Our Home

Our Home- Snow Day Friday January 18, 2013

We have been on a journey! To be honest it began all the way back in Spring of 2011 when we decided to relocate to Blacksburg and had two rental homes fall through. It was an emotional roller coaster searching online from a distance and when we landed a contract for rental home number three we were just happy to have it settled and done - albeit site unseen.

Summer of 2012 our landlords asked us if we would ever have an interest in buying our house from them. They were looking into purchasing another home and toying with the idea of dropping to one less mortgage. We told them it sounded like an appealing idea and to keep us posted. We did some initial homework on budgeting and home buying to see if we were crazy to consider it and felt like it could be potentially a good risk for us. Well time went by and nothing more came of it. We passed them on a walk in September and it sounded like their house buying was at a standstill. So we felt a little bummed, but dismissed it and moved on. Or so we thought. 

Over Thanksgiving break, we got an email from our landlords telling us they were in final negotiations on buying a home and asking us if we were still interested in purchasing our house from them. We felt a bit thrown because time had passed and we were getting closer to being on the back half of Jonathan's  program where we felt there was less likelihood to invest long-term. But we were still intrigued at buying a home that we love and already live in and also not wanting to move out if someone else bought it. So we talked with our friends and family and read a lot and prayed. We asked them for a price point to know if we could even realistically talk further. 

After getting a price, we did some more homework. We were grateful to get paired up with a local realtor with much experience in the Blacksburg market who was willing to help us youngins out pro bono. Market analysis and property evaluation was done to give us a value recommendation. Knowing that we will potentially resell in two year's time we needed to feel like this could be a smart investment. We also got pre-approved for a mortgage during this time with a local bank. So three weeks later all these numbers were gathered and our decision was to move ahead with a counter offer. 

(Christmas happened next)

Three weeks later we heard a reply and a little more back and forth chatter on email. Next we invited them over for tea and cookies (a side note of how my colleague from the UK is rubbing off on me) and discussed some price negotiations in person. Two hours later we all felt confident about moving forward on an agreed upon figure and enjoyed quite a bit of side tangent conversation in the process. 

Three days later we all sat with a real estate attorney to draw up a contract for us since they are selling without a realtor. On the same day I had a meeting at work with our VP to talk about the additional work my co-Assistant Director and I have been doing since our Director left in October. As a wonderful surprise we were given a bonus that will perfectly cover our closing costs on this house. My eyes welled up and I tried as hard as I could to keep it together in the big fancy VP office, but ultimately failed. What an incredible blessing and provision for us!

We signed and submitted the contract in February and have been in the waiting stages of underwriting and preclosing preparations. Today at 4pm we gave our signatures and initials about forty times over and an hour later we are officially home owners!

I am overwhelmed by the feeling of God's continued provision for us and the thought that two years ago I was so discouraged because two other rental houses fell through. What a provision!