FINDING THE ONE
We are not kidding when we say we have been looking for a house for a LONG time. We owe so much to our realtors who have been looking at homes with us since 2019! Let me take you on a quick synopsis of how we landed here in Granville, OH.
Andrew and I met at a bookstore we both worked at in Pickerington, OH. He had just moved there from Greensburg, PA to attend college and I lived a city over my whole life.
When we got engaged, Andrew moved back to PA to take the Youth Pastor position at the church he grew up in. Later I moved there and we started our married life together in PA.
In 2015 we moved BACK to Columbus, OH and lived in three different cities in 13 months time. It was WILD getting settled back here.
We FINALLY landed in a rental home in Granville, OH in 2017 by chance where we would stay for over 5 years. It was a great home to rest in and figure out if Granville was where we wanted to throw our roots down and raise our children. Which led us to 2019, looking ONLY in Granville which is a story in its self.
So that brings us to the home search process. We were ready to dive in in 2019 but the market in Granville has ALWAYS been very competitive. Many people move to our “village” to place their kids in Granville Schools. Another huge draw is our towns New England charm since it was built by a group that settled here from Massachusetts. All that to say, it is also a town full of what we like to say “old money”. There are a lot of CEO and business owners, artists and truly just wealthy people. There is a lot of land and large homes. The college here in town has a lot of famous alumni like Jennifer Gardner, Steve Carrell and more. Needless to say, every offer we would put in would get beaten typically by a cash offer. We felt hopeless.
2020 hit and we all know what happened then. Our business income was drastically effected and there was so much uncertainty. When we tried to pick back up in 2021 because of the business having a decline we were not able to get approved appropriately. 2022 was a step in the right direction and we actively looked more but the prices of the homes were astronomical compared to where we were. Offers have gone out so many times over the years but it never failed - cash offers came through.
When the Holiday’s hit in 2022 we all kept saying 2023 is going to be the year. Andrew’s corporate position has really allowed us to do big things every year with his bonus income and we couldn’t help but see that we were BEST positioned to buy than we ever have been. Now it was really up to finding a house in our budget and being able to actually get the offer accepted.
The first week of January I got a notification on my phone that a new house was coming soon. I saw the description - 4 bedrooms. 2.5 bath, 3.29 acres of land and the price was right! I WAS SOLD. Not ONE photo was up but I didn’t care. I joked with our Realtor that I was ready to put an offer in. I was clearly joking but I kind of wasn’t. A HOUSE NEVER lists that low with everything we want. It has always been important to us to have some land. Photos went up later that day and I messaged immediately and said ok not kidding, I want it. Can we put an offer in? She said let’s go see it, so we went and saw it the first day it actually listed. 17 other people looked at the house on the first day. We knew we wanted to put an offer in but we were very hesitant to believe it could really be ours. How in the world would we beat 17 people? We submitted an offer that night and waited.
The next day I was at the venue and Andrew was at work and our realtors phoned us so many times that morning. We did have to make a counter offer - there were 4 offers that came in. We made one counter offer and also added an incline counter up to a certain amount. We sent a letter and thought this is not possible. Our realtor called me and said “Hey. They saw your counter but they want to wait for more offers to come in today and see what happens, I will keep you updated.” I was heartbroken.
Not even 5 minutes later she called Andrew and I back and said “I am so sorry guys ……………. you have to get some boxes…. you got the house” It was the biggest turn around! What happened? Apparently, when the realtor walked in after talking to Jen to her client who was sitting in her office, she had signed our offer and said she just wanted to be done and signed.
CAN YOU SAY WHATTTTTT????
We did not even have to use the incline that we were willing to go up to. She just took the offer! We were dumbfounded. I cried in disbelief.
Attached below is the video when we took the kids out to dinner that night and told them the good news!
