Update on our Dover house.

Last Thursday our realtor called and said she had a showing scheduled for that night and would call us back to let us know how it went. Now this surprised me for 2 reasons. 1) our realtor isn't very communicative with us and 2) we haven't had many showings. The economy sucks so people aren't buying plus it's the HOLIDAY'S. It's common knowledge that NO ONE buys a house at this time of the year. They wait until Spring!! Honestly, we were resigned to the fact that we would be sitting on this house until at least March. So when June (the realtor) called me back that night to tell me that the showing went well and the couple would be going back through the next afternoon I was beyond shocked. The couple loved our house so much that they wanted to take a 2nd walk through it with someone who was an experienced homebuyer who knew what to look for. June told me she would call with the good, bad or ugly news right away.

I waited ALL day Friday for June's call. Which never came. On Saturday afternoon I asked Andy to call her just to put us out of our misery. I was sure the news was bad, or maybe even ugly, but I just needed to know. After June apologized profusely for NOT calling us back she told Andy the GOOD news. The 2nd walk through had gone better than the 1st. This couple declared our home absolutely perfect for the 2 of them. She loved the colors and architecture and the size of the bedrooms. They did declare the kitchen a tad small but ruled that out as a problem because apparently she doesn't cook. June told us they were currently living in a matchbox size apartment so our house seemed quite big to them overall. These are all the things I said when we first went through the house 11 years ago. I mean almost word for word!!

On Sunday night we got a call that they had put a bid on the house. It was 7,000 below asking price but was the best they could do. Plus they needed us to pay closing costs. Uhhh. Well we had a big decision to make. Their offer pretty much put us in the hole. We would have to walk into the closing with a substantial amount of money to make this deal work. Andy asked June to see if they could come up with any of the closing costs at all. June called back and said this couple was at the absolute TOP of what they could pay....but she did call the title company and they were willing to give us a 1,000 dollar break on closing costs. This deal still had us emptying out every penny of our savings account to make it work. But it would mean we would be free and clear of the house. As it stands now we pay our mortgage, insurance, taxes, gas, water, trash pick up and electric bill each month. To the tune of around 900 dollars. That's a lot of money to maintain a house we don't live in. Not to mention the people who have been doing upkeep for us. Mary and Randy and Gpa Bud and Gma Ruth. Now they don't charge us anything but we feel awful that they have so lovingly put so much time and manpower into our home for us.

June has been telling us since about 2 weeks after we signed her contract that she felt we would need to do a short sale. She was almost encouraging the short sale in a way. But we looked into it and knew it would wreck our credit. It's one step away from a foreclosure. It would have taken us 2 years before a bank here would ever even consider giving us a loan to buy a new home. We had considered renting it out but were afraid of tenants that wouldn't pay rent. And upkeep of things like the furnace and roof. If anything broke or tenants bailed on us we would've been in a world of hurt. Maybe financially ruined.

So after a lot of prayer we decided to accept the offer!! We definitely feel that God is working in all of this. First the amount we will have to pay is exactly what we have in the bank. Second this couple LOVES our house. Which is very very important to me....because I love the house and want it taken care of. Third...like I said before houses do NOT tyically sell at this time of year in a normal time....but in a crappy economy at Christmas? Fourth...the buyer's name is Lori. That's right same name as me. Fifth...wait for it people.....they are currently living in the same apartment we lived in when we bought the house!!!!! Now how likely is that? Not very I tell ya!!

Where does everything stand right now? There will be an inspection tomorrow. If all goes well with the inspection we will be closing on the house by the First of the year. I'm not panicked about any of it at all because I feel God moving. Whether the deal goes through or not I know He is taking care of it all. As long as we are putting our trust in Him we'll be good to go.

On that note...please keep in mind that finances are going to be very tight for us this Christmas. And gifts may reflect our brokeness!! If I could I would buy for each and every person out there and feed all the hungry and buy toys for all the children who won't get any...because that's where my heart is. However my bank account is not quite there. As it stands now my kids won't even be getting much of their lists. But Andy does have a good job which is stable for now. We have a warm roof over our heads and food on the table. We aren't losing any sleep at night worrying about paying our bills like so many other people out there right now. We are healthy and happy. What more could we ask for? We have all our needs taken care of just lacking a bit in the wants category. And you know what? I am eternally grateful for that!!!