Where to Begin…

Where to begin…

When we sold our first home back in the fall, (a modern cabin-style home we spent the last four years restoring), I had no idea the full extent of the struggle we were about to meet as we began the search for our next home. But, I had set out determined to metaphorically float down the waters of uncertainty, ready to see where the universe might lead us. 

At first all seemed so promising, we found the perfect home, a 1960’s ranch style house with a pool- and a great price- unfortunately our escrow hadn’t closed on the house we were selling and contingent offers weren’t being accepted. 

We figured, well, we found one house we liked, surely more will be available in the next two weeks after we close… but wow were we wrong. 

That next month prices rose and inventory plummeted, and people become hungrier than ever to win bidding wars… some going as high as 100k over… which only lead to prices rising even further. 

We looked at countless homes, offered (or at least tried to offer) on a few. Only to find disappointment after disappointment- a bitter lesson for not just us but our children as well. They patiently toured homes with us, driving over an hour each way away to the areas we were looking, dreaming of what room might be theirs- IF we got it…

I had prepared them ahead of time best I could. Warned them that we might have to look at a few homes before finding our next house. That things might not work out. But it still got harder each time we had to tell them sorry, this isn’t the one. 

Then, just as we were losing hope. Just as we were ready to resign our ideas of being homeowners, to just rent somewhere for while— our incredible agent sent me a photo of an adorable 1930’s farmhouse, on almost a half acre, that was off market and an unbelievable price. 

I almost said no. My heart was so tired of looking for homes we couldn’t have, it was getting harder and harder floating aimlessly down this river that seemed to become muddier and muddier as each month passed. I was so tired of playing this game, of seeing such high prices for tiny homes. I was tired of being mentally spent, creatively feeling empty, I have a book to finish writing after all. 

But… we said yes. 

And the rest of this story I’ll save for the next post— because the waters are about to get a little bit choppy.