The Search Begins

Monday, July 16, 2012

The Search Begins

Buying a House, Part II - continued from The E-mail That Changed My Life

The day I had received the rate increase e-mail, I was shocked to find an adorable short-sale home in a very low price point that would make the mortgage payment cheaper than what we were paying in rent. The house was a cute little West Jordan multi-level. It was an area that I was familiar with and felt excited about. It was even blue-gray stone, which has always been dream of mine. I posted comments on Facebook and my mother-in-law laughed at the undeniable excitement I was obviously experiencing as she and I messaged back and forth. It was kind of a first for me as I tend to be much more stoic in my personality, and enthusiasm is often difficult if not impossible to detect in me.

My emotions were all over the place that day as I wondered if this would be an option, convinced myself it really wasn't, and then dared to hope again. We decided that the best place to start would be checking with the bank to get pre-qualified and find a real estate agent.

My husband has worked enough sales based jobs to be loyal to any and all friends he knows in commission based industries. We immediately contacted our favorite credit union for a pre-qual, and an old friend to be our agent. Our friend was on vacation, so we called on that first house ourselves and learned that is was already spoken for. We had good correspondence with our friend even while he was on our trip, which we really appreciated, and he let us know when he would be home. We started to feel, however, that we needed to go with a different agent. We ignored that feeling for a few days, genuinely wanting to give our friend the business. But when he had been home a few days and we hadn't heard back from him, we finally felt that perhaps he wasn't interested in working with us. (We were a LOW price bracket, so the commissions could seem like pocket change compared to a bigger deal.) We contacted a different agent and got things going. (In the end, our friend DID call us back and we felt REALLY bad about going with someone else, but he was really nice about it. And we genuinely felt like we needed to go with this other agent.)

The night before we met with the agent, Andrew kind of freaked out. He doesn't like the unknown, and he just didn't know what to expect. I wondered if we were ready for this step if just the idea of talking to an agent caused so much anxiety. But really, he was fine. The next morning we met Terry Bickmore out in South Jordan and he asked us what we wanted in a house.

We explained that we were looking to buy a short sale. He explained all the negatives of a short-sale including false prices and unreliable time-frames. We didn't really care. We hadn't planned on going anywhere for more than a year, and we could hold out for a good deal. He suggested that we make non-short sales priorities in our search, but agreed to take us to see anything we wanted to look at.

And then the search began. We looked, and looked, and looked. Andrew fell in love with the first house we saw. The one with a completely unusable backyard and no where to grill. (Yeah, like he was really going to be happy with that!) He basically looked at all the houses we saw the first day (a good dozen or more) and just decided on the least terrible one. After talking through it he realized that none of them were worthy of an offer and my impulse buyer decided we would need to schedule another day of looking.

We went out with Terry three different time literally scouring everything that was available in our price point. We began to think that maybe it wasn't going to work out for us after all, and actually, that was OK because we were happy where we were. So we settled down, having seen everything that was already out there, and just began watching the new listings trickle in.

To be continued in The Perfect House

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Family Proclamation

The First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children.All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God's commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God's eternal plan.Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. "Children are an heritage of the Lord" (Psalms 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.

This proclamation was read by President Gordon B. Hinckley as part of his message at the General Relief Society Meeting held September 23, 1995, in Salt Lake City, Utah.