House Hunting

After the exciting events at the bank last week, Jeramy and I have been looking at houses that we could call our own! Sunday after church Mike Robinson, Jeramy and I went looking at our top three homes to consider. We're looking in the Norcross/Duluth area square (Buford Hwy, Beaver Ruin, Satellite and Pleasant Hill) it will keep for a brief commute to Jeramy's work and to our church home and church family.

The first home had A LOT of potential! There are four large bedrooms upstairs, dining room, living room, decent sized kitchen and den. The basement was finished with two more bedrooms, a full bath, kitchen and exterior door! The yard is large and would look very lovely and inviting after a good weekend's worth of work. There are some major issues, but A LOT of potential -- I can see it now: it would look great after A LOT of work. (Did I mention how much work? A LOT! Mainly cleaning.)

The second home we were not very interested in after walking inside. The exterior is very, very nice - brick front. The interior is okay. Just okay. There's no basement, 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. There is less square footage in this house than in the others we viewed. There is not near as much work to do to be ready to move in. The seller's asking price is too high for too little of house, so we moved on and wrote this one off our list.

The third house was very promising. It has 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms and very clean inside. There wasn't even so much as a cobweb or dead bug anywhere! The yard is kind of small, but very pretty with rose bushes in the front. There were two staircases to the upstairs and a vaulted ceiling in the foyer. Originally the house was purchased for $165,000 but is foreclosed. The basement is unfinished, already framed and is the full size of the house. The foundation is poured concrete and very dry with no cracks, leaks, cobwebs, bugs, etc. The house sits on a hill and the basement has two full-sized windows and a separate entry door. This is a very good house that Jeramy's craftsmanship over time could turn into a GREAT house.

So, the third house was our favorite and the first house is our backup. We put an official bid in to the bank this morning on the third house, but we will have to compete with another bid which price will not be disclosed. So, in order to guard my heart, I have already set myself up mentally that our bid will not be accepted and we will get the first house. Because of the exterior condition of the first house, we know that it's not as hot as the third one - it's been available for some time. But, regardless, the Lord is in control and He knows all things. He is sovereign. Whatever His will be, I will accept it or be bitter. My goal is to be content with whatever happens. I'm just so thankful that we can qualify to own our own home! Yay! We are in a time crunch though, because we've already notified our rental property that we will vacate by Sept. 30, the date our lease expires and are aiming for a closing date of Sept 15 to avoid double payments (on our townhouse and our new home). So, Lord willing, everything will go smoothly. Prayers are much appreciated.