My Big Fat Christmas Present

So...I decided to give Ed and myself something for Christmas...I bought us a house. :) That's right friends! I've been waiting a long time to take this step. I had planned to be able to do this about three years ago...but you know how it is...one thing gets in front of another thing, and the next thing you know, you're a mayor. So...I started looking at houses a year ago when the big tax credit was announced. (See...it really is a stimulus.) I saw on the Realtor website that the home known around Franklinton as the Nowell House was up for sale...and it was pricy! It originally listed at $149,900...and I knew I couldn't pay that. But I fell in love with it when I walked in. Everywhere I stepped, I could see something cool. Something new. Something...me.

Then, someone made an offer and snatched it right out from under me. So, I figured, eh, it's not meant to be, and moved on. Gave up, actually. Then, about two months later, I got a call from my real estate agent - a local agent named Tanisha Holmes. (I firmly believe that it's important to do as much locally as you can.) Tanisha called and said it was back on the market. We put in an offer immediately...and it was accepted. I had it...I had it! Then...we discovered a HOLE in my credit score blown by a an error in the report from DiscoverCard that Discover wasn't willing to correct - no matter what, and it's my word against theirs. (Again...another reason to shop locally - even for credit.)

So...away it went. I went about paying off credit cards, other debts, etc. Then...I thought...let me check my score. And it had gone up! A LOT! So...I called Tanisha...and we discovered that the Nowell House had been purchased and was essentially off the market. And much though I loved that house...it eventually came to be that it really wasn't for me, no matter how much I liked it. I liked it (loved it) because of the size. I've lived for eight years in a house on 2nd Street - a great little house, good enough for me...rent free - that is 675 square feet. That's right. It's a shoe.

So...that's been one of my criteria. It needs to be bigger...and big enough to have several rooms. And...I wanted a second floor...because I've never had one, really, except for my apartment in Burlington. So the search was on. Tanisha and I looked at nearly every available house in this town! I looked seriously at a cute little house (that would be great for someone without a need for many doors to keep four mischevious cats off the dining room table and the kitchen counters) on Chavis Street. I looked at a house on Oak Ridge Road that just needs a little updating, but just wasn't the right fit for me. I looked very seriously at a house on Green Street - great house, with the possiblity of expanding the lot...needed just a very little bit of work...but ultimately, I decided that I wanted to be in a neighborhood, not on a major thoroughfare. So, back to the drawing board.

And then, I saw it on Realtor.com. I saw a very familiar house - familiar to anyone who's ever banked at First Citizens in Franklinton...or anyone around my age who went through Franklinton area schools. 12 Vine Street. I couldn't believe it. The house where my fifth grade teacher sewed my costume when I played the Velveteen Rabbit in the play of the same name. The house where we built my 9th grade float for Homecoming (the theme that year was soap operas...and I hadn't yet discovered General Hosptial - that came two years later...so our's was The Bold and The Pitiful...and it was...). So, off Tanisha and I go...and I thought she was going to try to wrestle me to the ground to buy it herself.

Then, the dance began. We'll pay this much, but you've got to do this. We'll take this much, but we won't do that. We'll pay this much, but not without this. We'll take this much, but you'll have to handle this and that. Jeez, can't I just get a freakin' loan and buy the place???

It took THREE MONTHS of wrangling between the first offer and having keys in my hand...but on December 28, I closed on it. And boy, it was a hard secret to keep. I told Tammy because I had zoning/permitting questions, and I told Kim because I had HVAC questions and I knew she knew some folks...but as close as they are, they didn't even tell each other! (I mentioned it right before Christmas...and they looked at each other, and looked at me, as if to say, "What does she know?") I didn't want anyone to know it until I had it because I'd already lost one house - and it was rather public because I'd told the world I was buying it.

So now, the world knows. And here's the plan...

We've got to finish patching the holes, sanding the built in bookcases, completely overhauling the informal dining room, and I've got to have HVAC put in...and then I'm moving. I figure, sometime in late February/early March. Why so long? I already have a house. In fact...that's a point I shared with someone when I was looking for homes in the first place. I already had a place to live - and it was working just fine. Even though buying this house is going to stretch my budget to the MAX...it's something I wanted to do...to put down roots. To have a place of my very own - not something subsidized by someone else (even though it kind of was). To have a place to grow...to have folks over...to have an open house!

So...if you like to paint and you're interested, we're looking to have six rooms ready to paint by January 30 so we can get rolling! Let me know if you wanna come hang out with us!