house photos

So many have asked for description of the house/photos.  Now that the contract is official, here is the description & a bunch off the realtor's website:


GORGEOUS VIEWS from this newer (built 2002) 5160 sq.ft. home on 6.24 horse-friendly acres. 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths. End of cul-de-sac just 4 paved miles west of Kalispell. Library, 10' ceilings, granite, stainless steel appliances, tile, large kitchen pantry, 2 gas fireplaces, main-floor master, large redwood deck, upstairs & main baths with double sink vanities, large unfinished room above garage.

2 long days

So yesterday, the seller was in Glacier, his agent was on a family vacation in MN, and we were traveling from Kalispell to Anaconda via Missoula... so real estate paperwork got tied up a bit.  Then there was a miscommunication at the selling agent's office, and we didn't see it until around 8 tonight!  FINALLY, the papers are signed on both ends, so we have a contract on a house in Kalispell!

Now to get ours on the market...  the 2nd Market Value Analysis was completed today, so we should be able to list this week!

Amid all this, a bunch of great lady friends threw a baby shower for our 5th baby today, so the reality of welcoming him/her is becoming more clear!

Thanks for standing by!

March 29

Today is the day we submitted an offer on a new home!  The sellers have until noon Friday to respond to the offer.  I am so excited to finally have peace about something "locked in".  Psalm 138 and the last half of Deuteronomy 8 has been such a comfort to me this week.  Part of my trial of faith has been hesitation to accept something so much bigger, newer, fancier than any place we've lived in our married life.  So with scripture and timing, God has reassured me.  We will probably get to tour the house again along with the children this afternoon.  Once the contract has been accepted by the sellers, I will share photos!  Thanks for standing by!

Wednesday

Day off.


Adrian went back to work today, but we are still in our "new" location.  I took the day off homeschooling, real estate browsing, and just chilled with the kids in the hotel.  Ella was sick this morning, and my body sure needed the rest.  I was submitted to the possibility of having to return home without finishing the task of finding a home. 

Rest, prayer, Bible reading, and quiet thoughts were so helpful today.  Since we have 2 good options in our hand, we are going to make an offer on the "big" house.  If for some reason God doesn't want us to be there and it falls through, we will promptly make an offer on the "smaller" house (which by the way is 3x the size of the one we're currently living in!).  I am absolutely ecstatic about whichever becomes ours.

I'm glad to be in harmony with my husband tonight after so much rollercoastering, discussion and disagreement.  And thankful to know that God is watching every detail, and He will be orchestrating the outcome, as we have asked!


I'm so glad that no need is too big or too small for the Lord to hear and attend to us for.  Praying especially for Lindsay & Kelvin and Mark & Julie tonight!  May your burden be lighter because of God's grace and our love!  <3

Mon/Tues

We have toured 15 or more properties.  


One of the 3 that broke our hearts by going under contract last week came back on the market Monday, so we got to see it.  It is a beautiful home in an amazing setting.  Adrian got so excited about it yesterday that we made an offer after seeing it once.  I was less excited about jumping in that quickly, but following his lead, and believing it was a chance that could be yanked away again.  


Then I spent the evening completely upset-- sobbing and worrying and not able to sleep the whole night.  After looking through the HOA covenants, I was really concerned we didn't want to be restricted that much.  It restricted things like no llamas/rabbits, only certain kinds of buildings, no shrubs or fences above 5 feet, no fires.  Honoring me, Adrian called off the offer this morning, before the sellers signed.  I felt terrible for Adrian and the realtor, but was forgiven, picked myself up, and we toured 3 more today.

Now we have seen everything that's within our search criteria in this area.  What was my favorite house Sat/Sun/Mon is now Adrian's favorite, and I'm having hesitations again.  And wishing I had kept my mouth shut about the one we had an offer on.  This whole meant to be or not meant to be thing is getting confusing.  

The moral of the story: DON'T shop for real estate when you are 8 months pregnant!!!

I'm soooo glad tomorrow will be a new day!

Fri/Sat

Friday we met our realtor and find him to be a proactive, very knowledgeable guy.  He has lived in the valley for 35 years and been at real estate for 30, so he can answer every question we come up with.  I also feel he is honest with us about a property's value vs price.  We drove around with him for 5 hours looking at 5 homes.  There was only 1 of those 5 that I could imagine living in, but Adrian liked a different property better.


Saturday we toured 4 more homes, and only one of them had Adrian and I both saying "wow".  In my opinion, it has everything on our wish list except for excellent guest quarters.  Since it could still be usable, I would consider it.  Adrian liked the location, property and house, other than the fact that it doesn't have trees.  Well, trees or views... you can't have both.  The places we viewed that were heavily wooded like his childhood home didn't have views-- just a different feel.  


Another place we viewed is $150K below our price range limit, and is in a very quiet spot.  The owners were home, and we found out the man is dying of cancer.  At the end of the tour, the man of the house even told Adrian he could throw in his $20K pickup truck and plow, since he won't be needing it.  It was hard not to get caught up in the emotions of the owners' needs, or the fact that we could probably make a lot of $$$ by changing a few things and selling it.  The house has an unfinished basement and pink carpeting that would need to be changed immediately. It would be a bit of a project for us, and could even be fun.  We could afford to have the work hired out, yes.  But we had previously agreed not to get a house that required any remodel.  Hmmm...


It is a very interesting experience to be looking at homes that are all newer, nicer and considerably larger than the one we have.  They almost all offer horse/chicken and acreage options.  And yet... we have to narrow the list.  I have a 15 point grading system of the features that are important to me/ us, in order to give every home a similar review.  I'm taking lots of notes.  I've found that "sleeping on it" helps a lot, as I am able to clear away all the details of every home and decide whether or not I could actually picture our family living there!


We are taking Sunday off real estate hunting, and will resume Monday.  Monday we have 6 more properties lined up to tour.  One of them is one of the 3 original homes we were disappointed to hear were under contract-- seems the contract has fallen through, so we get a chance to see it.  I'm guessing after that, we'll narrow it down to 3 real possibilites.    Also after that, we'll have the kids along with us for 2nd showings, and it will be fun to have their opinion!  I'll post more Monday afternoon!!

Thurs stats

So many have asked, so I find it easiest to post little updates here while we are in the house hunting phase!  Tonight we had a chance to drive by 3 more properties and give them a thumbs up/down for a showing. 
As of tonight, we have:
7 houses we would like to tour
9 houses we need to drive by, to determine if we need a showing
24 houses we have ruled out

We have a 4+ hour appointment with the realtor tomorrow, and will be seeing the inside of some homes for the first time!  We have a wonderful friend and babysitter who has traveled from her home in Plains to help us out with the kids, so we can focus on these properties without the children underfoot!  I only wish I had brought my snow boots, as we are getting some fresh snow!  This is a perfect time to see properties because they are probably at their "ugliest" of the year: brown yards, barren trees, and mud.  If we like it now, we'll probably love it in summer and winter!  :)

More tomorrow...