The search was on! After finding the perfect neighborhood, we were pumped to find the perfect house. The list was long, but our hopes were high. Most of the houses on our list were smaller than the house we owned in Kentucky, but many were laid out with more functionality instead of the wide open spaces of our Green Gables. And our list only contained houses with basements. Most of the houses on the list needed some sort of work, whether it was a total remodel to update it from my grandma's decor (one house still had old linoleum that came up about 5 inches on the wall!) or if it was just to finish the basement to our liking, we had to consider that with our budget.
We looked at several houses that were just too much work for the price. Of course, the price that was being asked was not the price that would be paid, but it was more than I wanted to pay even if we talked them down. So, they were marked off the list. We also marked off the house that backed up to the beer garden, had no garage, & one that had structural damage. Then we marked off the ones that were not set up to house all of our kids (we have 4), so that pretty much narrowed it down. There were about 6 houses left to really consider.
After viewing an upcoming open house online that needed absolutely no work, had been updated beyond what we would expect, and was listed on the national historic register we decided to make another trip to Dayton. The house was at the top of our price range but we LOVED it (the online version, anyway.) So we set out to take a look.
The open house was packed. But the house was lovely, especially the beautifully done backyard. The bedrooms felt a tad bit small and we would have to change the basement even though it was finished. Bottom line: we would still have to do some work. Reluctantly, we crossed that one off our list. That Sunday, we saw six houses and at four of them, we saw the same open house visitors that were at the first house. The neighborhood was in high demand. We would have to jump on a house that we saw & actually liked. There were several houses that could "work," but they didn't feel like home to me. Of course, Brian was getting frustrated with me because he could not understand that. I think he would just live in a cardboard box and be done. But cardboard gets soggy in the rain (& snow!) and the kids would just color on the walls. Thus,we returned to Kentucky feeling a bit jaded.
How often I return to Him is surely not as much as I should, but once more, I was asking for help. "Just let me know. Just let me know."
Our realtor set us up on an automatic email listing that sent us homes in Oakwood that matched our criteria. On Tuesday, we received a newly listed house on the market. The pictures were not up but we told them to put it on the list. We had a few others to see so we headed back to Dayton after Brian had a weekend at home. This time, the trip was kid free. (Yippee!) We saw two disappointing homes the morning of our latest search, but when we showed up at the house that we hadn't seen the pictures of, we thought....looks good so far. The outside had been recently painted with complimentary colors, it had off-street parking, a 2-car garage, a decent sized yard for the area, and.....drum roll, please...a playset in the backyard. For those of you who never had the opportunity to visit our house in KY, you are unaware of the 3-story mega playset that was in our yard. Having a playset in the backyard was a big deal. Plus, the house was less than a block from Orchardly Park...aka Disneyland.
Inside the house, the hardwood floors were beautiful. The woodwork was original and the home had a overall feel of having "character." We love old homes. The house is a Sears Craftsman...Americus model, I believe. The owners had laid out receipts of recent upgrades and purchases on the house. The bathroom had been redone about 3 weeks before it was listed. The front and back yards had new sod (not that we could tell at that time...snow was everywhere.) The upstairs had three good sized bedrooms. The basement had a finished family room and office (a place for Isaac's bedroom) and room to grow. But when I saw the kitchen, I looked at Brian and said, "This is it!" Many realtors claim that it is the kitchen that sales the home, and in this case, it was true! But I wasn't blown away by the sparkling upgrades and modern appliances. It came only with a dishwasher, a range, and a disposal. But the hardwood floor, the cabinetry, the new wood countertops, and brightness of the room....well, it just clicked.
Help had arrived. I had my answer. "This is it!" We made an offer that day. We got the house. Of course, the closing pended on the closing of our house in Kentucky.
P.S. For those of you following this along on Facebook:
1) I may not always share when there is a new blog post (they say you lose it the more kids you have, and since I have 4 already...I'm just saying) so make sure you sign up to be a follower.
2) I definitely plan on filling you in about my "interesting night involving a 5 year old girl standing in her driveway screaming, "Help!" soon. This blog will be ongoing about all of our adventures and misadventures here in Oakwood....so that will be in a blog post to come.
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