(Belated) Adventures in Real Estate Part 4: The Cutest House on the Block

For years, I spent my Sunday afternoons the exact same way... Watching endless hours of House Hunters on HGTV while I looked at houses for sale online.  I knew that while I did love my little townhouse, I certainly didn't want to stay there forever.  One Saturday evening in early May, I found myself watching a House Hunters marathon, and instinctively, I picked up my iPad and opened the Zillow app, which was set to filter new listings in Lexington.  That's when I saw it... The Cutest House on the Block. OMG, it was adorable.  It was everything I wanted in a house: an older home, hardwood floors, a fireplace, back deck, and a porch swing! It was even on a street I'd always loved, and the icing on the cake: walking distance to Commonwealth Stadium. I fell in love. 

As luck would have it, there was an Open House scheduled the next day. Sunday afternoon at 2 rolled around and the storms rolled in.  I thought it was ridiculous to get out in the downpour to see a house I probably wouldn't even get, but I decided to do it anyway.  When I got there, it was even cuter in person.  The rooms were just big enough (I am not a "this master bedroom isn't big enough" kind of girl), the closets were a good size for a house built in 1920 (I am not a "where's the walk in closet?" kind of girl either). The master bathroom (!) was huge, but the kitchen threw me off.  I actually stood in the corner with my arms crossed for long enough that the owner/realtor came over and said "Can I answer any questions?" I replied with, "Yeah, how do you cook in here?"  It just seemed so SMALL, and it didn't even have a dishwasher.  Hmmm... maybe this wasn't the house for me.

But I couldn't stop thinking about it. So I emailed the owner and asked her the dimensions of the bedrooms, which happened to be almost identical to my townhouse. Monday morning at work I was showing everyone the listing on LBAR, and then I got an email from the owner that someone was about to make an offer.  I was so sad! I hadn't even called a realtor to get my townhouse listed yet! So I decided to go ahead and get that started... but before my realtor could even get my townhouse listed, the Cutest House on the Block was "Sale Pending."  Then I was REALLY sad.  As Cinderella (the 80's band, not the Disney Princess) says "Don't know what you've got til its gone..." I'd lost this house I loved.  But the kitchen was small.  And it didn't have a dishwasher.  I don't think I wanted it anyway (I told myself).

I decided to go ahead with the house search, as I had my townhouse listed, and I really did want to move.  I looked at several houses in the same general area... but nothing that I really loved.  Then one day my realtor said he had a new listing to show me in that area.  "Where is it?" I asked and he replied with an address that sounded very familiar.  It was The Cutest House on the Block.  It was back on the market.  We went the next afternoon and it was cuter than I'd remembered.  I could see myself here.  It had everything I wanted.  And while the kitchen was still lacking a dishwasher, I swear it grew in size from the first time I'd seen it.  Plus, I can wash dishes by hand. Heavens, I'm only feeding one person, and sometimes that person just wants a bowl of Lucky Charms!

It had been several weeks and no one had even looked at my townhouse yet.  I wasn't sure this trying to move was a good idea.  I prayed about it and figured it wouldn't hurt to talk to the bank.  The loan officer asked if I was going to move before I sold my townhouse.  I'm pretty sure I looked at him like he had seven heads and said something profound like, "Ummmm.... NO!" However, for some reason, they ran my preapproval with my townhouse mortgage still listed as a monthly expense. It came back preapproved for just over the list price of The Cutest House on the Block (at this point, I realize I could begin to abbreviate it as TCHOTB but I don't want to). So while I knew it wasn't logical to proceed in buying a house when I already owned a house, I did have some options at this point.

I decided to put an offer on the house, contingent on my townhouse selling.  After a touch of back and forth (where I found out I couldn't have the pot rack or the porch swing!), we had a contingency contract signed. Once my contingency offer was accepted, I had to decide if she got another offer, and I had the chance to pull my contingency, would I do it? It seemed ridiculous. I decided to pray about it.  I prayed a LOT about it, and I just really felt like God would work out the details.  So, I called the bank, then my realtor, and decided to go ahead and pull the contingency clause out myself to get the ball rolling.  After all, I did want to be in by football season!

So six months ago today, I signed my life away, and got the keys to my house.  My REAL house. The Cutest House on the Block.  I couldn't move in until she got the rest of her stuff out, which was that night, but I was so anxious (and have such good friends) that we brought over one truckload and one Equinox-load at about 10pm. We brought in the washer and dryer, cleaning supplies, and several boxes. I gave the McCartys the tour and then for good measure we took the first pic!

Lucky for Ryan, he has this thing called a regular job, which might require him to work weekends.  His wife, however, does not have that luxury and I was thankful for that.  On that Saturday, we attended the UK Women's Football Clinic...

Painted a refrigerator... (I wish we had a picture of us trying to get the fridge outside!)

Seriously, how awesome is this?

Where we learned about the dangers of DIY...




We also moved a full size cherry bed, mattress, and box spring (another thing I wished I had video of), wandered around Lowe's for what seemed like forever looking for approximately three things that we COULD NOT FIND, and then drove off from the drive thru window of Chick Fil A with only part of our order.  Yeah, we were tired.

I'm blessed that in the hottest summer ever (do you guys remember that thing... "hot"?) somehow that day, the weather was wonderful. Because of that, and because somehow I have pretty amazing friends, the next day three more people showed up to help me move! Even better than that, two were guys and the other is the strongest girl I know, (thanks again Bret, Micah, and Amanda!), so by about 4pm on Sunday, I was in.  And by IN, I mean in the middle of boxes. That's when I called in reinforcements by the name of Whitney.  I still say that had she not come over, my dining room would be filled with boxes to this day.  After three days of moving I couldn't even think straight.  I said "I can't do it! I can't decide where all the things in those boxes go! I can't!" And sweet Whitney, who probably thought I was acting like HJ, picked up one thing and said "How about this bowl? Where is this bowl going to go?" And she kept me out of the boxes and just brought me things one at a time until it was all put up.



So that's the story. Six months later I couldn't be happier.  Oh, and a few notes for the road: I unexpectedly got a raise at work enough to cover the townhouse mortgage, then I found a renter who signed a 2 year lease. Also, I found out that the day I put in my contingency offer on this place, there were two other offers that were supposed to come in, but they both backed out at the last minute.  When God works out the details, He does a really good job! :)