Good Bones

4/1/2018

Hey, what is going on, everyone? Welcome to my new blog, "Good Bones Jones."

I know a blog seems a little dated with everyone just doing videos now… but I felt in my heart that doing a home remodel blog, with pictures and our hopes and fears spilled out for everyone to read, would give you the most organic experience possible. So thank you for joining my journey, my faceless internet friend ☺.

Keep in mind that Malcolm and I will be doing some Instagram live updates and fun little time-lapse videos of the construction to accompany this journey. Still, this little blog will be the soul of the project. So, please check back often for updates!

Let me give you some background information…

As you all know, the housing market has been insane! The prices of the tiniest little homes are outlandish and were honestly depressing me to the point that I had almost given up hope of purchasing a house anytime in the next decade. Malcolm and I would scour every website for hours trying to find anything within our price range, and YOU GUYS, our price range isn't even tiny! We are approved for up to $230k. Still, we are trying our best to find a house for around $180k, so we would have the budget to renovate the home into something extraordinary. I would really prefer to find a home with character that we can do some work on and really make it our own.

BUT…

When I tell you the homes we saw listed for $180k… I was shocked and appalled by what was being offered! Miniscule square footage and issues that would take well over $50k to resolve without adding anything we want. To add insult to injury, most of these houses would sell before we could even see them in person! Our realtor, Carrie, who is an absolute angel from heaven, would call us and tell us about a house and ask if we wanted to make an offer before even stepping inside it. It just became too much for me to mentally handle, and I will level with you guys here; I had a mental break! It was just too much and seemed like we would never leave our apartment anytime soon. I was destined to be a little old lady too old to lift a hammer or bend a screw when we purchased our first house.

That was until we had no less than a true God-given miracle happen to us a month ago. Malcolm's childhood best friend Dillon came over and told us his father had passed away recently (this is not the part that is a miracle, I'm not that cold.) The miracle is that he was well aware of the hellish nightmare we had been through trying to find a home and wanted to know if we would be interested in buying his father's house.

OMG, I was speechless! Things like this just do not happen to me, I've never been the lucky type, and I couldn't believe my ears. So I sat there on the couch, listening and holding my breath, waiting for the catch.

The first hurdle: how much?

Dillon was quiet when we asked this; Malcolm and I both were waiting for the sting of another unrealistic price. I had been to their father's house years ago for a cookout, and while the house was no mansion, it was a beautiful large house on a lovely acre of land. Although the location was a tad off, Dillon's father had built the home himself in the 80's on land he owned. The surrounding houses were all single-wide trailers. Everything else had been charming.

Trust me, I'm not judging trailers. I grew up living in a trailer; it just struck me as a weird location for such a beautiful large house!

"$150k, and you cover the closing costs," Dillon said, looking at both of us with a sheepish smile, like a child with a secret.

Have you ever had a moment when you think you might have died because you stopped feeling your heartbeat? That was me; my heart stopped, and I swear I got a little lightheaded. That price was dramatically low for what I remember of his father's house.

With a slight shake in my voice, I held both the suspicion and excitement back and asked, "Dillon, that seems extremely low for that house. What's the catch? What's wrong with it?"

PAUSE

I will attempt to summarize Dillon's answer without giving away too many of his family's personal details. This blog is about our home reno journey, not Dillon's family history. But I think these key points need to be known about the house and why we got such a steal:

1. The house has not been cared for very well for the past 10 years. Their father, being old and sick a lot, was unable to keep things up to the level he used to.
2. Dillon and his brother Ridge have no interest in owning or living in the house. To them, there are too many bad memories inside. This is the house both their mother and uncle passed away in (both died from cancer.)
3. Dillon and Malcolm have been friends since kindergarten, and he knows what we've been going through. They know our plans to tear down walls and rearrange everything, and they think that is what is best for their childhood home.
4. They know we plan on doing a pool and want to take full advantage of this feature. (We told him we would have to work out a membership fee!)
5. It needs a new roof and an AC unit, which are big costs.

With these facts known, we gladly accepted his offer and began the paperwork to purchase the home. Next week we are going to do a walk-through with eyes as the new owners, and I couldn't be more excited. This is a dream come true, and I keep having Malcolm pinch me because it feels like it's a dream that will get taken away from me at any moment. I will update soon as we get done with the walk-through.

TaTa for now

Abigale