Tour the House!

Hi there!  Well, it has certainly been a while, but then we never claimed to be diligent bloggers.  I wanted to hop in for a few and tell you all about the new house deal we have going!

A couple of weeks ago, Julius and I were with our agent looking at a few listings in a nearby town called Coweta.  This area and distance from everything did not appeal to Julius so we parted ways and planned to meet again the next weekend.  Well, that morning I had checked my email to see that a couple new listings in Broken Arrow (the area we were most interested in) showed up looked decent.  So after leaving the agent, we tootled on over to drive by the houses.

As soon as we pulled up to this house, we were a little stunned because it was priced exactly at our maximum and looked good enough to sell for at least $10K more.  Our price range around here has nearly always meant fixer-upper!  While this was never a problem for us, we would always be facing more money to do it.  We took a peek through the windows since it was vacant and fell in love!

Here are the things that we have been planning to put into our house, or else hoped would be there, that already existed:  fireplace; wood floors; crown moulding; new A/C condenser; walls between the kitchen, dining room and livingroom that can be removed to make one room; a bathroom that needs no work; a huge backyard; and beautiful trees and landscaping already in.  We knew this would not last long and we wanted to see inside, so our agent was able to arrange for his assistant to take us inside that very evening.  We immediately put in an offer because it felt right and it seems so obvious that God has prepared the place for us, at the right price, and at the right time He showed it to us.  

Since this home is going to be foreclosed on by the first mortgage holder, it will take some time for the negotiations to be complete, but the home owner chose our offer to present to the bank as an end buyer for a short sale.  We had to compete with another offer, of course, but we were in first and we provided a letter that we hope helped.  That, and the fact that we offered the full asking price and no closing costs!  Here is the letter we wrote: 

Dear Sir or Madam: 

I would like to take a moment to introduce us today. We are Julius and Kimberly Patton, a newly married couple of just over one year. We have been blessed with each other for five years, and have been provided good job in andaround Tulsa for the past three. Julius was raised in this area, and having his family nearby has been wonderful. 

We have been diligently searching for our first home for about six months. Our goal is to have a place of our own to personalize and start a family together. We have had some discouraging times, placing several offers on homes that needed a lot of work in order to be within the range we can comfortably afford, and not seeing success because we were a little too late or a little too low. All the while we have trusted that God had a home in mind just for us.

Please allow me to be completely honest about our feelings about your home. The moment we saw it and took a peek through the windows, we were excited. The hardwood floors, fireplace and big backyard immediately fulfilled our hopes in a home. We asked our agent to find a way to see inside as soon as possible because we knew that this home would not stay on the market very long.

As we toured your property, it was clear that it had been well taken care of and the many updates were evident. The more we saw, the more we knew that this home had been prepared for us by God. I hope this does not sound insensitive to your situation, but throughout our six-month search, we were always facing costly expenses to make the house a comfortable home. Now we are looking at a home that has all the details we have been looking for and it is priced at exactly what we can afford.

While the final decision is yours about whom the contract will go to, please keep us in mind. We have attempted to distance ourselves from every home in order to keep from being disappointed. It is our first home, after all. But your property has snuck in, and we really love it!

Thank you for taking the time to hear from us. May God tell you what He wants for your home and your future. Sincerely, Julius and Kimberly Patton

Well, we were chosen and are under contract! Our agent keeps reminding us to be patient about the proceedings, but we know this is what God wants for us. It will extend as long as He chooses and will close at the perfect time. Yesterday we went back in to show Julius' parents, get some measurements, and pictures. Here is a little video tour I did...sorry if it is a little shaky!

Love to you all!