The sign
went up the day after I arrived, which was a few days after Dana told me what
she had learned: the blond brick house
across the street was finally going up for sale. She and Shawn had known the occupants: an elderly man and his wife. The couple had the house built in 1963,
raised their two children there, and lived in it until they could no
longer. Over a year ago, the wife went
into a nursing home, and then the husband.
Both have passed away. The past
few times I visited here and daydreamed about the future, I imagined how neat
it would be to live in that house. Crazy
idea, I always thought. I guess it was
not so crazy after all.
We arranged
to see the house on Friday morning. I
silently walked through each room several times, noting details and taking in
impressions. Dana, with Joelle in the
baby carrier, talked with Kathlene, the realtor, and Benjamin happily and
loudly did his own house tour. What did
we see? Spacious rooms, each with newer
windows and ceiling fan; an updated kitchen and bathrooms; lots of closet
storage; and an attached one-car garage.
The floorplan, though totally different from Dana and Shawn’s ranch, is
nearly the same size at 1137 square feet.
520 Sooner Road has a new roof and central heat and air within the past
ten years, a big shed out back, and mature oak trees in the yard. The only drawback in my mind (besides the
lack of a Whidbey Island view) was carpeting in all rooms except kitchen and
bath.
It only took
an hour or so of thought, conversation, and prayer to make up my mind: yes!
Giving up my dream of hardwood floors was not too hard with all the
other positive things about the house:
excellent condition, perfect location, and amazing price. So on Saturday morning I found myself sitting
in Kathlene’s Remax office getting a contract drawn up. Kind of strange: I never did get to go house-hunting, because
all of the other houses I had been interested in were smaller and way more
expensive—and not in the neighborhood I want.
While I was
babysitting Saturday afternoon, the doorbell rang. It was Cheryl, whom Dana had met the week
before. She and her brother were over at
the house doing some clean-up. We talked
for a while, she left, and an hour or so later she came back over to give me
her contact information. After Dana got
home, I went over and Cheryl showed me what they had been up to: adding the missing trim to the kitchen and
cleaning up the garage and yard. She
continued to be a fount of information about the house, and I learned that
underneath all the wall-to-wall carpeting is hardwood flooring!
Though
Cheryl countered my first offer (and I was pretty sure she would), she accepted
the second, and on Monday afternoon I was back in the realtor’s office initialing
the contract changes. I still needed to
make two phone calls to have inspections done.
Kathlene saw one of the recommended contractors in the room across from
her office. We called him over and got
the structural, mechanical, and electrical inspections scheduled for the next
day. I decided to call and leave a
message for the termite guy, who was on vacation till Wednesday. A minute or two later, he returned my call to
suggest Wednesday.
On Tuesday
morning, I left a message for Donna Williams at Arvest Bank. After one round of phone tag, we connected
and I was applying for a home loan before lunch. Pretty quickly I was qualified for at 15-year
fixed-rate loan at 3.75%. I got back to
Dana and Shawn’s house in time to grab a quick sandwich before heading across
the street for the structural, electrical, manual, and plumbing inspections at
one p.m. Those yielded some unpleasant
surprises, so the next day I forwarded on the written reports to my brother Bob
for his advice.
And we
prayed. I, in particular, asked for
clarity. God gave it in Bob’s
reply: though he could not estimate
costs, he saw nothing unusual in the repairs needed. With that green light and a successful
termite inspection, my real estate agent sent the repair requests and waited
for the reply from the seller.
I received
that reply in person Thursday afternoon.
Cheryl, the seller, was at the house when Dana and I got back from our
mother-daughter outing. I went over to
say hi, not knowing what her response to the lengthy list of repairs was. To my complete surprise, she started
apologizing for the needed repairs, saying she had not known about those
problems and assuring me that she will have everything taken care of within two
weeks. Already she has a plumber scheduled
for Monday. There will be a walk-through
inspection after the repairs, of course, and the tentative closing date will be
September 10, which I will likely need to do long-distance. My son-in-law has offered to start some
interior painting for me (as much as I like pink, I do not want a bedroom with
pink walls) and even rip out the carpeting in one or more rooms.
From start
to finish, this has been an amazing week.
God has given me so much peace and so much confirmation not only about
moving to Bartlesville but also about buying this particular house. Yes, along the way I have had, and will
continue to ride, a roller coaster of emotions over leaving my Whidbey Island
home, church, and friends: I will miss
my five years of life here so very, very much.
Yet, I am assured that God has a plan for me right across the street
from my daughter’s family and ways to serve Him in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and in one of
the local Presbyterian churches.
