You bought a house site unseen?

You bought a house sight unseen? Yup!

We are going to be celebrating 20 years of marriage this year. I can not believe it. In our 20 years, we have lived in an apartment in the following cities: College Station, Houston, Boston, and Chicago. When we lived in Newton, Ma, we had an opportunity to rent a duplex when Braedon was born. This was our first experience in “home ownership”. We had a bit of land, fireplace, more room, and that homey feel.

When we moved to Chicago, we had one child at who was almost one and another child on the way. We met with a realtor and searched around Hyde Park looking at condo after condo and even a town home. Because we were unsure of the best location and just didn’t have a good idea, we decided to move into a 2 bedroom apartment temporarily until we got our bearings.  I say temporarily because I did not want to live in a cramped apartment for more than 1 year. Our family was expanding and I wanted more space.

After a year, we began our search again knowing the area very well. Again, we looked at more condos and a few town homes. Our biggest downfall was money. The market was at its highest and we only had one income. We found a townhome we could afford and really took our time inspecting the place. In the end, we felt we were rushing to meet our need to have a bigger place. The space would have worked, but we did not want to overextend ourselves financially.

The search continued and about a few years later the prices dropped. The mortgage crisis had hit and we thought this is great for us. Another town home in a different part of town hit the market and we were hooked. It was smaller than the other townhome, but it had a bit of land we could utilize. We immediately placed a very low bid. We had researched the market and knew the prices. After all, we were looking for 4 years now. This was a very hot property and we were naïve first time buyers. The seller’s agent was not very nice to us and it scared us off. We again held off, but continued searching online.

By this time we had child number three and we were at maximum capacity. It is amazing how creative one can be in tiny spaces. One of our saving graces is that we had an outdoor space that was the length of our apartment. We had an 8-foot-high brick wall which did not allow them to get out or intruders into our space. We could go outside even if it was just for a few minutes or for hours. This also allowed us to put up a bird feeder to view the local foul and we were visited daily by a few squirrels.

As more time passed and the kids began to grow, I felt our need for a home, a yard, space, and the idea of owing something. We thought a move to the suburbs was going to give us all that we wanted. Sure that would mean a major commute for Rich, but we thought it might be worth the price. We found ourselves admiring the Palos Park area and found a home that had great land, but the house was small. I thought it was a good price and we could always expand. It needed some work and updating, but that is what we love about these houses. You can put your own stamp on it throughout the time you live there. We were so in love with this house, we called the realtor to take a tour. It was lovely. Rich was hesitant, we still needed to build up our egg nest and he wasn’t sure about the commute. So, we passed.

Our search continued as we looked online and drove around houses near my parents, but there was always something that dissuaded us. It was either location, something wrong with the house, too close to the highway, and crime that made is run the other way. I thought for sure we would never get a house and we would be living in our apartment.

I finally gave Rich an ultimatum that we either needed to buy something or we were going to rent. Since the housing market was terribly, rent was not cheap and therefore it was not an option. I didn’t know what to do. All I could do is just keep living day to day and support my hubby. 

Then we went on a vacation traveling west and landing in Idaho. Everything was magical, new, and exciting. Who wouldn’t want to pack up and go to a new land? This is what are forefather’s did, right? Surprisingly, when we returned back to Chicago, we began driving around Palos again and started searching again.

We happened upon a house in Palos we thought we could afford, but it was a fixer-upper. It had no kitchen, the bathrooms were gutted, but we saw there was a lot of potential. This was a bank-owned house and we placed a bid. The bank counteroffered and came down only a bit. We could not afford the full price and still be able to fix it up. The bank didn’t really want to budge on the price, but we knew all of the details of the house and how much money it would take to just get in the door. We had a price in mind of where we felt comfortable living and maintain the house. It was very, very tight. Was this what we wanted in home ownership? We were already going to be knee deep in repairs before we get into the house. We stood firm on our price, but the bank would not come down. We passed again.

Luckily, we did because soon after we found Rich had lost his job. Sure if we bought the house, Rich could have found something else, but I feel he would be settling. Of course if you read the prior posts, you know how we ended up in Idaho.

When we were considering this move, we looked online at a lot of houses, land, and various options. During Rich’s interview, he was able to drive around, tour houses, and get a lay of the land. He took videos and gave me his opinions of what would work for us. You see, Rich never purchases anything (well almost anything) without doing research first. There are times when I get frustrated because I just need an item, but he always waits.

I trust his vision and heck after almost 20 years of marriage; I would think he would know me very well. He did a terrific job picking out our house and we are living our dream.