Buying Our First House: The Search

I have planned to blog about our process of buying and updating our first house for a couple reasons. 

• It has been a learning experience that I'd like to share with other friends who are or will be going through the same process. I plan to be honest even with the ugly details.
• We're far away from our Houston friends and family so I can't easily share what is going on with us at lunch or dinner. 
• I need the motivation and accountability to continue with our project list.

The History:

We moved to San Antonio from Houston for my husband's job last Spring. We quickly started looking to buy a house (because that was our plan for our next step while we were in Houston.) Most of the areas in San Antonio didn't interest us, or they were very expensive and far from my husband's job. We found that we were visiting the small town of Boerne on the weekends and even after work for picnics along the creek. Boerne was only 15 minutes from where we were living and on the right side of the city for my husband to commute to his job. So one day in June while I was in town, I stopped by a realtor's office on Main Street. I had never researched the realty company. I just walked in. (This is not my typical approach!) I spoke with the first realtor who greeted me and shared that we were interested in looking for a house and possibly investment land. We quickly dropped the idea of investment property once we realized how much everything sells for around here! I let her know it would be a while before we were ready, but that we wanted to get an idea of what was available. 

House on the Hill: 

While in Houston for a wedding, we saw a listing for a house that we got giddy about! We texted the realtor on our way back to San Antonio to see it. This house could have been a dream if we weren't afraid of pouring several tens of thousands into it. It was in a very small community that winds through the hills and is covered by trees. They are environmentally conscience and almost every house had a sign posted reminding people not to use pesticides. All of the mailboxes were in a line at the entrance (which wouldn't feel like an entrance if it weren't for the obvious mailboxes.) 

The house itself sat on a hill and looked like a one story from the road, yet it was built down the hill. It had incredible hardwood floors, an open floor plan, and TONS of windows overlooking the stone cliff on the other side of the valley. 

Lower down the hill was a octagonal building that looked like it was meant to be a yoga room. It had windows on all sides except the side that held the fireplace and door to the half bathroom. This would have met my dream of being an Airbnb host. People would surely pay to stay at this private retreat, and when it wasn't rented out it could have been my reading/escape space. 

After touring the house, which was nearly 100 years old, had no insulation ANYWHERE, was built using cedar trunks (as in someone chopped down some trees and made them the houses' foundation), had no subfloor, and would require me climbing a spiral staircase to the master (which had its own views and small balcony!), we decided to immediately go visit a new neighborhood closer to our apartment. We drove down a street that had multiple new subdivsions.  All of them had balloons and signs beckoning you to come see their model homes. We randomly chose the community that had Heights in the name. Then as we drove down their model home street, we again randomly chose a house to go into. As we parked, we noticed another lady pull up. She kept staring at us. When we went inside and asked for information on available houses, we were told to speak with her. As we started talking to her she explained that she loved our Jeep and that it was the exact one that she wanted. She was staring in hopes that it was her husband coming to show her that he had bought it for her! During this conversation we mentioned that we had just left an old house in the Grey Forest area and wanted to compare to a new house to see which we thought we fit with more. She asked which house. So we vaguely told her the street name. She then started describing the house to us. I thought, "Oh no, she wants our Jeep. Maybe she's trying to buy this house too and we're going to have to bid against her." But then she said, "I lived in that house for 3 years!" She proceeded to tell us about her renting experience, the owner, the quirks of the house, things that would need to be fixed and that we should buy the lot next to it in order to have full access to our yard and adequete parking. We left with very little information on the new houses but in shock that we would drive directly to the person who had the best insight into the house on the hill. 

Lord, why did you bring us directly to this lady? What do you want us to do?

In the end, we decided it was too soon to buy a house, that it would be too expensive to buy the lot (which also had a small house on it) next door, and that there were too many scary things (no insulation and a laundry room that was under the house). But in sharing this story with a friend, I was encouraged that maybe this bizarre encounter was a reminder from God that he was in the details of us finding a house. So house on the hill ended up being a no-go. But I can still dream about it.

Dreamy Yellow Cottage:

While speaking with the realtor about the house on the hill, she mentioned a cute yellow house in the town of Boerne. We knew it well. We had driven by and stalked it online. It was little girl Heather's dream house. But the price listed online made it obvious it would never happen. Yet our realtor said it was way over priced. As in about $100k over priced. So we decided to see it. Love at freaking first sight!!! 

It was about 100 years old too, but had been moved from down the road and meticulously restored. There wasn't an inch that wasn't beautiful. By the time we toured this house, we knew we were expecting a baby. I imagined bringing a baby home to this beautiful, sun lit cottage.  I knew I could sit in that sun filled living room all day and enjoy it! 

We dreamed of converting the already nice garage into a guest space and doing an Airbnb. As a side note, hosting and running an Airbnb is my dream way of making income while being a stay at home mom. And since Boerne is a retreat/tourist destination, it was going to be wonderful. The house was small which would mean living with less, which I'm more than okay with. And the back yard was just big enough for a small garden and place to play. The back porch would have been perfect with rocking chairs and a glass of sweet tea. Goodness, if we ever strike it big, I'm seriously going back to buy this house. I LOVED IT! We put in an offer that was reasonable for its super small square footage compared to comparables.  But the thing was, there weren't any comparables with the quality of work and restoration done in the house. Obviously, we didn't get this house. But there is a cool story that goes with it too. While we were touring it, James looked in the attic to see if there was any storage space. The attic was completely empty except for a couple of very old bibles. Each had been well used. 

Again, Lord why? Why show us this amazing house that is empty of any possessions other than your Word? This house had obviously been a house of study and prayer. And I so eagerly wanted to continue that tradition. 

The Ranch Close to Town:

There was yet another house. This time a ranch style (my least favorite style). But it had a great yard and felt homey. It also had a bonus room off of the kitchen that I could see being used as a prayer or study room. We quickly put in an offer and it was accepted as a back up offer. We paid our earnest money and eagerly waited for something to go wrong with the other offer. The other offer was going to be a cash offer once they sold their current house. (As a side note, we heard of several cash offers during the house buying process. These people are doing something right and I wish they would write a blog for me to read!) After the month was up, we upped our offer by $1k trying to get the seller to give up on the other person. They didn't. They were loyal to the first buyer even though they took a long time to close. I think they must have known the buyer. Because who passes up cash today for cash a month and a half later? Sure the other buyer was a cash buyer, but the seller would have gotten a full cash amount from us as well, but sooner. Later we learned our offers were the same. Oh well. I don't cry over this house.

Then there was a long lull in our search. Our realtor would show us newer houses in the go-to neighborhood for young families. They were large with generally small yards. Parents and their kids played in the streets after work. It was the definition of suburbia. James and I were adamant that we didn't want a new house because we liked the character of older homes. (A little foreshadowing there...)

The House with the Pool: 

By this time we were getting discouraged about finding a house. Then James noticed a house in our email before bed one night and immediately said, "This is our house." The pictures showed well. There was a pretty living room, kitchen and a wonderful dining room that would hold my dream big table where everyone could sit together on the holidays. And there was a pool! The Boerne real estate market is a seller's market and houses go quickly. So you basically have to put an offer in the first time you see the house. I wasn't sure about this one, but could picture us living there. We put in an offer and went through the option period. Each time I visited the house, I doubted it even more. James' uncles came to look at the house with us and were concerned about the pool being at a higher grade than the dining room and an add-on to the master bedroom. It had flooded before. And looking at the way the water would flow should the pool overflow, it could happen again. On the night before the inspection, I had no peace. I couldn't put my finger on why but the house concerned me. I don't have pictures to post, but the listing pictures are still available online here. I just looked at the pictures again and knowing the house that we ended up in, the house with the pool was much cooler! But from what we could see, we feel like our house has been better maintained, although not updated. 

Thanks for reading through the long search process. There were SEVERAL other houses that we viewed but the ones mentioned are the one's we put offers on or considered putting offers on.  Next time I'll share the story (and reality check) of the house that we actually bought. Then I plan to share a money post about what we learned in the buying process and some tips on how to save some money in one of the most expensive transactions you'll ever go through!