My husband and I have been renting the same tiny house since we got married in 2006. We were extremely lucky to have found something so affordable with an older couple as the land lords. In August 2007, our oldest son was born. After bringing him home from the hospital, it only took a few days to realize that babies come with a LOT of stuff. I remember days when I felt like we didn't rent a home...we rented a storage locker for baby products that we just happen to sleep at also. After living there for around 3 years, I told my husband we needed a bigger house. We were the typical American family who dreamed endlessly of home ownership. I was a real estate junkie. I looked weekly at every local real estate website finding an endless parade of "perfect little houses". Due to layoffs and shut downs, employment has not always been on our side so our American dream was always put off until some other time. Fast forward to April 2011 when our second son was born. At this time, space was gone. We were a family of 4 (with the parade of baby products yet again) living in a 647 sq ft 2 bedroom rental house. My husband was finally convinced that we needed to move, even if that meant we would have to pay more in rent. The search began.
The first thing we learned is that even though the ecomony is bad, rent is out-friggin-ragous! If I wanted to sell one of kids and a kidney on the black market I might have a chance of paying that much. Although my kids drive me a little crazy at times, I don't want to sell them....or my kidney. It seemed like every place we called was way out of our range. I finally told my husband that for what these people wanted in rent we could buy a house. We talked it over and decided to apply. The worst that could happen was that we would be turned down. It took us a couple of trys to find the right place, but we were approved! I did the happy dance in the living room of my tiny rental. Thank goodness you missed it. My real estate habit payed off nicely at this point. We narrowed our search to 3 potiental houses.
I must say that out of the 3 my husband and I each had different favorites before we ever walked inside of them. I had one that I just knew from driving by looking at the outside and viewing the photos online it was my house. He had chosen the one with the most property. While we both promised to keep an open mind and view all properties equally, on the inside I was totally bias. We were both completely wrong. My perfect house turned out to be much better in my dream world than it was in reality. I mean it was alright, but it wasn't MY house. The one with the most property was the one with the most work. There wasn't a surface in that house that would have made it through the remodel. I left seeing money signs floating straight out the front door. No way! Not to get all cheesey, but the 3rd house was such an easy find. I had my scientific list of must haves, size requirements, room placements, yard maintainence, etc. The way we chose our house was very simple. We walked in and we just knew. THIS was OUR home. It wasn't just a house that someone put on the market. It was the home that was meant for us. I know it doesn't work out that way for everyone. Some of you may find a home that 8 other people want and have to duke it out. I know we had family and friends praying for us to find something. I believe God answered those prayers. He lead us to that house.
We moved in 3 days ago. I love this house. My family loves this house. Life is good.
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