Some Times Saying No is the Best Thing

We got per-approved for a mortgage last week.

We had originally thought we just look at short sales now and in a few months we look at regular sales.

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Last weekend I fell in love with two house I found online.

Both had 5 bedrooms both had about a third of an acre and both were over our budget. 

One was in Riverton and one was a mile from us here in West Jordan.

When we drove past them I got excited.

...

Monday we went out with our realtor and looked at a few houses.

We tried to see the house in Riverton but the people who are currently renting it wouldn't let us in.

We got to see the house in West Jordan.

It was AWESOME!

An old widow lives there now and she kept it so clean.

And this house was huge! 600 square feet bigger than the Riverton house.

It would be an great house for teenagers.

I WANTED that house.

So we decided to go home and put in an offer.

 Here's a few pictures of the house...

The backyard is perfect! And we loved the covered area.

This is the huge living room off of the entrance and dinning room.

And there was a big family room off of the kitchen and garage.

A good sized master bedroom with hiss and her's closets and a master bathroom.

This would have been the girls giant bedroom in the basement.

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We ran the numbers and were sick and we didn't even plan on offering full price.

We didn't realize that we'd have to pay $256 every month for our PMI and about $130 for our taxes.

The mortgage didn't scare us it was all the extra's.

We didn't put an offer in on Monday night.

Tuesday morning, Sean said we could put our offer in even though he was still nervous.

He just wanted to make me happy and get our family a home.

He's such a good husband.

...

Anyway, Tuesday morning we found out that another couple was going to be putting in an offer.

I felt sick! Seriously, I couldn't eat and I was nauseous and even dry heaving.

We decided to up our already pricey offer ten thousand dollars higher to asking price.

Those three house waiting to hear if we got the house we a nightmare.

By the grace of God the other couple offer asking price and they offered to pay closing cost.

So they got it. That was Tuesday.

...

Wednesday, I went out again, this time with my sister-in-law Michelle since Sean was working.

We headed to the house in Riverton again.

But again the renters would let us in even though we had scheduled an appointment 

in the approved showing time and give the required 24 hour notice to the scheduling company.

So my realtor (who is my second cousin or first cousin once removed, who I just met last month)

gave the lady living there a verbal notice that we would be back in 24 hours.

...

After trying to get into the Riverton house again we headed to another house.

It was located in north west West Jordan.

It's further out than I wanted to be and I wasn't as in love with the neighborhood.

But the house was gorgeous on the inside.

Everything was clean and it was nicely finished.

We wouldn't have to do much expect paint a bedroom that was decorated with Utah Utes colors and decals.

It was only 4 bedrooms but had a spot in the basement where a 5th one could be made.

The problem was everything just felt small.

There was no way to put a twin bed in the kids room without blocking the big window seats.

And I just didn't love the location like I did the Riverton home.

Here's a few pictures of that house...

The family room off the kitchen was small and there was no way to lay out the future that wasn't awkward.

It had a cute master bathroom.

The small Ute bedroom.

...

Sean was so excited about the pictures I took of that West Jordan house.

He easily fell in love with it.

Probably because it was within our original budget.

 It was listed for 15,000 less than the Riverton house and 25,000 less than the house we had bid on and lost.

...

I was an emotional wreck!
Wednesday night I went to the Jordan River Temple while Sean was putting the kids to bed.

I just sat outside the temple and thought about the two houses and prayed.

Every time I thought about the West Jordan house I felt nothing.

And every time I thought about the Riverton house I got a knot in my stomach.

I didn't know what to do.

...

Thursday morning Sean and I met our realtor at the Riverton house.

Finally we were getting into that house but so were two other couples at the same time.

When I realized that panic set in.

I was nauseous and sick to my stomach again.

...

The viewing of that house was awful!

The renter's that live there, I think, are trying to do everything possible to stop the sale of that house.

There was too many sticky candles that just gave me a headache the second I walked it.

Also, they have two huge dogs and the house just smells of dogs, their pee and cigarettes.

We were not allowed to go into the room with the dogs in it.

And there was another room with a boy playing video games that I didn't feel comfortable going it.

We couldn't go into the garage because it was filled to the ceiling with stuff.

Talk about hoarders!

All that isn't even the worst part.

There was a man following us around, I assumed he was the listing agent.

We was wearing a name tag that said, "sales" with his name.

He was talking to us about the house.

When I went into the kitchen I wanted to look into the pantry which was blocked by a chair.

I moved the chair and opened the door.

On the pantry floor was a live mouse stuck on some sort of sticky gel pad.

I was so surprised! I quickly informed the man with the sales name tag.

He calmly closed the door and put the chair in front of it again and said,

"Yeah we have a mouse problem, you'll get used to it."

It was at this point that I realized that this man wasn't the realtor he lived in the house.

My realtor thinks that the man went to a pet shop and bought the mouse and planet it there!

...

There's some pictures of the Riverton house...

This is the smallest, ugliest house on the street.

The homes on these street were all so cute, most were stucco and all but one yard was nicely landscaped.

This kitchen is AMAZING! Especially compared to the little apartment kitchen I have now.

The dinning room was a nice size.

 And we liked the family room.

It wasn't small or an awkward shape.

The worst thing about this house was the master bedroom was small and there was no master bath.

After that viewing I just wanted to get out of that house and go look at the nice clean one in West Jordan.

When we called the listing agent of that West Jordan house we found out it had been sold the night before.

So we felt like we had no other option but to put an offer in on the Riverton house.

We decided to offer $5,000 less than they were asking 

which was still $10,000 more than we wanted to spend.

When we placed the offer Thursday afternoon, 

we were informed that no decision would be made until Friday night.

(They were waiting for multiple offers.)

That night I was nauseous and stressed out again.

...

Friday morning I wasn't able to eat and felt like throwing up.

I went to the store and bought a pregnancy test because 

I just couldn't believe that all this was due to house hunting.

Turns out it was!

...

Friday afternoon I got a call from our realtor.

He had been on the phone with the listing agent several times since we put our offer in.

He kept reminding him how we had been trying to get into that house all week and kept getting turned away.

So the sellers decided to counter us.

(There were multiple offers, which there should have been it was a good house in a great area.)

Sean and I knew that this would mean a higher sales price and more money.

We were stressed and nervous.

...

Right as Sean was leaving work on Friday, he called me.

He asked me why we had to buy a house right now anyway,

we weren't planning on buying one for a few months originally.

He told me that he thought we could stay in our apartment a little bit longer or even rent a townhouse.

It was hard to give up my dream of living in a house next month but 

as soon as he said that I felt instant peace.

I knew Sean was right.

...

Friday night we looked online and drove and looked at some townhouse.

We felt really excited about renting one.

After talking some more we decided that we will postpone renting a townhouse for a while too.

We're gonna renew our lease here for another six months.

In those six months will be able to pay off our van with Sean's raise.

We're so excited about!

...

I'm so, so, so grateful for my wise husband.

He was almost willing to buy me a house because he knew it was want I wanted

but he was brave enough to say no.

Saying no is some times the hardest thing.

We know that our family will be blessed because of the decision that we have made to get out of debt.

We also know that our marriage will be strengthened as we work together to achieve our goals.

...

“The poorest shack in which love prevails over a united family is of greater value to God and future humanity than any other riches. In such a home God can work miracles and will work miracles.”

(David O. McKay) 

...

I know that no matter where we live we will be happy as long as we obey the commandments and strive to follow the guidance of the spirit. 

And I know that when we finally do decide to buy a home we will appreciate it so much more now because we will have sacrificed and worked for it.