The House We "Almost" Bought

Here's a picture of the house we almost bought. It's a short-sale in our neighborhood. The term "short-sale" is such a misnomer. Before we pulled out, we had been under contract to buy the home for 4 months and the end was nowhere in sight. We thought the end was in sight when we were told that escrow had opened in July and so we secured our loan and were ready to sign all of the paperwork, when our agent called to tell us 2 weeks before our closing date that escrow actually had never opened and that there was a snag with the sellers. It turns out they didn't pay their private mortage insurance and were asking us to pay a fee of about $20,000 because of their neglect. We told them no way, and that we were prepared to walk away. Our current landlord was starting to breathe heavily down our necks to sign another lease, and the seller's bank didn't want to budge, so we walked. The real estate agent asked us to hold on with hope that it would eventually go through, but we didn't feel it would be honest to sign the lease with our landlord with the intention of breaking it, and we didn't want to risk losing any money if escrow actually did open. We were able to get all of our money back, and even though we still don't know what we are doing, we feel good about our decision.

Joseph would like something a little bigger. I am content with the size of the home, but we are both a little apprehensive about buying when we don't know what our future will bring. Joseph loves the company he works for, but we both have a secret desire in our hearts to live closer to extended family someday. (I guess it's not so much a secret anymore ;) If we could guarantee that the home would sell when we were ready to sell it, and if we could guarantee that the home would retain it's value, and even appreciate while we were there, I would love to do it, but it's a home/area we can only see ourselves in for about 3-4 years, and who knows what will happen during that time. If we couldn't sell it at that time, we're confident we could rent it, because we live next to a military base, so there is a pretty solid rental market, but we're not that keen on being landlords. Why do big decisions have to involve so much risk? At this point, we're just being still and trying to give ourselves time to feel what it is we want to do, and what Heavenly Father wants us to do. I felt such peace when we decided to back out. But, maybe it will be right at a later time? I'm grateful that no matter what, we are entitled to peace about our decision and that we can pray for it and receive it.

When we drive past the house, I still really like it, but I'm thinking now that I would love for someone else to buy it and we could rent it. :) I actually like renting. It's like we're dating California. We can enjoy the benefits without having to fork out that $8000-$12,000 a year in property taxes for a tract home. Yes, that's not even the mortage, that's property tax alone. Ridiculous!

I love the backyard. It's my favorite part. It's small, but done very tastefully. Anyway, I'm tired of agents calling, I'm tired of walking through model homes. Somedays I just want to move to a small town in Utah, have a couple more kids and live the simple life, but then I would probably make it to January and cry to be back in the California weather. We'll figure this life out sometime. In the meantime, we're finding alot of joy along journey and I can say that I learned a ton through the process.