We bought a home in December of 2005 after accidently stumbling upon it's open house during a whirlwind tour of downtown Oklahoma City apartments. The house was perfect. Not perfect condition (by any means) but perfect for us. We were an engaged couple and this 1914 craftsman style bungalow stole our hearts immediately. We did a lot of cosmetic work to the house and completely renovated the kitchen. We loved that house. We lived there when we got married, we lived there during highs and lows and it was the first house for our daughter. It holds a very special place in our hearts.
Our First Home - May 2012
But we knew the day would come when we would need to move as it was relatively small and for a growing family with multiple overnight guests, 1 bathroom wasn't going to continue to cut it.
So in the Fall of 2011, a situation arose and after some quick deliberation we felt it was the direction we were supposed to be taking. We put our house on the market and then waited. And waited. And waited. We had showing after showing and nobody would bite. As an interior designer it felt like a complete blow to have so many people look at your home and not be interested. The whole situation ended up unraveling just as quickly as it had started and I was so confused about where we were supposed to be.
We sat on it for awhile, changed up the living room to give myself a project, and then waited.
We decided when we were ready to make the plunge, we would put the little bungalow on the market and wait until it had sold to find our next home. There wouldn't be pressure to make it work, we wouldn't have to accept just any offer. It was the smart choice to make.
That decision to move came pretty quickly as we started to look into a little future planning and received some clarity on the impact of past events.
I lost my job at the end of February 2012, right after our daughter had turned one. I had been thinking about staying at home for awhile, but this didn't feel like the right time to do that. We had (and have) financial goals we want to accomplish and not finding another job might have kept my little ego tender. I didn't love the company I had been laid off by so I eagerly set off to find another job. I had a job interview at a competing company the same day I was let go and was offered a position the next, with an increase in salary. True story.
God is good.
Shortly after my move to the new company, a position in a different business unit opened that Paul was perfect for. He applied, they interviewed and he accepted. And now we work together, carpool and exercise at lunch. Also a true story.
Say it with me, "God is good."
After we sat back to look at the last few months, we realized the reason why the first move would not have been what was best for us. We didn't really want to live in the suburbs, we didn't really love the neighborhood, or even the house. It was just a convienent moment. We realized that it wasn't much bigger than our current house, an addition may have still needed to be made and it just wasn't us. With our new increases in salary and all the many factors that had occured since we first tried to sell, we could now afford a property that fit us (size and style) better.
So we set ourselves a deadline, met with our realtor and got the house on the market. Sold in a week. To a cash buyer. With 6 weeks to find a home and move out. Yep, another true story.
So we did what we said we would. We'd sell first, buy second. We'd know exactly how much money we had, there would be no guesses. And we had plenty of time to find a house.
Well that plenty of time went by faster than we imagined it would and we found ourselves down to the wire. After reviewing 50+ properties on the internet and 12 or so in person, we narrowed it down to a couple of contenders. And then, six twelve sixteenth made her appearance on Zillow. We toured the house with our dream goggles on and fell in love. It was forclosed on and in dire need of dire help. The more we stewed on it at home, the more we wavered on if it was the right deal for us. We took a second showing, and then after an agonizing morning of swapping turns at eachother's desks saying, "Yes! Let's do this!" while the other one frowned and said how bad of a deal they thought it was, we finally took the plunge (with our eyes closed) and placed an offer.
Six Twelve Sixteenth
(hopefully ours in a few weeks)
People that take risks, succeed. I don't know if that really applies here but that's what we are going to keep telling ourselves.
It's a big house. Two and a half times the size of our current home. And as I mentioned before in need of dire help.
We are set to close on both houses, July 12th, just a few weeks away. Paul will be gone for four of those days, and I a seperate six. There will be packing and paperwork and planning all occuring before we even fully own the home. So far we're a weird mess of extremely excited and somewhat terrified.
