One spring we traveled to my husband’s hometown to look for a home after we had decided to put ours on the market and move closer to family. Online searches for homes in the small town were turning up void.
We left our kids with family, went to the local walking trail to process what we were doing and then went for a drive to see if there were any “for sale by owner” signs or open houses out.
On the way to the graveyard where my in-laws are buried, we passed a lovely neighborhood where we saw a “moving sale” sign. We whipped in to the sale and were disappointed to learn the couple there had just moved in. We had a nice chat and they informed us that their next door neighbor was getting ready to sell their home.
We drove over immediately and got excited to see this lovely thing.
My husband went into the wide open door and realized he knew the guy working on the home. We set up a casual appointment for later in the day to take a tour.
I definitely was taken over by its Southern charm, the huge wraparound porch, the craftsman style built in, and other lovely details.
This enormous oak tree in the backyard is a showstopper. We’ve been told it’s at least 200 years old.
Blinded by our excitement, we decided to move forward with buying the home before it hit the market. Then, we decided it wouldn’t function well for our family.
We saw another home out in the country with several acres, but decided we didn’t want to spend our free time baling hay.
We had one other home to see and were certain it would work. After touring that last home available and realizing it wasn’t safe because of mold and foundation issues, we decided with a market where almost nothing seemed available, we could afford to buy the Southern Beauty and live there if we were able to build elsewhere later.
It wasn’t long after moving in that we became aware of grave issues that had not been disclosed and after much consideration, made the decision to stay and fix it.
It has interrupted and affected every area of our lives, but we are starting to inch toward the finish line, nearly a year and a half later.
See a list of warning signs we wish we had noticed before committing to buying a fixer upper here.