If you haven’t read the previous post — part 1 of our story, you may want to read it first so everything makes more sense. I’m picking up where I left off there…
During this time, we started looking into buying our first home. We used to take Sundays (way back before we got old and required Sunday naps ! LOL!) and drive around and look at houses. We were especially interested in bank repossessed damaged foreclosures. Bill had the skills to fix any damages and at that time, the housing market was down so pricing for those type of foreclosures was very good. No kidding, in about 18 months, we probably looking at over 100 or more houses. At the time, due to our intense search, our realtor joked that I knew the real estate market better than she did. I was willing to do the hard work. I would go to the courthouse and dig through deeds and titles, etc. We made offers on several houses— just to get declined! It was discouraging. We wanted to buy a house to raise our family in! Finally, we found a house that was in our price range. We made an offer and the bank accepted it. We were so excited! We were going to be home owners! The closing process dragged on and on. The closing date kept getting pushed back. Finally, we were informed that there was title issue on the house and there was a lien against the property and the bank was no longer able to sell the property right now until they got that issue resolved. We were advised that this process could take years! (Later, we found out it didn’t sell for 2 more years!! ) We were immediately dissolved of our contract commitment and once again, the hunt for a home resumed. We were crushed and oh so disappointed.
My husband rallied first and said “well, maybe God seen that it would have issues down the road” or “maybe He has something even better for us.“ So, we decided to give God our disappointment and trust His provision, His plan, and His timing.
That first house was suppose to close in June 2010. We continued to look and look. We watched the real estate market with an eagle eyed focus. The wonderful apartment we had been living in for the previous three years began to become a much more difficult place to live. New neighbors moved in next to us and they were not good people, to put it tactfully. Our peaceful, quiet apartment complex became one filled with foul language, drugs, alcohol, of strange people coming/going all hours of the nights, and much more. Remember, we were just young, sheltered, church kids!! It was like living in Sodom to me! I was almost afraid to be home alone.
The new neighbors weren’t too big on cleanliness either. As with apartment life, we soon found out first hand 😩 —that your apartment is only as pest-free as your neighbor’s is. After living there for 3 happy and pest-free years, we begin to have problems with “pests”… I come from a pretty clean home…my mom is almost OCD clean. So these “pests” began to wreck havoc on my mental and emotional state!! Our landlord was amazing! He treated the problem at our apartment each time I called but because of the lack of killing the source, (aka- the neighbors’ apartment) it was a never ending problem. I became so distraught that I had trouble sleeping; I began having nightmares so bad. (Also, remember we have a newborn daughter at that point!! It was definitely no place for a baby!!) I prayed and prayed for the Lord to intervene on our behalf!!
Finally, in mid December, my realtor emailed me a listing for a recently reduced foreclosure. It was actually a house my husband and I had already saw before and had driven past thinking it would be totally out of our price range. It was a bank repo and someone (in a fit of anger because of the repossession) or perhaps just an opportunistic thief had removed/stolen all the copper piping and wiring out of the house. They had destroyed the HVAC and a few other things. The bank had originally listed it for $64,900 but no one seemed interested with all the damages. They quickly lowered the price several months in a row until at that point, it was being listed for $37,000. We immediately were interested and arranged to look at the house that night. (Funny story: my pappaw’s wife cleans houses for a living and she had actually worked many years for the man that lived in that house before he sold it to the people that had it repossessed by the bank— so once our family realized which house it was, they all were completely on board because they “knew” the house. The previous owner (the one she worked for) had had it built. He had it insulated very well! He kept it treated yearly for pests which was definitely a big check mark in my book! (Especially given our experience at the apartments!)
While there was a lot of damages and a lot of stuff that needed replaced, there wasn’t anything structural or majorly wrong. We submitted an offer and to our amazement, the bank quickly accepted it!! We were so excited,
yet, we tried to rein in our enthusiasm because we knew (all too well!) a lot could still go wrong. Finally, closing day was upon us and after signing papers, we were given the keys and we became proud, first time home buyers!!
We were so humbled to watch as our church people, our family and our friends swooped in and began to make our house a home. There were men running pipes and wires, fixing plumbing and electric —there was women cleaning toilets and showers… people rented carpet shampooers and steamers from their workplace to clean the carpets…I don’t think Bill and I ever have felt such love and support as we did right then—we always had been willing to help others ourselves but it is totally different being on the receiving end—everyone was willing to pitch in and help however they could. We didn’t even have the heat installed yet and it was January! But that didn’t matter. People came over to work, bundled up with coats and scarfs. It was such a blessing to have such support and have people that truly “had our backs”. With a week, we had all utilities fixed, pipes reinstalled, wires replaced and a HVAC unit installed. Everyone returned again a few days later after the HVAC was installed (most of them after putting in a full day’s work at their day job) and within an evening, had us completely moved in, including setting up our essential furniture. Others stayed at our old apartment to coordinate the moving and to deep clean it, so we could collect our deposit back…After everyone finally left, I stood back amazed at the goodness of God and His people!!
Bill looked at me and said, “Guess this why we didn’t get that other house.”
Yep! God had a much better place for us !! Those disappointments (from the initial house that fell through) paled in comparison to what God really had in store for us down the road a bit. God had a plan for us! He didn’t allow us to settle for something that we would have later regretted purchasing. Even those trying last 6 months at the apartment gave us life experience (although I wouldn’t wish that trial on anyone!) and empathy for anyone stuck in that kind of situation. You sure don’t understand something like that unless you have lived through it!!
As I began to reminisce for writing these articles and I began to look back over these stories of our beginnings, I am still in awe of how God has worked in our lives. He is truly an amazing God! He has proven to us time and time again—that He can be trusted!! He knows our future and He knows the best path for our feet to walk!
Proverbs 3:5-6
[5] Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. [6] In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
-Tiphanie❤️