Our House Story

As most of you know from Facebook, we recently sold our house and we’re moving in just over 3 weeks.  I figured I would give more details about how that all went about.

We started looking for houses at the beginning of February.  Jared mentioned it to his boss and his boss immediately brought him a feature sheet of a house and said, “Here’s one for you.”  The list price was higher than what we wanted to pay but Jared’s boss figured the owners would come down on their price.  We went to look at it and we really liked it.  Jared’s boss talked to the owners and at that time, they were willing to come down $5000 on the price, which was still high for us.  I felt like I was supposed to submit to whatever Jared decided, since he is the one who manages the finances.  I really wanted the house but was willing to let it go if that is what God was saying.  So, Jared went away on a men’s retreat the 2nd week-end in February.  He came back saying that God said no.  It was just beyond what was comfortable financially for us.  I was really disappointed, especially since my Mom and I had spent the week-end doing touch-up painting throughout our house, thinking that we might be listing it soon.  So, I let it go and just trusted that God had something else in mind for us.  We arranged to look at 4 other houses that week.  Jared’s boss told the owners of this house that we were going to look at other houses and got the feel from them that they would be willing to accept a much lower offer.  We went to see the other houses but didn’t love any of them like we did that first house.  So, we put in an offer that was $15,000 less than their asking price and they accepted it!  It was a happy Valentine’s day!  That was a miracle!  We then had 2 weeks to sell our house and had to get a certain price for it in order for everything to go through.  I asked if it was realistic to sell our house that quickly and he said, “No, it usually takes about a month.”  I knew that God could sell it quickly if He wanted us to move and He isn’t limited by what is normal or “the usual.” 

We got the house all ready and then left for the week-end before the showings started.  We got stuck a couple of hours away from home on the day we wanted to come back due to a bad snowstorm and had to stay an extra night away, so thankfully our house was clean and tidy because we didn’t make it home before the first showing on Tuesday, February 19.  That day we had 3 showings and 3 competing offers.  Competing offers are very rare in our area.  All 3 offers were above our asking price, which again, almost never happens.  I could see God at work!  The highest offer was $7300 more than our asking price, so we got quite a bit more for our house than we were hoping for!  Another miracle! 

It has been a whirlwind and now we’ve been shopping for everything we need, since it’s a brand new, empty house.  We got all of our kitchen appliances on sale, found big bathroom mirrors we wanted at a good price, got a discount on the bar stool chairs we bought and I just see God’s provision over and over.  Our current house is 950 sq. ft. plus a 650 sq. ft. basement, so that’s a total of 1550 sq. ft.  Our new house is 1325 sq. ft. on both floors, so that’s a total of 2650 sq. ft.  We live on a fairly busy street and we’ve always wanted to live on a non-through street.  This house is on a street that ends in a cul-de-sac and our house is in the cul-de-sac, so again, God provided!  I’ve also always wanted to have a house that’s big enough to host Bible Study groups and have parties without feeling like everyone is tripping over each other, plus more space for our family since we have maxed out our current house and now we’ll be able to do that.  As exciting as all of this is, I am honestly more excited about my blood test results coming back all good.  After struggling with health issue after health issue since before Christmas, to have been given a clean bill of health means more to me than a house.  God is so merciful and so good and I just praise Him!  We don’t deserve any of these blessings, but He just pours them out because of His love and goodness!