The Universe knows!

Brian and I have been talking about buying a house for years. We wanted a pretty specific set of amenities, and I was especially picky. 5+ acres, less than 15 miles from town, older two-story farmhouse-style (NO split levels, ramblers, or ranch houses!), outbuildings, porch, and not needing a ton of work. Over the past year, we liked to look at houses in the country whenever we saw a for sale sign. Last month, we saw a promising property for dirt cheap and we had to look. Well, of course it was a total dump, but it got us thinking much more seriously about our future home. We've been saving for the past few years, although that fund took a beating when I lost my job working in the schools in 2010.

So, Brian was on a gravel road ride about 10 miles from town when he saw a possibility. It was on a large lot and had a big loafing shed (I confirmed with my Grandpa that was the technical term).

After looking it up online, we knew we had to look at it. Built in 1870 and extremely well-remodeled (looks like brand new construction from the inside!), it had everything I wanted but the porch.

We went to look at it on Tuesday with the listing agent and she stood us up! I was so very angry, but we rescheduled to look at it this morning. It was amazing. All the things I had questions about going into it (the bathroom, the basement, if it would look as good as the pics) were better than I even guessed. We called the bank today and I called the realtor back by 4pm to put in an offer. I couldn't stand the idea of anyone else getting to it before us! So hopefully we will know more on Monday. I am just so excited, and I'm trying hard not to get my hopes up just in case... so keep your fingers crossed for us!

Also, even though we weren't necessarily 100% "ready" to buy a house yet, our excellent credit history plus a really cool loan program through USDA Rural Development will make it more than do-able. If you want to live in the boonies yourself or care to learn more about these kind of loans, I suggest you check it out!