Remember how I said we needed to find our perfect home? We did. And we closed on it today, and the closing took about twenty minutes. Directly after the closing we went to have the key copied, and then Mark dropped me off to meet our tenant and sign the lease agreement while he went to Sears to work out a delivery for the refrigerator, which ended up coming tonight and our tenant stayed until it came, and the delivery guy also installed the water hose. Doesn’t that sound smooth? Well, it was, but the ride up to this point was anything but.
After waiting three months for the foreclosure deed to be executed for the other little house, and after our potential tenant found a different place that was available right away, we walked away. So glad we did, for we found this pristine, Habitat for Humanity townhouse that had just come on the market. Fresh paint! New flooring! Ready to rent immediately! Wonderful Christian next-door neighbors. But I originally had looked at it thinking we might move into it for a few months while we fixed up an old house in Canton that was for sale. Alas, my dream to live in downtown was not to be realized, but I still really liked the townhouse and they accepted our offer.
Next on the agenda was the inspection. I had already paid for an inspector for the other house that was in need of many repairs. For that one it was necessary, but this one was so new I didn’t really feel like spending $300 for a “expert” to walk around and say, “Yup, looks good.” So I had my father inspect it. Who better, really, since whatever was wrong he would be the one to help me fix it. He looked long and hard before he found something he needed to do, and we treated him to dinner for his services.
On the way out the door to the fancy restaurant, aka Wendy’s, we ran into our first snag. Mark recognized one of the homeowners, and when he told her the plan was to lease it, she let him know it was in the Covenants and Restrictions that the units could not be leased. Oops. Loooong story short, the homeowners voted to change the Covenants. But because of that snag I met the Area Director for Habitat, another of the neighbors, and Patie got a cute desk from the Habitat ReStore.
Next up was the Title issue. Seems the foreclosure was executed improperly, and it would need to go back through the entire process, and the deal was off. Ouch. Another looooong story short, because of the nature of the foreclosure on a Habitat home, there was an alternate route to be taken other than another full scale assignment and foreclosure, and my business education expanded to include the ins and outs of the foreclosure process.
Four months after my first hair-brained idea of buying a rental, we’ve done it, and I couldn’t be any more pleased with the place or our tenants. The house is beautiful, both inside and out. The timing is perfect, both for us and our tenants. The location is perfect. Praise God who does all things well. Not always smoothly, but always well. At the end of this day I feel like I have passed a Sanctification Exam. This process has been stressful at many points, and I have not always responded in faith to the challenges that have arisen, but I feel as though my faith has grown, and my love for others has grown, and my respect for my husband (who stood by and encouraged me and counseled me and let me spend a LOT of his hard earned money) has grown.
My heart doth overflow.
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