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Bidding Wars
For the last 14 months, my husband and I have been looking for a house. To make this very long story fit into 500 words I am going to break it down like this. In June 2019 we didn’t want to renew our lease because we’d started looking for homes and just knew that we would find a house soon. So, to avoid renewing we moved in with family. Two weeks after we moved, we found a house, won the bid, put down the deposit, and went under contract. This particular house was a short sale so basically the closing would take longer than a conventional sale. However, we really loved the house so decided we could sacrifice for six months knowing the reward at the end. Six months later, the bank came back with a different appraisal than what we’d originally decided on and wanted us to pay more for the house. We were livid and walked away from the deal.
The holidays were right around the corner, so we decided to wait until the New Year to start looking again. The winter brought slim pickings so we hoped by Spring more people would be selling. Guess what, the Spring brought Covid-19, and the country was shut down which put a quick halt to our house shopping. May came and we started to feel a little comfortable looking again with masks and not bringing the kids along. If you are doing the math our original plan of staying with family for two to six months is approaching a year now. But everything was cool because at least we were out looking again. Here’s the twist, we were not the only ones who have been on house buying hold. Everyone who was ready to buy a house all got let out at the same time and now begins the wars.
For anyone who’s bought a house before, you already know how this works, just because you find a house you love does not mean you are going to get it, especially if someone else loves it as much as you or more. Imagine if five or ten people love it as much as you, and imagine if there is only one or two houses available and fifty people looking at those two, I’ll tell you what happens people start bidding on these houses like they are waging on a game of blackjack at the casino. We have bid on six houses and lost, and we have the budget to be in the game, but no matter how much we put up we have been losing. The last house we lost I had a breakdown. This entire experience has been awful for me. I am not a gambler and I don’t believe in paying more for something then what it's worth so this process that was so exciting and fun for us has now become a nightmare.
I am saying all this to say, it is only my faith that has gotten me through this gruesome process. I honestly believe that God has the perfect home for us. I know that no matter how much I’ve loved all the homes we’ve bid on, the one that God has set aside for us is better. It is only my faith that’s keeping me from totally losing it. I am not going to lie, I have had a few breakdowns trying to figure out what is going on, is God trying to show us something, are we not supposed to buy a house right now? I’ve asked every question you could think of and the only answer I came up with is, “that’s not your house,” I literally heard God say that to me. I cried, but I also decided to trust Him more. I believe my faith is being increased through all of this, so, if this is a test of my faith well, I need to do better. I will try my best to praise Him when I feel I’m about to break. I will thank Him when I’m feeling week and I will trust God all the way through. I can’t wait to write about the testimony and how we got through this test.