Home Sweet Home, Part 1 (The Overview)

I started this missive a couple months ago, but life was pretty busy back then, so it had to wait. Now I'm laid up for a few days with a bum foot so I figured I'd complete it.

About a month ago we moved into our new home. By "we" and "our" I mean myself, Kathy, Jonathan, Myric, and the girls. By "new" I mean built brand new from the ground up. Ken and Kelly are in the process of doing the same thing for their family and have been chronicling the highlights week by week. We've been following their progress along the way and they won't be too far behind us in making the move to their new place.

Jon and Myric's house

Our journey was certainly unexpected. We've all rehashed it numerous times and I keep hearing new tidbits I hadn't heard before. I think it started sometime last fall (2018) during times we were all together, as we talked about kids and schooling and houses and room and upgrades and projects and all those kinds of things that make up a family's life at that very moment. Jon and Myric had bought their home in 2016 and Kathy and I had bought ours a year later in 2017 and life in Georgia was settling down. We were all still adapting to the twins' entry into the world and the need for more space. Add to that the project wish list and the continued repairs of a 30-year-old house and Jon had his hands full. My projects were coming to an end after doing only those items on the list that seemed absolutely necessary. Somewhere in all of that house-related conversation the topic of making a move to a new house was broached. I think it was Kathy who dared to utter such a crazy idea, but no matter. It was uttered and the little seed was planted.

David and Kathy's house

As for myself, I wasn't completely put off by the idea. I had been through a ground-up build on our church in Lincoln and had also been through a complete gut-and-replace project on our Mayfair house so I was no stranger to the process. I had even checked out a couple communities online with Kathy. But it just felt like an unattainable and unreachable goal that most of us quickly dismissed the thought. Undeterred, Kathy changed tactics and started emailing all of us listings of homes for sale that might suit Jon and Myric's family better. My reaction usually was negative as I saw a ton of work that was needed on each of those houses. None of them was really an upgrade from what they already had as they cost more money upfront and they still needed more work which would cost even more money.

Could I just jump up on my soapbox for a quick paragraph and talk about house ownership etiquette? There is an expectation of perfection in every home by potential buyers to the point that they want you to fix dozens of little ridiculous details before they will even consider your house. On the seller side, the norm is to put up for sale a house that has not been kept up for decades but with a selling price that reflects perfection. Both of these expectations are unrealistic. There's a middle ground somewhere in there. I think being a homeowner comes with a responsibility to keep your home in good repair, both for yourself and also for your neighbors. It's part of being a homeowner. And it's also realistic to simply ignore homes with a ridiculous price when buying, and best to realize when you need to fix things up when you're selling. Okay, off the soapbox and back to the subject at hand.

This past Christmas 2018, all of us (the "we" from up above) spent Christmas in Texas with family. Along with visits to other nearby family, we went on a field trip to several new home communities. Because Bob. All the sales people knew Bob from his previous visits and welcomed us to look around. We toured a couple model homes and saw first hand what a new home build looked like. Once again, beautiful homes, but an unrealistic thought for us. I took their brochures and price lists and saved them for future reference.

As 2019 began, with that Christmas experience just weeks behind us, Kathy suggested that she and I go and check out a new home community halfway between us and the kids. She had seen this area worked on over the past year as she drove by it on her way to work and back home again. There was now a model home on site and we stopped in to take a look. Like the ones in Texas, the home was well-made and had many great features. I especially liked the solid exterior and interior construction, heavy insulation, well-made quiet windows, high ceilings, wood floors, in-wall media wiring, open concept living, trim and molding details, and the tankless water heater. It also had a good location for Jon's work as the drive would be about the same. It had been difficult finding a good pre-owned house in a good location so this was a contender. We collected all the information we could and headed home to crunch the numbers.

Model home, Brentwood

It's one thing to have an idea, another thing completely for it to be a good idea. I put the numbers together for purchase price, monthly payments, utility costs, space requirements, and an apartment for us in the basement. For this to work it would need the resources of two families and the numbers suggested it was possible. Though the idea had been floated before as just another idea, this time it could be for real. So that weekend I emailed my findings to Jon just like Kathy had done with the home listings, just not really thinking anything could ever come of it.

In true Andreasen fashion, Jon checked it out thoroughly, making up spreadsheets to validate the numbers and visiting the community to check out the houses with Myric a few days later. Across the street from the model home was a different version under construction. This was the one that got his attention and was the subject of our family roundtable discussion a few days later. Jon and Myric liked the location, the small community, the floor plan of the house, and the overall look of the house. Surprisingly, we had all stumbled upon a possible solution for a long-term living situation. We all started asking questions of each other. We found out Jon and Myric liked the "Laurelwood" model because of the room placements all throughout the house. We found out that Kathy did not want to live in a room or two of the house but have a true apartment with a separate entrance to give each family privacy. The basement option fit the bill. After having lived in a subdivision of several hundred houses with all its owners and drivers speeding by their house every day, Jon and Myric liked the idea of a small community of just sixteen houses set apart on its own. We all liked being in the same general area we had known for the past few years. Could this really be happening?

From my perspective, I felt God had opened this door to us much like he had opened the door to building the church in Lincoln. We would still have to walk through the door in faith with all that might entail for the future but I was convinced of this as a true "God thing" and not as a passing whim. I don't get those kinds of strong impressions every day and I wanted to convey that this was real and we should give it serious consideration. We all agreed that Jon and I would follow up at the model home with the agent the coming Saturday.

On the third Saturday of January, just one week after Kathy and I had scouted out the place, Jon and I went in to.....well, I wasn't exactly sure what we were going to do except get more information. I had found an online ad that listed the house across the street for lower than expected so I figured we'd start there with the agent. That conversation did not go well. Let's just say that some people are not suited for certain jobs and this agent did everything wrong from the get-go. Somebody else was blamed for putting up incorrect information online and we were told we could not get that price. Nobody took responsibility for anything that was clearly their fault. That was that, I figured, and I expected that we'd head home since my numbers had been based on that lower price. But Jon saw some other things I hadn't. He said we should just build our own instead. We could choose our own lot, pick out our own finishes, and make it our own. And he had the numbers to back it up. It would cost more, as it seemed that the lower-priced home with the unattainable price did not take into account the cost of the basement (yes, we figured it out when they didn't), but the plan still made sense.

The Laurelwood under construction with the wrong online price

So that was the day we wrote up the contract for lot #12 with the Laurelwood floor plan and the basement addition. When we came home and the girls asked how it went, we said that we just bought a house and they were shocked. Considering how this came together in such a short time with little time to really contemplate all of it, that was understandable. If you've kept up with Kelly's updates on their home build, you've read the story of how God pointed out a piece of property to them years ago that would become their new home location. After numerous times of trying to buy it unsuccessfully, God one day simply opened the door and they walked through it. Today they are seeing that dream and promise through to its conclusion. We had just done the same thing.

Ken and Kelly's house under construction

I don't know why it took so many years for God to open that door for Ken and Kelly, or why He allowed our plan to come together in one week, or why so many of our hopes and dreams go unfulfilled over a lifetime. The best way I can answer that is that God does all things well. I have to believe that if I am to believe anything about the God of the Universe. We may not always get our way but His way is always best. And I am thankful that He allows us these moments of joy and blessing and confirms them in our hearts.

Arktander

(aka David Andreasen)

(Be sure to check out "Home Sweet Home, Part 2" which follows)