and it seems like they come in a rush and go in a rush, so I am so grateful that Kley's family is there because they have been monumentally helpful to us in this process.

Sometime late last summer/early fall we also had the idea presented to buy Kley's great aunt's house. They were downsizing and moving, and heard through the grapevine that we were thinking about moving to OC. They contacted us and asked if we would be interested in buying it.

What proceeded after that is a long, but really good, story. We walked through it, liked it, but didn't feel confident enough to make an offer that far back. Also, we had to work through some budget/loan stuff. We basically told them that we were interested, but that was it. Then we found out Kley was graduating later than we thought, so we told them we weren't interested anymore. They said okay, but that's too bad. Then they called back about a month later saying that they weren't going to move as early as they originally thought either, and asked if we were interested again.

We talked about it, and decided that since our offer would be at the absolute top of our budget, it was too risky right now, so we told them no. So they listed it and we thought it was gone for sure, again.

About a month after that, Kley's grandparents made a hugely generous offer to loan us the money for the first few years, instead of taking a bank loan. With that offer, we felt that it wasn't as risky, so we made an offer. 

Then we didn't hear anything back for another month, so we thought it was gone again. They called after a few weeks, and said they would accept our offer, but wanted to close earlier. We had about two weeks with thinking/talking about closing dates, but in the end another couple came in and made an offer and wanted it immediately. That took away our opportunity to close later, but we are thankful that they took our offer.

So, we are THRILLED to say that we ended up buying their house, through a private sale, and we are closing TODAY! While it's earlier than we wanted to close, since we aren't moving until Christmas-ish, it's working out super well. Now we have time to paint and get everything ready before we move, and we can move stuff in slowly over time.

All in all, I am really happy and content with how this process turned out. Even though it took a long time to figure out, that time helped me learn to depend on God and not on things. Since the house came and went so many times, we had to trust Him to provide with what He has in mind for us. If He gave us the house, great. If not, He had something else in mind. I am thankful that God really gave me a peace throughout this process. I am usually a huge worrier, and not that I didn't worry during this (because I certainly did), but God blessed me with a great sense of peace in that He was taking care of us. And He certainly was/is! 

We are homeowners! I am so excited to bring our baby home there and to take this next step with our family, although it will be really sad to leave Des Moines.

I'm ready to make our house a home!


1 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your new house! The house looks amazing from the photo that you’ve shared. I haven’t had the chance to view your recent updates about the house, but I hope things are doing great for you guys. Anyway, it’s great that you were able to avail a loan for it, it did make it easier and faster for you to close the house. Thanks for sharing this with us, Kesley. All the best!


    Tasha Reeves @ West Coast Mortgage Group

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