From No House to Two House(s)

When I don’t know what to do, I play and pray.

This is a continuation of finding our home. You can read part I here, and part II here.

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I had to call the seller back. She had left me not one, but two voicemails. I took my cell phone to the highest location in the house to ensure a decent reception and took a deep breath.

We got down to business quickly. Instead of answering her inquiry, I asked if I might read our letter instead. I could hear her murmmered affirmations as I was reading, but once I got to the offering price I could hear the air suck in on the other side of the wire. I quickly assured her that, as Christians, we both know our sovereign God ordains all things, and that this transaction was obviously not in God’s will for either of our families. She agreed, and we parted amiably.

Back to searching real estate. After eight years of renting and over a year of earnestly looking for a home to buy, it was hard to be persistent. At this point we called our realtor (again) and got the whole process rolling (again) in our own community. Actually, it’s been a whole lot of again-ing since we moved out of the big house. Anyhow, we found maybe four houses to go look at. They were either seriously lacking in repair (not to mention level foundations), but had scrubby land attached, or they were clean and ready to move in, but had tiny backyards (which do I put in: a playset or a garden?).

That weekend, we visited a tidy home in a cul-de-sac, 35 minutes away from my husband’s work. It was a lovely home, but came with restrictions such as no visible clotheslines, and no dogs left outside in the evenings. I wasn’t sure how my old, large, livestock, outdoor-only dog would acclimate to a garage with a roof and walls, but we could afford this house so we joined thirteen other interested parties. We put in an offer over list, and our realtor even donated part of his own commission to make our offer look better. I think after all this time, he was just as motivated to get us into a house already!

Two days later, I was on the acupuncturist’s table when I got the call from the realtor. My practitioner and I listened on speaker.

“Arnie, I am literally on pins and needles here. Tell me.”

“Well, there was another offer on the house, and unfortunately, you were outbid.”

*sigh*

“Oh kay…”

“BUT.”

“But?”

“But they chose your family anyway.”

(eyes blinking rapidly now)

“What?”

“Yeahhh, they were just excited about having your family in their home. So they took your lower offer. Congratulations!”

Celebrations all around! Get the needles out of me and let me run home!

Tom and I signed all of the paperwork and we shared the news with our friends and family. We were very much in awe that a seller would take the lowest offer just to have children in a house, and so thankful, praising the Lord.

Two mornings later, I wrote out the earnest money check to take to the title company. We were really moving (AGAIN), but this time into our own home, not a rental. My phone rang, and I recognized the number. It was the seller of the old cedar house with the rambling property on acreage.

“Hi! It’s so nice to hear your voice! How are you?”

“Oh, Keri! I am such an idiot! This house belongs to you and your family! I can’t believe I let money get in the way of that and I am so sorry!”

(eyes blinking rapidly now, again)

“But…but remember our conversation? How it wasn’t God’s will? It’s ok! You’ll find a buyer and you’ll get every penny your family deserves. It will sell in days! And….I need to tell you. We already put in an offer for another house…and it was accepted.”

I could hear her own eyes blinking. The two most miserable people now, one on each line, heavy. She offered half a dozen scenarios that sounded implausible to me, but how could I just say no?

“Let me see what can be done,” I said.