Our prayers have been answered…

It’s official! After renting our home for the past six and a half years, we were able to buy it from our landlord and the deal closed last week. Since the moment we moved in I said, ” I hope we can buy this house someday.” The landlord never mentioned a rent to sell proposition but in my heart I knew we were meant to be the owners of this house. We moved into this home six months before Tiara passed away and I could never imagine having to leave the place where she spent the last months of her life.

She loved this house with its close proximity to Target, McDonalds and the big backyard. After her death, I worked through my grief by engaging in home improvement projects and have never stopped. I have painted all the interior walls, painted all the exterior trim, added flooring, re-landscaped sections of the front and back yards, changed lighting and finally remodeled the guest bathroom after a leak in November. In addition to these physical projects anytime an appliance needed to be replaced or something fixed our landlord allowed me to choose the replacements, further cementing my attachment. He pretty much gave me freedom to improve the house as I wanted, benefitting us both.

In December our landlord reached out and said it was time for him to sell. We had talked about buying the property over the years but either it wasn’t the right time for him or for us. Unfortunately our lease was up in January and he wanted to get rid of the house because he could make a bunch of money with the crazy prices of real estate in our area. I was devastated.

Lou was optimistic from the start and I went into a deep depression thinking it was impossible for us to buy it. As Lou worked on figuring out the finances, I realized that I had to get rid of every last bit of staging stuff I still hadn’t unloaded because it would be a disaster to move with everything.

I only had a few pieces of furniture left, but I had an entire sunroom and garage of accessories, artificial plants, art, pillows and bedding. I was so overwhelmed with the proposition of moving I could barely think of where to start.

I started by bringing all my best stuff to Legacy Consignment on Harbor Blvd. They sold a bunch of my furniture last year and are really great about sending me checks and keeping up with the inventory. After three carloads to them I started preparing for a home decor sale in my garage. I moved everything from the sunroom into the garage so people could safely walk around without getting too close to one another.

During this backbreaking process of attempting to get rid of everything, I was also helping Lou with all the loan paperwork because he doesn’t know how to access any of our online accounts. I normally get really frustrated with him when he asks for help but I wanted the house so badly I gathered every document necessary and responded to each request without hesitation. They really ask for so much now, compared to our prior home loan experience, it can start to really make you feel harassed and beaten down. But in the end God provided and we signed the escrow papers on Friday, January 8. I can’t explain how wonderful and grateful Lou and I felt to be able to own this home. I actually have tears in my eyes thinking about it. I love our neighborhood and would be happy here for the rest of my life. The special part of the whole process was all the love, prayers and support we received from our family and friends. Everyone in our circle knows how much I love to work on homes and how important this house was to us. It has been a rough decade for us and it felt like life was giving us a reward for all we have endured as a family.

Two days later, while still basking in our happiness Tabitha and I met to work on wedding plans. We needed to finalize the food, the rentals and everything else we hadn’t done. We had a venue, a guest list existing of only family and we had chosen the caterer. That’s about it. As soon as we sat down to start planning, Tabitha received a call from Chandler, her fiancée.

Chan: ” Um I think have some information that may change our wedding plans.”

Tab: “Oh, okay. What is it?”

At this point she put him on speaker and we were both imaging he was going to ask to add someone to the list or change caterers.

Chan: ” Well, I just found out they are selling the house where we were going to have our wedding. If it doesn’t sell we can still have the wedding there but I’m not sure.”

Tab/me: “WHAT? THEY ARE MOVING…”

Chan: ” Yes, so we might need to find a new place.”

Us: “Awwww, pretty much! We will call you back.”

Big sighs, deep breaths and a total freak out….

Tabitha and I were stunned and tried to process what we just heard. Lou came in the room, helped calm us down and we decided not to panic. We then got on the phone with Chandler’s mom and started brain storming. We soon realized every place we could afford or had the look we wanted wasn’t allowing bookings because of Covid. After a week of fretting we decided the wedding needed to be in our backyard. It was the only option at this point.

No pressure! Hmmm, my backyard isn’t in great shape and now I’m going to be hosting a wedding in five months, yikes. I better get to work! Tabitha and I had a two day home decor sale and sold a large portion of items but not enough.

I then started giving everything away to charity that I wouldn’t use in the future. I cleaned out the sunroom enough that you can now enjoy the space.

So that’s what I’ve been doing the past month. The house gets tented on Monday, and once that is done I will resume my work on the torn up backyard. The best part of owning this house so far has been taking down all the old wires from all the old cable systems. While replacing some boards from termite damage the internet lines got pierced. The Spectrum guy came out yesterday and as I walked around the house with him, he showed me all the lines we weren’t using. I immediately got out my ladder and started having my way with all the old lines. We went from 6 lines to 2 hidden ones. Best feeling ever. Don’t tell Lou but I’m planning on getting on the roof and removing the old satellite Dish tomorrow. SHHHHH…

Wishing you all love, peace and blessings during this time of heartache, suffering and divide. It’s not an easy time to be alive but we will get through it together.

xoxo tiffani