So Alas here is the new cottage. Chris and I have been looking for houses practically since we got married 4 1/2 years ago. We are so thankful that we didn't rush into this decision. When we were looking back in 2007 we had even put an offer on a house and thanks to the Lord we didn't get the bid. Later that year and in 2008 the market crashed and low and behold we were so very thankful for divine intervention....otherwise we would end up getting ourselves into a lot more trouble then we already do. So we put our house endeavors on hold for awhile to save up more money, get better paying jobs, and wait for the government to offer the $8000 tax credit. Ok, seriously we didn't see that coming either but we are sure glad we waited when that ended up happening.
When we started re-looking fall of 2009 we weren't incredibly keen on the idea. We really did love renting, and I had become accustomed to our cute little town of Chaska. Its one of those small towns right on the outskirts of the big city where it still has a main street, a family grocery store, malt shop, and activities in the park. I honestly don't think people lock their doors in the city of Chaska...its a city trapped back in time. However with all the joys of backwards time travel comes a high price tag to go with it. Any house, even the crappiest, dumpiest, "shack" in Chaska was way out of our price range. Therefore we new we were going to have to make the move closer into the big city. Chris grew up a city kid so he didn't mind this as much but I grew up in the country so this is always a struggle for me. Don't get me wrong I love the city when I get there, but the country naturally feels like home. As a girl who moved more than 10+ times before the age of 18 I don't like moving and I don't like change. Thats when Chris comes in and says "for crying out loud woman get a control on yourself" ok just kidding he would never say that, instead its more like "I can't afford to keep up with your expensive tastes so wife were moving to the city" ok I tease he didn't say that either. Instead I pulled up my bootstrapes and did what any red blooded american girl with a slight touch of addictive behavior would do. I scoured Edina Realty and the MLS constantly, feverishly for the perfect house to meet our needs in the big city. Yes I admit it was quite the problem there for awhile. I spent hours and hours and days looking for that perfect house.
Those of you who have ever bought a house in the last 2 years might know who challenging this actually is. Its not "oh cute house lets set up a showing and buy it" instead its "oh cute house, WHAT! its already sold?! Why is it still on the stupid MLS then?" Not to mention you need a Realtor just to see the house. That's no big deal you say to yourself. "HA!" I say. If your a Harings it is a big deal. We went through at least 4 Realtors trying to find a house just in 2009. You would be surprised how many Realtors expect to get paid just for unlocking a door for you. One example of this is when we had a terrible experience with a Realtor from Remax Associates Plus so I would not recommend this company ever. I was not happy with their service...and I am a pretty forgiving push over of a person. Alas we did find an awesome Realtor which we would with out a doubt recommend to all of our friends and as we have went through a few when you find a gem you treasure it. His name is Mark Reimler and he works for Edina Realty in Shakopee, MN. Look him up for all your home buying/selling needs.
So after we found our wonderful Realtor we had no problem finding a house. He was so on top of things, he helped me with my addictive house searching behaviors by beating me to the punch. He actually showed us houses I didn't find for him! What a novel idea, the Realtor finding houses for you. We finally stumbled across this delightful house and the second we were inside Chris and I knew this was the house that our dreams were made of. Well not really but this was the house our pocket book would allow our dreams to be made of.
After aggressively negotiating with the sellers that we were the best buyers for the house and convincing them that they did want to leave the drapes they used to so eloquently stage the windows of our soon to be new house, we were able to move in on March 15th. Ok we didn't exactly do any aggressive negotiations that was actually all Mark, but we were up against some other buyers on the house. When Chris and I suddenly arrived to our closing after weeks of throwing money around and faxing, emailing, and mailing every ounce of our most precious personal information, sweat and grantee to our first born child if we didn't pay our mortgage we were set to go. No they don't really make you give up your first born, but just about. As Chris and I blissfully listened to the closer explain to us that we were not going to have to pay as much as we thought in closing cost but we would have to pay more for the actual cost of the house we completely freaked. "Opps she said I grabbed the wrong closing package." Good we weren't going to have to pay a mortgage of $3000 a month I was starting to think of all the things I would need to say to Chris about what he had gotten us into after the closing. Instead I turned to Chris and said "whew, she had me scared there for a sec." After she grabbed the correct closing package we proceeded to sign, sign, and continue to sign every page that was put in front of us. The closer basically told us how we were writing our personal rights away and that this is an "ok" thing. Ok we really didn't sign our rights away but we did say that we would pay our mortgage on time. A short half hour and 70 hand cramps later we finally got our keys to our new home!
Chris and I are now completely moved in, loving our new neighborhood and neighbors. We love the convince of being closer to our Church family and two major freeways. It only takes a few minutes to get anywhere now. We are still working on unpacking and settling in but the house already feels like home. I finally have a place to park my van in the garage, and we have enough extra space that right now we have a renter. We don't need a renter but the beauty of having a house is that you can have one to help out a little if you want. One of the reasons we didn't like renting. Our renter is fantastic too, yet another blessing from the situation.
As a daughter of Christ It is easy for me to get caught up in the worries and struggles of every day life. I worry tremendously. I think, what if this doesn't work out, or what if this happens. I can be quite the pessimist sometimes and let myself get depressed easily. This home buying situation is just one of the many ways that God is constantly showing me that He is in control of my life. I can make my plans, and even take steps to make things happen, but as Chris and I are always praying "God if its not your will for us, please don't let it happen." God constantly reveals how faithful He is and how much we can truly rely on him for our strength, wisdom, guidance, direction and peace. So I leave my story of what we ended up buy a house with this dear precious verse to me as it is a constant reminder of how good God is. May it encourage you today, and please come stop by our new house sometime.
Psalm 40:5
"O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them."
~Hugs from The Harings
