We Bought a HOUSE!

We bought a house yall!! After a lot of thought and prayer we made the decision to purchase an amazing house! WE ARE IN LOVE with this house :-) When we first moved to New York we had a very rough start. Bad thing after bad thing kept happening. We also chose to move here the absolute WORST time of the year in the middle of a crazy blizzard. We looked for houses a bit then but with this bad case of bad luck we were having second thoughts about being here. We had several "Why the heck are we here?" moments. We barely unpacked just in case we decided to move somewhere else....like out of state where it was warmer. Until we could make a definite decision, we just unpacked the bare necessities so as to make the next move a little easier.  
While all this is going on we also felt prompted to start the adoption process again. However part of the adoption process includes a home study. Right now our rental home has nothing on the walls, nothing on the shelves, and it does not feel very homey. This house is also small so there isn't much room for another little bundle of joy :-( 
As the days went by and we weren't progressing in any directions we decided it was time to make a decision. After a LOT of thought and prayer we just decided to open up all avenues to the Lord to work down. I know that when you pray for answers, you have to do your part. We were trying to do our part. 
We started driving all over the place. We looked on line at several realty websites to see if any homes stood out to us. We went to a bank to see if we even qualified for a home loan and we were pre-approved. Still trying to do our part and opening avenues. We called a realtor that we had called when we very first moved here that had showed us around. We really liked her and told her that if we ever felt really ready to buy we would let her know first. She already knew the type of homes we liked so she said she would try to find us some homes to see. The very next day we went and saw 3 homes. We had seen all of these homes online and they all looked nice on the outside. On the inside however one needed a LOT of work, one was too small and too much money, and the other just did not feel like home to me. Brett liked the last one (mainly because it had a very manly garage) but as hard as I tried I just wasn't feeling it. After we left the last home to head back to our home we drove past a house that we had driven by several times. I had seen the pictures online and it was beautiful inside but it only had 1& 1/2 bathrooms. Having one shower can be complicated at times. It also only had 3 bedrooms and we wanted at least 4. However every time we drove past this house we were drawn to it. 
This house was listed on a forsalebyowner website and there was no realtor therefore there was very little advertising for it on the internet. We only knew it was for sale because we had driven past it so many times and saw the tiny sign in the yard. After leaving those other homes, feeling discouraged because it seemed like buying wasn't going to work out, we drove past this home one last time and parked it. Our curiosity was getting the better of us so we decided to call the owner. She didn't answer :-( We were feeling even more discouraged now. So we called our realtor and asked her to look into this house for us. We were a little suspicious because this home had been on the market for 2 years! 
We came home and decided to give up the house hunt again for a while and re-evualaute it again in a few months. The next day was Saturday and still no word from the owner. Our realtor did do some investigating on the house though to try to see why nobody had bought this home in almost 2 years. Our realtor has lived here forever and knows everyone in this town! Turns out nobody bought this home because it had a crappy garage and only 1 main bathroom for such a big house. If people are paying all that money then want want what they pay for and don't want to settle for only 1 bathroom and a crappy garage. The house though was pretty amazing in every other way. 
The next day was Sunday and we decided to take a drive and not think about it anymore. We went to CANADA and explored the Thousand Islands area of New York. It was so beautiful and helped us see the beauty that does exist up here. That night Brett got a phone call from the owner of that mysterious home we were drawn to. Turns out she too had been in Canada that weekend and didn't have phone service. She called us the moment she got our message and we arranged to see her home the next evening. 
Our realtor met us there the next day and we looked at the home. I LOVED IT! I loved the yard, and the long driveway that the kids could ride their bikes on. I loved that it was right across the street from the golf course and I loved the way the home looked inside. It was beautiful! Oh and that crappy garage... no longer existed. They had a brand new one built. The rooms were huge and there was even a fireplace in the master bedroom! The fact still remained though.... it didn't have that 4th bedroom or a second full bathroom. Well after exploring around we found a staircase that led to the attic. The attic was huge and perfect for a 4th bedroom/ guest bedroom/ play area with just a little love. When I suggested that to our realtor she told us her husband was a contractor and could totally come turn the attic into living space. We also discovered that between 2 bedrooms there were 2 huge closest that could easily be turned into a second full bathroom. Our realtor called her husband and asked if he could come see the home and see if it was even possible to put a bathroom there. The next day he came to the house and YES it was possible and wouldn't be that hard to do. He quoted us a price for everything. Oh this home also had an unfinished basement that could be made into something awesome later on!
When our realtors husband asked who owned the home, turned out it was owned by a friend of his and it was his daughter that was living there showing us the home. He called his friend and asked what is the absolute lowest he could go on the house. They had already come down $25,000 of the price they paid so we didn't know how much wiggle room we had. What it was listed at was a little over our budget so we were hoping for a miracle. The man that owned this home was a GAZILLIONAIRE so we were hoping he would have mercy on us. When our realtors husband got off the phone with his friend he knocked another $12,800 off the price! So now it was more in our budget and we could add the bathroom! 
God was so mindful of us. He always takes care of us if we do our part. Things just worked out so smoothly once we put forth the effort. Sometimes it just happens at the 11th hour, 59th minute. We still have to have the full home inspection but we feel really good about this home. It is perfect :-)  

It's a lot bigger in person. Future Guest Room/ Play Area

 More pictures to come once we move in! Closing date June 15th!