2017 Part Two - New Home

Soon after accepting a new job that required my family to relocate to Lancaster, PA, we began the process of selling our home and searching for a new one.  As we began the process of listing our home for sale, I instantly regretted my procrastination of the home improvement projects that my wife had been asking about for months.  Time and money now didn't allow for much more than a quick bathroom renovation and some light painting, but apparently it was enough.  We were very blessed to find a buyer within 3 weeks, which put our house hunting into overdrive.

My best friend, Scott, and his wife allowed me to stay at their place so that I could start my new job until we were able to relocate to the area.  Their incredible generosity allowed me to focus on work during the day and spend the evenings house hunting.  Unfortunately, it also meant that my amazing wife would have to take care of the children on her own while also continuing to work three days a week.  My family spent a lot of time on FaceTime in the evenings to help us stay connected while we were apart.  Some of my evening chats were fun and silly, while others ended with teary-eyed pleas for me to come home.  It was tough, but we knew it would be worth it in the end.

We understood our "needs" and "wants" when it came to a new home, and we were prepared to make the necessary concessions on our wants in order to meet our needs.  With what seemed like very little effort, we assembled a list of several homes that we wanted to check out.  At the top of our list was a great home that, despite being a little far from my job, seemed perfect for us.  To be thorough, we checked out a few other homes before making an offer on it.  We carefully negotiated our terms with the owners, who seemed quite committed to selling to us despite our need for a contingency on the sale of our home.  It was "for sale by owner", so we had some additional hoops to jump through in order to get our offer submitted.  Our realtor graciously volunteered to help us submit our offer "free-of-charge", assuring us we would only have to pay a small administrative fee to her office if our offer was accepted.  What she didn't tell us is that her next phone call would be to the sellers to ask for a 3% commission.  This nearly cost us the deal.  The sellers responded by giving us 24 hours to find a lawyer to draft the agreement before they moved on to other offers.  It wasn't until we shelled out nearly $600 in attorney fees that they told us they wanted to be able to accept a better offer right up until our closing date.  This was non-negotiable for them and unacceptable for us.  Frustrated at having wasted nearly 3 weeks on this process, we moved on and resumed our search.

One of many homes that didn't make the cut.

We looked at several other houses over the next few weeks.  Most of the homes were in bad neighborhoods, had poorly-rated schools, or needed significant repairs.  We certainly didn't mind getting a 'fixer-upper' with good bones, but we couldn't afford a major project.  Our search eventually turned up another charming and affordable home in a nice development, so we decided to check it out.  We hadn't wanted to move into a big development, but we also hadn't considered the sense of community that these types of developments could offer.  The first thing I noticed as I arrived was the many families with children outside playing and the sound of laughter all around.  I was excited that this could be our new neighborhood.  The house was pretty great too.  It was fairly new and in need of no major repairs.  It had a great layout, enough (but not too much) space, and a decent yard with a spectacular sledding hill.  Unfortunately, Dara couldn't make it to the showing, so she would have to settle for cellphone video footage of the walk through.  We knew we needed to make an offer on this house, and fast!  The closing on our home was just a short 5 weeks away, and we didn't have any more time to waste.  Just for fun, and because I had a little extra time that afternoon, I asked my realtor to show me another home that was just around the corner in the same neighborhood.  It was definitely out of our budget, but it kept showing up on our Internet searches and seemed amazing in the photos.  In person, it did not disappoint.  We loved everything about it except the price.  Dara agreed, and we decided to put in an offer on the more-modest home that night.

The next day, we received a call from our realtor.  She was having trouble reaching the owner to find out if our offer was accepted.  We said a prayer and continued to wait.  A few hours later, we received another call.  Our realtor sounded frustrated and explained to us that the owner had abruptly left the country, with no response to our offer.  In fact, she didn't even know if or when the owner would return.  We felt defeated.  With less than 5 weeks to find and close on a new home, we became desperate.

Dara and I spent several long nights on the phone revisiting all of the other homes we had seen.  We didn't want to rush into a home that we'd regret, but we also realized that we needed to lower our expectations if we were to find something quickly.  To avoid "buyer's remorse", I suggested that we just needed to find a rental.  Dara wasn't crazy about the idea, but it was certainly more attractive than going into debt for a home that we hated.  Do you want to know how many rentals we found in Lancaster County that would be big enough for the four of us and was willing to allow our 3 dogs?  Two.  One of them was out of our budget, and the other was just awful.

The next few days were torture for me.  I obsessed over the worst that could happen if we couldn't find a place to live before our house was sold.  Would we actually be homeless?  Probably not, but we'd definitely have to continue living apart, find storage for all of our possessions, and board our dogs for weeks using money we didn't really have.  I lived a constant panic attack for two straight days.  When I came home from work, Scott asked if I was alright.  I could see that he was genuinely concerned.  I wasn't ok.  I was terrified.  I went upstairs, fell to my knees, and buried my face into my hands.  I began asking myself: "What have I done?"  "Am I making a mistake?"  "Will I be able to take care of my family?"  "What is going to happen to us?"  I cried out to God: "Please help us"  It was at that moment that I realized I had replaced my praying with worrying several days earlier.  I had stopped trusting that God would provide, and I was back to trying to do things on my own.  No wonder things seemed to be an unmanageable mess!

The next day, I shared my realization with Dara.  She hadn't lost faith and she assured me that everything would be ok.  She suggested we revisit our list of prospective homes again.  Of course our dream home showed up again and we joked about whether or not the sellers would accept a low offer.  We had skipped over it so many times since starting our search, but this time we somehow felt compelled to seriously consider it.  We had exhausted all other options and already tried to buy two previous homes with no success.  With nothing to lose, we prayed about it, double-checked our budget,  and decided to make a crazy offer.  The next day, our realtor informed us that the sellers had just left for vacation.  (Of COURSE THEY DID!)  We simply laughed and kept praying.  God surely has a sense of humor.  This was in His hands, and we knew it. 

Less than 24 hours later, we learned that the sellers accepted our offer and we were under contract for our new home!  It was an incredible blessing after one of the most difficult tests of faithfulness that I have ever faced.  This journey certainly reminded me that God will provide for us, and His plan is often different than what we're expecting.