63 Days: We Bought a House Today!
My husband and I bought a house today.
God made it happen.
Buckle up, I'm gonna tell you a story and though it's long, I hope you read till the end...
"Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me(us)." -Psalm 66:16 NIV -emphasis mine-
In early Spring, my husband, began looking at houses in our town. He didn’t tell me at first. He just started looking. From time to time he'd send me a link to a house. I'd look and maybe make a comment back to him. But I didn't realize he was seriously looking. Early May he began showing me different homes on a more regular basis. I began asking him if he really wanted to move right now - he did.
He was showing me a listing at church one Sunday and Hannah heard him telling me about it. She encouraged us to go ahead with it. That week he and I had a conversation about it. We talked through our desires and then through where we were at financially. We (really it was me) decided that we weren't ready yet. He said he wouldn't move forward if I wasn't on board.
The time wasn't right. We weren't ready. Or so I thought...
God had other plans.
A week or so after that conversation, we had a prayer meeting at Nick and Hannah's for our upcoming outreach/conference, Encounter Jesus Summer. The day was Friday, May 28, 2021.
After hanging out for awhile and eating, we sat down to pray.
Prayer was going well, we had soaking music in the background and many of us were taking turns praying. While Nick was praying I felt a prompting to share a dream that I had last fall. I wasn't sure it was the right time, but the Holy Spirit set a fire in my chest like someone had struck a match across my sternum. I knew I had to share my dream. Below is the dream that I shared, with small edits for clarity. I originally wrote it down a few days after I had the dream.
"The other night - not sure how many nights ago - maybe three, I had a dream about a coffee house and a church - they were connected. And in a back room there was a place for the volunteers and employees to take a break. And I went there - the room was rather small and had a small table and two padded rocking chairs in the back. It kind of reminded me of the nursey at my old church - and along the left wall of this small room near the back corner, I saw a door that had a key card lock.
I went to open the door and it was locked. But I pushed on it again and it opened for me. Behind the door was an elevator. So being naturally curious, I went inside. In the elevator, there was only the option to go down. When the elevator stopped, I opened the door on the other side of the elevator (it was the kind you can "walk through" with doors on both sides) to a kind of service hallway - the kind with water heaters, the furnace, and other pipes and things like that.
Directly across the hall from the elevator door, there was another door. This door also had a key card lock on it. But I pressed against it and the door opened for me. I felt like I probably shouldn’t be able to open these doors and enter these places, but I was also drawn forward.
When I opened the door across the hall and stepped inside, I was in a large room. In this room there were lots of shelves and isles and it looked like a kind of market. But I couldn't tell what they were selling. I walked in a few rows, probably about six or seven, and these rows were short, like the produce section of a grocery story. But next to them, off to the right as I had walked through the door (to the left when facing the door I had come in through) the rows were tall and the isles long. I couldn't see the end of them. You couldn't see over those rows either.
After a little while of me wondering what kind of things were being sold here, people started coming into the section I was in. They were talking to each other and as I listened, I realized what they were shopping for…. kids.
As soon as I'd heard the first person getting close, I felt that I really shouldn't be there so I crouched down low in the isle I was in and prayed they wouldn't see me. I had a very clear feeling that I wasn't supposed to be in there and shouldn't get caught. To my left on the other side of the short row there was a woman looking over something and a man come up behind her smiling ghoulishly and began fondling her. I looked at her face and there was no reaction - she just looked tired and her eyes were dead - void of hope. But they didn't see me.
I kept asking Jesus that they wouldn't see me as I crouched lower and began making my way towards the door. After a few isles, I realized that they must not be able to see me because I had been moving in between two rows when some people came around the corner of the isle I was in and I thought they would see me, but they didn't.
So I stood up, and no one looked at me. I walked towards the door. Still no one turned their head. This was the door through which I had entered and it also had a key card lock on the inside. When I pushed on the door, that should only open with a key card, the door moved freely for me. The man guarding the door looked at the door in puzzlement, but still he didn't see me.
I moved across the hallway and into the basement of the church/coffee house again. I closed and locked the door behind me. I felt an urgency to get far away from this place and not let others know about it. I went through the elevator and out the break room door. I locked it behind me. When I left that room, I began walking up the stairs to the main part of the church and there were some neighborhood kids in the church for a children's program and I realized that the people in the "market" were buying the children from the church! And I talked a little with the two kids who were also climbing the stairs next to me."
I shared this dream with the group and shared the impression I had felt from the Lord when I woke up after having the dream.
When I was done sharing, Hannah said, "the Lord just told me that dream means that you're anointed to be a foster mom. You have authority to walk into places that others can't enter. God has called you to go under cover for Him and has given you access where others don't have access. That's also why JP can't stop looking at houses. You need to get a house because you can't foster in that tiny apartment. So you need to trust your husband, that he's hearing from the Lord. You have a supernatural opening here and you need to move on it."
I had never shared with Hannah or Nick, but I've had the desire to foster on my heart for over 11 years.
Nick then shared that he felt the Lord was saying that we had a "divine window that we needed to step into" and that everyone needed to gather around us and pray for us. They prayed in tongues and laid hands on us. Nick prayed that none of what we went through would ever be wasted, but that it would be used by God to make us more compassionate and empathetic. A few more people shared words of knowledge and prayed over us. One quoted, "Those who walk in darkness will see a great light." Another said, "The Lord has reached down and touched your womb and these babies you love will be your spiritual babies. You'll have other babies also, but these (foster children) will be your special spiritual babies."
Throughout their prayers I cried, squeezed JP's hand and thanked Jesus for His faithfulness. My heart swelled with love for my children. Our executive pastor said, "you will love children into the Body. This is the word of the Lord." Another friend said that JP would be given supernatural discernment from God, that he would be able to see what's truly going on with our children even though they will try to hide it.
Saturday morning (May 29) we made a few calls and got meetings scheduled for the following Wednesday morning. First with Ethan Panariso, our realtor, and then with Heather Neary, our lender. Those meetings went well, but they both apologized for "being so negative" - "the market is just really tough right now" they said. But even though they gave us "bad" news, neither of us were bummed - we both felt a lot of peace. If God said He would do it, then He will.
That peace persisted when we had our update call with Heather a week later. (6/8/21) She said she needed a week to get everything settled and pushed to an actual underwriter. She is working on getting us fully approved now so that our offer can be stronger. We won't have to go to underwriting after making an offer, we could close in 15 days. This will make our portfolio even stronger because we don't have a down payment or other things going for us.
A few days ago we found our house. The more I looked at it the more I could see our family living and thriving there. Four finished bedrooms and a fifth room that could be a workout room, bedroom, or home gym for the kids.
June 15, 2021
Today our realtor told us it was already pending.
My heart sank.
But, I refuse to give up.
I believe this house is ours. That or I just really, really love it and want it a lot.
At this time it seems hopeless. JP and I spent some time praying about it together.
June 16, 2021
Today we grieved. The house is not yet sold, but it seems so far out of reach. It was odd to grieve the loss of something we never actually possessed.
I said to him that if we couldn't get this house I didn't want any house.
I know that's not 100% true, but it's how I was feeling in the moment.
We slept in, went to the chiropractor, and after breakfast drove to the a reservoir for a restful day by the water. On the drive we talked about our grief and how sad we felt about losing the house. I'll be honest, there is a part of me hoping that the sale falls through and we are able to make an offer. But there's another part of me that's telling me that I'm grasping at straws… that the house is already out of reach.
Either way, I hold to the fact that Jesus is guiding us in this and He will provide a house for us. It will be more perfect than we can imagine for the plans He has for our lives. And I know that His plans are always only good.
July 6, 2021
We saw a house tonight that I think might be the one… it's not anything like what I thought our first house would look like.
Last Thursday our realtor, Ethan (a GREAT realtor btw), called us about this house. He shared that the current occupants are some of his clients and they wanted to sell pretty quickly because they both just took new jobs need to move asap. They are believers and when Ethan asked if he could show their house to us they asked just one question, "are they strong believers?" Ethan was happy to share that yes, we were.
On that call I asked a couple of questions about the house and was slightly displeased to find out it only had two bedrooms. But he said the size was around 1600-1800 - but he wasn't sure because he didn't have the info in front of him, that was just an estimate.
Well, when we saw the house tonight, it's clearly not 1600 sq ft… the size is 1264 sq ft. Much smaller than we were hoping for.. than I was dreaming for… I guess when I got the word that God was going to give us our dream home, I was thinking of lots of open living space and lots of bedrooms, two or more bathrooms, a big back yard, fire place, and large porch for visiting. Well… this house has two bedrooms, only one bathroom, a small kitchen, & a split living space… they do have a nice backyard, though it's not large. Basically this house isn't what I was dreaming about. But I felt peace about the house.
JP liked the house while we were still there. I could see it on his face. Which was a huge change from before we left our house to meet Ethan for the viewing. He was grouchy about the size of the house and the limited number of bedrooms. I simply asked him, "Are you open to what the Lord might do?" He said, "yes." And with that we drove to the house.
On the way home after the viewing, JP started talking about what he liked about the house and what we could change. I just began to laugh! What a drastic change from before we left. I was feeling peaceful. I can't explain that because it's not what I have been dreaming about. But when we got home, I asked Holy Spirit about it, and felt that He said yes. This house was for us.
So I told Jon-Paul, and he smiled really big. He felt the same. So we called Ethan and let him know. He was also very excited for us! We were smiling and laughing so much, it seemed my heart would burst.
Jon-Paul wanted to go out and celebrate - so we had called our favorite Pho place, but they put us on hold for over 5 minutes and we got tired of waiting. So he took us to a trendy place downtown that's in the old trolley buildings. It's a co-op of lots of businesses - it has a very street food kind of feeling. We got Korean BBQ and it was pretty good.
On the way there, I started second guessing our decision and feeling really sad. From the peak of endorphins and excited giggling, I plummeted. That's when I realized that this house wasn’t really any of the things I was really dreaming about. "Did we really just choose this house?" I thought...
I was spiraling, I nearly started crying. Jon-Paul was shocked and confused with my behavior. I got really quiet and stayed that way until we got our food. When we sat down he started asking me questions. Slowly by slowly I was able to verbalize what I was feeling. He reminded me that this home is our starter home. It's not our forever home. It's not the dream home. But it gets us a house and puts us in the market. After a few years and a couple of upgrades, we can look for a new house. But with more space, we will be able to do more. I guess I'm wondering if we will be able to foster in this house with the limited rooms that it has.
But I trust the Lord, and if we both have supernatural peace about the situation, then we will move forward with it. Ethan said he would get us the paperwork tonight, if he could. Otherwise we should expect it first thing in the morning.
Later, when I prayed about these feelings, I felt the Lord saying that He has not forgotten these desires of my heart, but that it wasn't the time to fulfill them yet. I felt him saying I should hang on to them and trust His timing. Just as I had with the desire to foster.
July 8, 2021
We signed our 'Transaction Broker Agreement' yesterday with Ethan. It was a transaction broker agreement because the sellers are also his clients, so he is really brokering the transaction instead of acting as our buying agent.
Last night we went to Home Depot to dream a little. We looked at paint samples, fridges, bathtubs, showerheads, lights, and other home appliances and features. We have a few things we'd like to do right away, like paint. And over time we will do a few more upgrades to the house. We've even already been tossing around the idea of tearing out the walls around the inner portion of the garage space and connecting that with the lower family room for a very large living space when you first come in the door. But… that would not be a project we undergo right away. The first thing we'd do is paint the kitchen - walls and cupboards for sure, and maybe adding simple white subway tiles as backsplash behind the counter, stove, and sink.
It's exciting to dream about our home. With an actual home seemingly within grasp…
At the stage we are in here is what we are waiting on:
The sellers to finish their selling paperwork with Ethan
Ethan to draft our contract and talk through it with us
Ethan to give our contract to the sellers to see if they accept
If they accept it, then we are under contract, and can move ahead with appraisal and home inspection
Then we move to closing.
This all feels like it will take a really long time, but honestly, it could be completed by the end of the month because Jon-Paul and I have already been through underwriting and our loan is already approved.
Oh, we still have to take a six hour first time homebuyers class because we are using the CHFA loan for our 3% down payment. But that will be pretty simple we're told. (Update: it was simple, but informative.)
July 10, 2021
We made our official offer today. We signed it around 4:15pm. By 9:16pm we had a message from Ethan, "Congratulations 🎉🎊🍾🎈 you are officially under contract!!!"
July 19, 2021
This morning we met Mark, the inspector for our home.
There were no huge concerns, but a number of smaller items that will need our attention. From what he mentioned, the house is in good condition overall, with only minor repairs needed. We're grateful that no major damage was uncovered.
Today we also called our current landlord and I asked about the security deposit. She normally mails it once the tenant has vacated the property, but I shared with her that we are a little short on our cash to close and asked if we could get that $500 back early. She said that she would do that for us and that she'd find a way to make it happen soon. Also, as a gift to us, she will not be charging us the first 10 days of August, while we wait for our sellers to vacate the house under the POA.
What a blessing! Just another way we feel God's love - His provision in this way. Another big blessing is that technically, she could charge us nearly $2,000 for breaking our lease early - but she's not charging us anything. When God told us to get a house, I knew He would do it. And little by little I see that happening! We now only need around $500 to cover all of the closing costs.
As my husband and I prayed about who to ask to help meet this need, the Holy Spirit kept bringing to our minds the same people. We will reach out to them soon to ask. I'm so excited to share the story of God's faithfulness so far and see what happens next!
Just a week ago I was panicking about how we were gonna be able to cover all of the closing costs. But now, I have full faith and confidence knowing that God has made the way smooth. We must simply walk in obedience to the Spirit's leading. He is so good and faithful and will not leave us alone. He will always lead us. He is so trustworthy.
July 22, 2021
We had our call this morning. It went so well! Beforehand, I was nervous to tell our story. I'm nervous each time I share a dream I've had with someone new. My mentor came over for breakfast today. We had a lovely time and I shared our story with her. Right before she left, she prayed for us and one of the things she prayed really stuck out to me. "We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony." and I knew in that moment, sharing in spite of my nerves was right, her prayer was the confirmation I needed.
Later the same day - the call went super well! They listened, and made a few comments and when we asked if they would help us out with $500 of closing costs they said they would definitely talk about it. We spent the rest of the call just catching up and chatting. It was so good to talk with them. :)
Less than 30 minutes later they texted letting us know that they are able and excited to help us out! :)
Wow! Another answer to prayer!! We now have all of the money that we need to close on this house!!!!
July 23, 2021
We got the appraisal back today. I quickly clicked into it knowing that if the appraisal value was different from the agreed upon purchase price we would have to make up the difference. The lender will only lend us the value of the house or the agreed purchase price, whichever is less.
$3,000 - the difference between the purchase price and the appraisal value. 3k less.
My heart sank.
I knew that I shouldn't be discouraged, but I couldn't help the surge of emotions that came as I looked at that number. Even though that was the number, I knew that somehow God would provide.
July 24, 2021
We connected with Heather, our lender, today to discuss our options. She suggested a few things, asking for a larger gift amount, taking out a small loan, or getting a cash advance on our credit card. The only option I really felt okay with was explaining the situation to my brother and sister-in-law and asking them to help us out more. But when I texted they weren't available to talk today.
Later Jon-Paul talked with Ethan, our realtor, and he suggested a different option. He suggest that he go to the sellers and ask them if they will lower the sale price by $3,000 in exchange for not replacing the carpet or paying us the $500 POA rent-back money they were planning to pay. JP called me and asked if that was okay with me, immediately I said, "yes!" and he let Ethan know.
July 26, 2021
Waiting for a response felt like foreverrrr.. The sellers had to crunch their numbers and see what they wanted to do, taking a little bit of time is understandable, but is still 'painful' for us, lol
In all this waiting I knew that God would provide for us. I know that He has been guiding us every step of the way, and He's too good to lead us this far only to desert us now. I wrote in my journal this morning, "Jesus has already provided the way, it just hasn't been revealed to us yet." I wrote that at 8am this morning.
--At 1:23pm, Ethan texted us and said, "they will sell the house for the appraisal value with no new carpet and no rent-back payment. I will draw up the adjusted documents."
Gah!! Another answer to prayer!!! Jesus is so so good!!!! I'm so grateful for this story!
---
We did not plan on buying a house this summer, but God had other plans. I am so excited to step into this new chapter. I'm expectant, God is moving and I can't wait to see what He does next.
This year has been an amazing year of seeing God move. He's at work in every tiny detail, if only we pause long enough to truly see him there.
We will close on our house on Friday, July 30th. Monday, August 9th at 2pm we will take possession of the house.
Our house.
July 30, 2021
We closed on our house at 2pm today! It was so simple. We met at the title company armed with our IDs and the cashier's check. We met with the closer and began signing paperwork. Everyone had told us our hands would get tired and there'd be so many papers to sign. I don't know if it was because I was so excited to be at the closing table or because of the fact that I journal almost every day, but my hand did not get the slightest bit tired or sore. I don't know, maybe it will be sore tomorrow.
Honestly, the whole process was much easier than people told me it would be. There were definitely moments of stress here and there, but overall, it was a simple process.
It only took 63 days from the word of confirmation at the prayer meeting to signing the papers on our house. And God did it.
When JP had prayed about a timeline on June 2nd, he felt the Lord saying, '0-3 months.' Well 63 days is definitely well within that timeframe. Just wow. What a good God we serve.
"Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what he has done for me(us)." -Psalm 66:16 NIV -emphasis mine-
If God says He will do it, hold on to that, for I know that He surely will. This wasn't the summer I had imagined, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
We have a house. A home.
I'm so excited to meet our kiddos and continue this amazing adventure of walking with Jesus!
Won't you join us? If you want to stay up to date on life things, with the house, fostering, & whatever else I feel inspired to write about- subscribe to this blog!
We have a house-warming wish list here. ;)
Also, you want to follow along what I'm doing in ministry with Dare Ministries click here. (I'm still working on raising my salary too - so if you feel led to bless us and help out with a one time gift or monthly donation, it would mean a lot to us!)
Peace & Love,
Sarah
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