We have amazing news...a testimony to the Lord's AMAZING graciousness and faithfulness!! He has given us a wonderful home...a better home than we could have asked for or imagined! We are sooo excited! Let me explain His work in all this...
We thought we were going to buy another house a couple weeks ago...but after the inspection revealed there was a lot more repairs needed than we thought, we walked away from that home...a little disappointed and only 30 days from when Ben was supposed to start school, we felt we were back to square one again...with nothing on the horizon. So, we went back to looking for homes and a home I had seen online a month ago (that I had liked) had JUST come down $10k (God-o-ince #1). Even at this point it was still a little over where we had set our cap, but we figured, let's go look at it and if we love it, we could just put an offer in and test the waters. Afterall, we have had lots of practise putting offers in on homes...this was the fourth! - Praise the Lord for closing doors...In fact, every time He closed the door on the others I was like "Thank you Jesus for protecting us from making a mistake!!" We knew He was into all the little details and had a perfect home for us...it just took us a while to find it! :)
Well, all that to say, we loved it! It has a living room, a dining room, a large kitchen, a family room and a great sunroom which we will make the kid's playroom. So, we put an offer on it and the seller countered, again a higher number than we wanted. So, we countered back at our cap and just told her this was all we could afford, and after finding out Ben was a school teacher and I was a stay-at-home mommy, she accepted our offer because she is a retired school teacher (God-o-ince #2). We were SO excited because the home is move-in-ready. They just re-carpeted, repainted inside and out, and put down new vinyl everywhere. Yes, the finishes are not my "ideal", but hey, it's totally clean and livable till we can save up to do some special stuff down the road! It is in one of THE best school districts (Hiteon, Conestoga, Southridge) in Beaverton, and we're walking distance from the elementary school and a short bike ride to the Conestoga Rec Center and Southridge High School.
After a few days we had the home inspected. There were several major-minor things that came up that we really didn't have the cash for, but these were repairs that needed to be done. We had several contractors come out and give us bids for some drainage repairs, roof repairs, deck repairs and mold removal...it topped $9000!! So, we sent the seller a repair request for the entire amount hoping she would help with a couple thousand or at least half. We got word a few days later that she wanted to cover ALL of it!!!!! - All $9,000!!! (God-o-ince/blessing #3)!! I was screaming with excitement because it was WAY more than I could have asked for or imagined!! Then our mortgage guy did some amazing "tricks" and was able to use some of that money to buy our rate down, thereby reducing our monthly payment by over $35/month and still giving us some cash to buy a few pieces of furniture or appliances AND take care of all the repairs!! (God-o-ince #4) So, as of today, we will be signing papers next Monday or Tuesday, closing on Wednesday the 13th and moving in on Saturday the 16th!!! This home is a little less than 1800 square feet (our last home was 975 square feet) it was built in 1983 (20 years newer than our last home), is in Washington county, in a better school district and we are paying $35,000 less for it than what we sold our Multomah Village home for!!!!!!! It is like a dream!!! - again, better than we could have asked for or imagined!! I guess it was worth being homeless for 3 months!! :) haha!
We feel SO full and sooo blessed that the Lord has been soooo gracious to us! Praise Him sooo much!! And yes, we'll probably have an open house once we get a little settled in...I'm so excited we'll actually be able to have over more than 2 couples at a time!! Thank you everyone for your prayers!! We'll be home in less than 2 weeks!!
Here's a
virtual tour
Hi all! I've had several requests for pics so here you go! These are the move in pics...so, these will be the before pics. I obviously have LOTS planned for this wonderful little home, but it will be an over time/gradual change. The only thing we're doing now is painting all the trim white and all the walls some "designer" colors. You can use your imagination until you can stop by yourselves!! :)
Pretty much original 80s! :) But we love it because it's got all the room we need and is so clean!
This sunroom is the kid's play room! It's perfect because it's really in the middle of all the living areas, so no matter where we are, they feel really close by! It'll be great for game nights and for parties because the kids have a central area to play and us adults can hang out without having them at our feet! :) :)
The back yard isn't huge, but perfect for us. There are lots of schools/parks near by, so there will be plenty of places to go when the weather is nice!
