(Be prepared for a long-winded post here...)
It became clear to Rich and I about 3 or 4 weeks ago that treading water and just waiting for our house to sell in
Coquille was no longer an option for us. Our family and marriage was having a difficult time thriving in our current living circumstances and it was time to take matters into our own hands and make
something happen. We had an unexpected change arise
financially that allowed us to actively start house hunting. One thing I have learned from living in
Irrigon over the last 2 school years is that our family would be best off NOT living in the county Rich is actively prosecuting in. We've had a number of uncomfortable circumstances happen over the last little while that pushed us a direction we were already heavily leaning towards anyway: Buying a house in
Hermiston.
At first, I was pretty intent on having an old family friend of the
Tovey clan show us houses. She is a well respected realtor in the area and really knows her stuff. It just so happened that she was out of town and not available when we decided to actively start trying to find a house. At first, I was inclined to just wait for her to return. We'd waited this long - what could waiting an extra week possibly hurt? As I sat with that conclusion for a bit, I felt the very strong impression that the hunt needed to begin NOW. Not in a week. I'd been looking at houses online in a price range I thought would be comfortable for us and had found a half a dozen properties that I wanted to see, with one heavy favorite from the get-go. So, I called another realtor in Judy
Smythe's office and set up some appointments. And oh, my goodness. I loved, loved, loved this one house on Oregon Avenue and was sure it was the one that was meant for us. It was move-in ready, would fit our family well, and was (most importantly) in our price range. But, since it was only the 2
nd house I had walked through, I decided that I'd better see a few more before I had Rich come look at it and we would put an offer on it.
The next day, we went and saw more properties. None of them really struck my fancy. We came across one on Gladys Avenue that was in our absolute ideal neighborhood and was in foreclosure at a price that was well under the going rate for the other houses in this particular neighborhood, and less expensive than the Oregon Ave. house. It was bigger than the one on Oregon Avenue, but it was in NO WAY, shape or form, move-in ready. And even though it was priced lower than the one on Oregon, it was in
desparate need of a lot of work, which was something we were not interested in doing.
The plan was for me to pick my 2 favorites and get appointments for that weekend to bring Rich and the kids to see. I felt like I had already picked the Oregon house, but I needed Rich to come to the same conclusion. When I called him to discuss which ones we wanted to see, we decided to go ahead and see the one on Gladys again, just for the fact that it was so reasonably priced, in a better school district, and was bigger. But mostly, I just wanted Rich to rule it out for himself so we could get on with things and put an offer on the Oregon house.
So off we went to see the houses...
The first one (on Autumn Ave.) we ruled out quickly. Then we went to see the one on Oregon. Rich and the kids LOVED it and we thought for sure, this would soon be our house. Then, for good measure, we went and saw the foreclosure on Gladys Drive. As we walked around, I had a sudden, unexpected change of heart. I began to see past all the work that needed to be done and was able to see the potential in a house that would need some TLC, but would fit our family so very well for the next 20+ years of our lives. I could see that Rich felt the same way, and our realtor sensed it too. She, (Melinda) suggested that maybe we ought to
conisder putting a very low offer on it and see where the bank who owned it would meet us at. Worth a shot, right? So, we thought about it over the weekend, and the more we thought about it, the more our hearts turned to this house on Gladys Drive. I called my folks and had them come up to look at this house, as well as the one on Oregon Avenue. I wanted someone else's perspective and often turn to my parents for a second opinion.
That Monday, they drove up and on Tuesday morning we went and saw the houses. By the end of the
morning, we all were on the same page that this was the wisest choice long-term. After lunch, we went in to put and offer on the house on Gladys Drive. We walked in and were told something we did NOT expect....that the price of that house had been dropped $17K that very morning!!!! I could not believe it.
So, to make a long story short, we have been working with this company ever since to buy this house. It has been a frustrating process with some setbacks, but I know it is the house we are supposed to be working towards getting into, and I know that all the frustration and setbacks will be worth it in the end.
Wednesday morning, we got an unexpected call from our realtor in
Coquille that we had received an offer on our house down there. It was low, but it was an offer nonetheless. So within a week's time, we picked a
house we hope to be in soon and for the first time in a year-and-a-half, we saw a glimmer of hope of selling our other one.
That, since then, has been a bumpy ride as well. The buyer has been very difficult to work with and has very unrealistic expectations, and honestly I don't know that it will work out in the end. I don't think we will be able to meet his demands and I think he will back out of our deal very soon, but it was encouraging that we FINALLY had an offer at all.
We found out that our roof in
Coquille had sustained storm damage a couple of weeks ago and needed to be repaired, so we decided to go down and get that arranged and get our stuff moved out while we were there and move it to a storage shed in
Hermiston in the mean time. I feel relieved to have that done, and feel relieved that our buyer's inspector found this leaky roof problem before it increased in severity!
So, slowly but surely, things are progressing and we hope and pray that in a few months we will be free of our financial obligation to our
Coquille home and that we will be all moved into our new home where we plan on continuing the process of raising our children. It will not be an easy road, but I feel, for the first time in a long time, that things are moving in
the right direction for that to happen...
