I thought I had some super exciting news to share with you guys, but I guess I don't really. You see, we recently found a new place to live. Our current place is MUCH too big for our needs and we have a lot of wasted space (as in rooms that we don't even use) and way too much stuff. I hate stuff.
This new house that we found would be a wonderful thing for numerous reasons. For one thing, it is much smaller than our current place (like by half!). Two, it would force us to seriously declutter. Three, the monthly payments on it (plus ALL the utilities!) would be a couple of HUNDRED dollars less than our rent alone in our current place. That equates to more money to do more things and less stress about money in the first place! Four, we would own instead of renting. That part is the major deal for us!
So, we went in to two different banks today. My father-in-law had already said that they would help us out with this (and I tried not to get my hopes up...long history of getting excited about something only to be let down by it later) but he wanted us to go in and apply for the loan on our own. So, we did. We knew that we would be denied (though we haven't yet talked to the lady - but I'm just being realistic here). You see, the cost of the new place is so low that it doesn't qualify for a mortgage, but a large personal loan. Our credit is not favorable. I know that and so does my father-in-law. But whatever, he wanted us to go apply on our own and so that's what we did.
The one loan officer tried to call us back today, but apparently my mom took Hubby's phone home with her (and my phone - well, let's just say that it got dropped and the back and battery both were lost/trampled by a crowd in a small dark room on a Friday night by heavily intoxicated people a few weeks back...but that's another story for another day - or not) So Loan Officer tried to call Hubby but we missed the call b/c my mom had the phone so she called Father-in-Law because we had listed him as closest relative. I figured it made sense to list him because his original plan had been to co-sign with us on the loan or to just take out the loan himself and we just pay it off.
So, Father-in-Law shows up at our door at like 8:00 this evening and tells Hubby that the Loan Officer called him because she couldn't get ahold of us and that when he tried calling us, he got my mom instead. Oh and by the way, he isn't sure about the loan at the moment. (Mind you, he has been CERTAIN about it for the last week and a half since we first mentioned it all to him, even up to the point of being certain about it at 10:00 this morning.) So frustrating. And he goes out of town tomorrow and I work 12 hour shifts tomorrow, Thursday and Friday. He'll be back on Friday night though, so maybe we have a chance at the whole loan thing either Saturday or next Monday. We'll see. Right now though, I feel so defeated about it and disappointed in myself for allowing myself to be excited. :/
But anyhow, do you want to see the pictures of the house? Hear a little bit about it? If for nothing else, I will at least have it on here as a memory of what could have been and a reminder about getting excited about things...
The dining room is just off the kitchen and that front area that you first walk into. It's smaller and I think we might have to get a smaller table for that area or maybe just different chairs. We aren't exactly sure until we try it out. Initially though, we'd make what we have work in the space. And it even has cute little built-in cabinets in the corners. Love the little details in this space!
It has a large bathroom (only 1 compared to the 3 we currently have - most willing to give up 2 bathrooms though!) and the washer/dryer actually go in there - directly opposite of the tub. So when the kids get into the bath at night, their clothes from the day could go directly in and then be washed once all of the kids were bathed too. Talk about convenient (and no more excuses for laundry piled up!) It has a newer furnace and hot water heater too! They even offered to throw in the washer and dryer but since we already own a set ourselves, we passed on that. They will probably pass that on to her middle son instead, which works for us!
Then there are the bedrooms. The bedrooms are tiny, especially compared to the rooms that we all have now. Punky and Boo would still share, Natty and JoNo would go back to sharing. And Hubby and I, well, of course we share! Eventually, though, we'd really love to get a bunkbed for the boys that also has a pull-out trundle bed for Boo to sleep on. It would be the most space-saving option and the boys will have the biggest room anyhow (since there are three of them) and then Miss Punky would have the smallest room (since it would be just her) while Hubby and I would take the middle room (which has a ceiling fan and a custom closet system already in place....droool!) The kids' bedrooms have smallish walk-in closets that would be the perfect size for their clothing and they also have shelving in there too which would work out wonderfully for toy storage as well.
The front porch has a nice swing and the back deck, well, it's kinda plain, but it's bigger than the deck that we currently have and that is a bonus. Also, we could fence in the yard. There is a grove of trees behind the house which I love, but also scares me a little bit because of Boo's wandering. Because of his issues, he wanders a lot. We can pretty well redirect him into something else, but it can be a challenge. Also, because of his issues, there is a program here that would help out with certain things for him. One of which could be respite care for him. It's not a huge issue because we have a pretty decent support base of people already in place if we need that time. And besides, if we had respite for him, that doesn't cover the other three, so really, it would feel like we were singling him out and sending him away (when really he is probably the easiest child of the four to take care of) and it just doesn't feel right. Anyhow, our family coordinator suggested that as an option for him. But when we were talking today, I said, "Ooooh, a fenced-in yard!" because the form was talking about home modifications. I was joking, but she said that I should put it down because it would be a valid request for Boo.
Of course now, we don't even know if we are going to get the place and if I request a fenced-in yard and they grant it and we don't get it, I'm not sure what happens after that. It's kind of confusing. But anyhow, as much as I hate to remain hopeful, there is still a part of me that is. I will be devastated if we aren't able to get this place. We really need it so badly. We cannot afford to stay in the place we are living right now past our lease (which is up July 31st). The new place is just SO affordable. Even with the much smaller space, the fact that we would move to the other side of town, that the kids would have to change schools, that they would be moving away from some great friends that they had (FINALLY!) made in our neighborhood. All of those things are worth it to our WHOLE family (even the kids are supportive of it - though they will miss their friends but the power of the internet will allow them to remain in touch even after we move)
So, that's where that stands right now. Oh, and there's another house that I want to tell you about too. But that will have to wait til tomorrow my friends. Until then, think good thoughts for our family and our ability to get this place, please?
(EDITED to add: You can read Part Two and Part Three by clicking on their links.)
