House hunting is not for the faint of heart I tell ya. You should also be required to purchase a home BEFORE you get married. Its an amazing example of negotiations and compromises, and as we call them in our house, "come to Jesus" moments.
I walked through at least 20 homes if not more.
I caught myself saying the same phrases over and over:
"Its got a great layout."
"It doesn't have a great layout"
"That carpet has to go"
"Gorgeous kitchen."
"What were they thinking?"
"Can we afford this?"
And we fell in love with one house. A house that upon walking into Bryce and I both knew this was the house we wanted. It had imperfections. All houses do. But we saw such stunning beauty and could imagine great gatherings there.
Through this whole process we repeatedly told ourselves, if it's meant to be, it will be. The right home is out there for us. And when it happens its going to feel right.
This house felt right. Felt really right. But we didn't get it.
It was a hard thing to accept. There were tears. We loved this house! I had already decorated it for Christmas in my mind! But we reminded ourselves, it was not meant for us. I hope the family who did get it will love it as much as we did.
So we moved along. Nothing really wow'd us. We started to doubt if there was something that we would both love as much as that first house. Then something fell into our laps.
New construction.
We didn't even initially consider this option. First time home-buyers, we didn't think we could even afford it. We met with the builder, priced out options (with lots of incentives-they know how to hook ya!) and sat dumbfounded. This might actually work.
We talked out pros and cons for hours. Talked it over with our parents for hours. The more we talked, the more excited we got. This felt right. There was zero anxiety about this.
Yes. We decided yes. We were going to do this.
The morning after we decided we wanted to build, my favorite artist came on the radio as the alarm went off (Goo Goo Dolls). A sign. It was meant to be. The day we signed the papers, it was 60 degrees and sunny. Another sign. The day we had our mortgage meeting it flurried briefly on our way there-another sign. If you are looking for them you can "create" a sign out of anything. But as calm as I felt, these little signs served as reminders that we were making a good choice. This was the right house. It hasn't revealed itself yet because it wasn't the right time. I'm a big believer that if I'm meant to have a new shirt, it will be in the color and size I want. Otherwise I wasn't meant to have it. So you better believe, that something as big as buying a house is, I was going to trust in the process.
So without further ado, we are the proud new homeowners of a plot of dirt that will eventually have our first home on it!
We should be ready to move August/September!
Follow along. #theselbyhome #yesterdaylane #theselbystories
