So We bought a House...

     So buying a house doesn't always mean you will be moving in a month.  We purchased our first house this past August 2011, which to us has been a most momentous occasion- but not nearly momentous enough for our friends.  You see, when we bought it, it was cheep.  I mean really cheep in all senses of the word.  So I guess what I mean to say is we bought some land (about 2.2 acres) and a house shell.  Well, it didn't look that way when we bought it...  Ok, ok, I guess I should start at the beginning.

   Having rented for the first three years of our marriage, (and two children later)  my husband and I were definitely keeping an eye out for the perfect deal.  We were spending lots of time in prayer and on Zillow.  Our goal is to be out of debt in 5 to 10 years. With that in mind -and the fact that we didn't have much of a savings to talk about- we went house hunting.  For a while we kind of lost our focus and gave in to the whole mortgage thing.  

    Then one night I caught a glimpse of a new posting for less than 20 Grand!  (Suddenly our spirits soared again with the possibility that we might not have to have our children pay for the rest of our mortgage!) It is in a really great neighborhood, but it is not the gem of the area. No, it is more like a diamond in the rough. When we looked at it before purchasing, there was trash in it everywhere.  (seven truck loads of trash we found out later)  It was difficult to make an assessment then, but we jumped at the chance to own it.  After coming up with the funds,  signing papers that we had the funds, putting in a bid, signing papers, finding out we had won it, and signing more papers, we finally owned a house.  W.O.W.  That was big.

     What was even bigger was how much work we were going to have to do to make it livable.  We had no idea people could live in a house that water rushed under the front door in a storm ( I am surprised it wasn't listed with an indoor swimming pool), or that the wiring was jimmy-rigged, or with windows boarded up. .  Thankfully, the floor is tile over slab foundation.  Not only that, but the house is built with cement blocks.  Another blessing is that the roof seems to be intact without any leaks.  It looks very much like a large version of the houses that my husband grew up around in Mexico.  That is how it came to be  lovingly dubbed "La Casa Grande."


     Next time I hope to show you what the inside looked like after all the trash was gone.