The Front Porch

I love my front porch. It is one of the best places to sit and watch a lightning storm, or visit with the neighbors as they walk by. Our family has made so many great memories while sitting out there.

Over the years, as we've discussed off and on plans to sell this house and buy something bigger, I have wondered, "How do you get a prospective buyer to appreciate something like the front porch?" It's so much more than meets the eye.

There are 101 little things that we love about this house. The maple hardwood floors, the antique chandelier, the stained glass windows, the deep storage space in the bathroom cupboards, the ancient cottonwood in the backyard (love/hate relationship with the tree actually) . . . We have tried not to be emotionally attached. We did our best job yet of being detached sellers during this current attempt. But, truly, I must admit, it is impossible. I don't know if we are just hugely sentimental to the core, or if it is because we have molded this home inside and out with our own bare hands to make it what it is, or if it is because some of the most important years of our lives - when all four of our babies were born -- were spent here, or, if it is all the neighbors we have come to love -- I'm not sure which factor contributes the most, but we are so emotionally attached to this home that it's impossible for us to flip a switch and turn that off no matter how hard we try.

This is why I was so happy when I finally met our buyers face to face last night and they went on and on about how much they love the front porch and the stained glass windows and the backyard . . . It warmed my heart. I always hoped that someday when we were finished with our little house on 25th Street that just the right people would come along and love it the way we have.

If all goes according to plan, we will be living in our new house, just a few blocks away, by the end of the month! Everything has happened so fast that is doesn't even seem real. And, now I will share the story of how we came to find our new house.

We have been talking about getting a bigger house for . . . ummm . . . let's see, about ten years. We have even put this house up for sale a time or two (ahem, or three), but, the timing was just never right. Last year, I got pretty serious about wanting to upgrade for many reasons, one of them being that we knew we would need a bigger house to raise our kids through their teenage years and it's easier to move them when they are younger (although, we have already waited so long that this transition is breaking both Sophie and Ian's hearts a little).

I was hoping that we would put the house up for sale in the spring. But, we didn't get around to doing all of the improvement projects to make that happen (we had to do quite the kitchen remodel to add cabinets to one wall and remove cabinets from another so we could install a dishwasher -- because, selling a house with no dishwasher is like trying to sell a house with no roof or no front door apparently). Brian plugged away at projects, but spring and summer came and went and we still weren't ready.

Meanwhile, a good friend of mine told me about a house up the street from her that was for sale. I appreciated her suggestion and I even drove to the house and walked around it peeking in the windows several times. But, I did not tell Brian because it was at the upper end of our price range and I didn't think he would go for it.

A few months later, Brian found the exact same house on his own while he was out driving around and came home to tell me about it (note this doesn't usually happen). When I realized which house he was talking about I said, "Yes, I know that house. I've been looking at it, but I thought you would say it was too much money." And, he said, "Well, I almost didn't mention it to you because I thought you would say it needed too much work."

We decided to take a walk through the house and the interior was much better than we expected. Here is the story of the house (as I have pieced it together over the past few months, it may or may not be completely accurate):

The house was owned for many decades by a family who cared for it meticulously. The yard was one of the most pristine in the neighborhood. The husband of the couple who owned it has now passed away and the wife is 98-years-old and in a care center. Several (I'm not sure how many) years ago, when they left the home, it was turned into a rental and thoroughly trashed. The yard went to pot. The inside (I am told though it has since been repaired) was water damaged.

In 2008, it was purchased by an investor who made several improvements to the inside -- including putting down lovely tile in several of the rooms and the bathroom vanity and kitchen counters. In 2009, the home was taken back by the bank and it has sat empty ever since.

It is my understanding that it was priced quite a bit higher and that the inside was looking pretty shabby for most of the time that the bank has owned it (the outside still looks pretty shabby). So, it got a bad reputation and it wasn't even being shown much anymore by the time we found it. But, right before we came into the picture, the bank went in and replaced all of the carpets and painted the entire interior (doesn't a fresh coat of paint make such a difference?). In addition, they lowered the price right before we went to see it too.

The house was bigger than what we were planning on buying. I mean, I wanted a little more space, not twice as much space. But, it was such a good deal. We fell in love with the huge windows, the floor plan, the lot (for it's potential, not it's current dead state), the huge closet in the master bedroom, and the covered porch over the garage which has an even better view of the setting sun than our current beloved porch. From the start, we were emotionally attached. It felt like the right space for us. And, the other best part? Our kids don't even have to change schools!

In an uncharacteristic fashion (are you even kidding - we only looked at one house!) we quickly got the house under contract (and not a moment too soon, since a backup offer came in just as we were about to sign on the dotted line). They would not accept a contingency to sell our other home and required us to close by the end of October (six short weeks from the time we got the contract), so we signed anyways and decided to just take a chance and see if it was possible to sell our house in record breaking time. In this housing market no less.

In one week, we painted the exterior, moved a ton of our possessions into boxes in the garage, replaced carpets, did 99 little touch ups and hired a genius real estate agent. The next week we had 2-3 showings every day. One couple came back three times and narrowed their choices to this house and one other (then they chose the other). Another couple made a low offer and stressed us out for eight days while we negotiated (and then walked away after we agreed to give them the shirts off our backs).

Last Monday, October 3rd, we got the news in the evening that our buyers were walking away. It was so late in the game. I said to myself, "I guess we've lost the other house and we need to withdraw our offer." It was getting to be too late for us to even get our financing in time, let alone wait for someone else to get their financing first. The bank was not willing to negotiate on our deadlines and, now, interest in the house we are trying to buy has grown and now there are several buyers waiting in the wings if our contract falls through.

I drove up to the new house and looked around at the dead yard and I thought, "This house is too much work anyways." But, in my heart, I couldn't stop feeling like it was meant to be our house.

But, how?

Of course there have been many prayers about this decision and at this time I was praying for either closure or a buyer, and a buyer is what I got!

Less than 24-hours after the contract with the wrong buyers fell through (during the whole negotiation process, Brian and I both felt that they were the wrong buyers but we were trying not to let our extreme emotional attachment to the house get in the way -- note: I don't even think they liked the house very much, they just wanted a cheap deal) the right buyers appeared! Yay! I love happy endings.

Now, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes as planned. I feel at peace, like it's all falling into place. However, I've also lived long enough to know that life is full of surprises.

For now, I'm just happy to know that there is another family out there who really loves my little bungalow.