House Hunting

Oh where do I even begin on this post. House hunting in Memphis has been quite the adventure. Ryan has made probably 10 trips to Memphis to look at homes and I'm going to count them to get a serious number, but if I had to guess, I think he has looked at at least 75 homes in person. He has probably looked at 1000 online. Seriously - it has become a full time job for him and he spends every free minute looking online - Trulia, Zillow, and any other real estate site. I am convinced that he has looked at every possible available home in Memphis that meets our needs.

I've made several trips to Memphis as well and have probably seen 40 - 50 homes in person myself. Each home has a name - there was the White House, the suicide house (don't ask), Prestancia #1, Prestancia #2, the Island, the church pew house, the White House #2, the builders home, and on and on. Baby Mac was a trooper on all of these trips, getting in and out of the car a million times a day to look at these homes - one day even in the rain! Annie & Madison Claire were also troopers hanging out at the Four Points by Sheraton (our home away from home the month of June) while we were out looking.

We have been high maintenance clients for our very kind, patient realtor, Mary Anne Gibson. We are looking for a 5 bedroom house with an office and a playroom = hard to find!!! In a perfect world, we also want a pool (it's bloody HOT in Memphis), a big back yard for the kids to run around and play, and one of the bedrooms to be in a separate living space for Annie (think in-law suite, pool house, guest house, etc.). Add to that our high expectations from building our last home and the fact that Ryan is 100% set on finding the deal of the century (i.e. he wants the house that is 50% off!) and it's a TALL ORDER!

We've actually found a few homes that we really like and have made 3 offers, but they've all been declined. We are trusting that means that we haven't yet found the home where we are meant to be! I have such confidence that God wants us in Memphis, so I know the right home will come along...we just haven't found it yet so are having to be patient.

We have found a home that we are going to live in temporarily. It's through an organization called Showhomes. Basically, the home is on the market and they will stage the home with our furniture (and us!). We get to live in it for about 1/2 of what we would normally have to pay to rent in Germantown, and in return, we have to keep it clean and show the home to perspective buyers whenever they want to see it. We also have to move as soon as the house goes under contract. The good news for us is that it is only a 90 day commitment, so we aren't locked into a long term lease. We are hoping to be able to find a home to buy in that 90 days! Please pray that this happens!! We move in to the Showhomes house on August 1st...I'll post pictures once we are in. Right now, we are just excited to get to Memphis and be with Ryan. We've missed him terribly!!