Mike and I moved to Idaho Falls the end of April. We had found a hou
se that was in foreclosure. We bought it in March and immediately started working on the house. It was horendous and it quite intimidated me. I almost cried when I realized what we had to work with. We learned that the previous ownder had 13 cats inside the house. One room was dedicated just to the felines. There was hair and pee everywhere piled thick (on the walls and the floor). I would come out of the house with major allergies each day. The guy had blinds on the outside of his windows. The walls were maroon and a burnt orange color. We had to haul 3 big trucks and trailor loads of junk from the upstairs. There was 4 downstairs and the outside was maybe 2 loads. He was the king of starting something and wouldn't finish. Because of his nature, most of the neighbors didn't like him living in his neighborhood. Let's say they are very thankful for having us instead. :)
You wonder why we decided to buy the house...I already mentioned that it was foreclosure so we got a really good deal on it. It was our first home and Mike has visions of doing this to other homes. We had to start somewhere. In reality, I love our little home. I love where we live and the neighbors. Just behind our back yard there is a school. We are in the middle of town and love being minutes away from everything.
Buying the house...Mike had been looking online at homes for about 8-9 months if not more. It was just in March t
hat we started scoping them out. We had a hard time finding the address of our home and had to stop a gas station and look at a map. At first, we didn't find the house all that interesting. One of Mike's dad's friend's was working on a house down the street and mentioned to Mike that this house had potential. Mike looked at it more carefully. The more he kept looking at it the more he fell in love with it. He went and showed his dad who had the most impact of whether or not we were going to buy this house. Well, the auction was only in a couple of days and we had to come up with some cashier checks. His dad stepped up to the plate and loaned us some money.
Auction time...Mike and I were extremely early in fear that we couldn't find where the auction was being held. We went to the greenbelt to kill some time. Either or us hardly talked just due to nerves. We went back and were greeted by two unwelcomed perpetrators. We sat in a big conference room waiting for everyone to arrive. While waiting, I made conversation with the two perpetrators and realized that they weren't going to bid on the house. We felt relieved but that didn't last all that long. In came a lot more people; two more couples. The bank showed up and also the person in charge of the auction. The mood in the room was so very uncomfortable, stoned serious, nerve wrecking, and intense. I looked over at Mike and he didn't seem to be bothered or nervous. He kept under control and showed no sign of fear. I was impressed by how he pulled it off. The auction started and soon realized that we were bidding against the bank. We were ticked!!! What kind of scam was this? When she reached her limit, she stopped. Then another couple starting bidding on it. They asked us questions of what our plans were, etc. We told them we wanted it for our first home. The wife told her husband to stop bidding and to let us have it. He bid one
more time and then stopped making us the owners. After all that, the couple claims that the house wasn't worth much and that it wasn't all that great of a deal. Which of course didn't make any sense since they wanted so bad at first. That doens't matter now. We were excited.
My excitement went from 90 to 0 in an instant realizing WE WERE THE OWNERS!!! I had Mike go in the house first to give me a mental picture of something that was totally diasterous so that when I did see it for the first time it hopefully wouldn't be so bad. It worked. It took me a while to get used to the idea of even having a house and for that reason I didn't tell anyone for a while.
Now everyone tells us how nice we made our house and how comfortable it is. We changed so much. Our yard is completely different; more open and clean. I'm so proud of it that if/when Mike decides to sell it, it will be hard to be pulled from it.
Mike's grandmother passed away Sunday Aug. 24. Her funeral is on Friday Aug. 29. Her passing was somewhat expected. She was in her 90's and she was complaining of chest pains. She went into the doctor and they found out that she had pneumonia in her lungs and had been having mini strokes. When we heard of her passing, we were grateful to Heavenly Father for taking away her pain and letting her go home. My mother-in-law is grateful as well so that she doesn't have to worry about her any more. We also are excited for family to come into town to be able to visit with them.
