Our little beach cottage away from the beach
Our cozy little house has gone through quite a transformation just like our relationship... here is the story...
Meet Jill, recently divorced, just moved back home to Massachusetts from Florida in December 2006. Best.Decision.Ever. I started a new, not so great, job and begin looking for a small, manageable house for me and Sadie (my little-not so little- black lab). Requirements: single family house, in a small town, good bones, in need of some (OK a lot) of TLC, good yard for Sadie, and cheap. That was the extent of the list. I toured a bunch of houses, and they were either in really bad shape or on a tiny lot with no room for Sadie. Then in September 2007 I found this great little cape, well I was the only one that thought it was great at the time. It sat on .7 acres, the house was sturdy, and fugly. Effing fugly. It was perfect! It was a foreclosure, so my realtor put in an offer for $105K (the house was listed at $128K). It took the bank about 5 days to say no. No counter, nothing. So I had my realtor put in another offer for $115K right away. Well little did I know she wanted to take a long weekend, so my offer that I thought went in on Thursday didn’t actually make it to the bank until the following Tuesday. So not cool on the cool scale! The bank said sorry, it was going to auction and if I wanted it I would have to win it at the auction. The auction was on my birthday. I really didn’t want to do the auction thing, and I was really upset with my realtor, so out she went and I went on the hunt for a new one. My parents had one that they had used in the past so she started helping me find a home for me and Sadie. A few weeks after that we found a cute ranch that didn’t need a lot of work and had a great fenced yard. This one was a short sale, so I submitted an offer to the seller, got that approved and it was sent to the bank. Wait. Wait. Wait. Meet a great guy. Wait. Wait. Two days before Christmas 2007 the bank came back and wanted $40K more then I offered. Um no thank you. So we were back on the hunt again.
On Christmas morning I was doing my daily house hunt when low & behold house #1 was back on the market for $6K less then my first offer!!! I called my realtor the next day first thing in the morning and told her to put an offer! I ended up getting the house for $92K. Not too bad considering 3 months prior I was willing to spend $115K on it! I closed on it Friday, March 7, 2008. The next day my parents, Sadie and I meet at the house so we could come up with a game plan. My boyfriend meet us there during the day. Here is what my he saw for the first time...
Meet Jill, recently divorced, just moved back home to Massachusetts from Florida in December 2006. Best.Decision.Ever. I started a new, not so great, job and begin looking for a small, manageable house for me and Sadie (my little-not so little- black lab). Requirements: single family house, in a small town, good bones, in need of some (OK a lot) of TLC, good yard for Sadie, and cheap. That was the extent of the list. I toured a bunch of houses, and they were either in really bad shape or on a tiny lot with no room for Sadie. Then in September 2007 I found this great little cape, well I was the only one that thought it was great at the time. It sat on .7 acres, the house was sturdy, and fugly. Effing fugly. It was perfect! It was a foreclosure, so my realtor put in an offer for $105K (the house was listed at $128K). It took the bank about 5 days to say no. No counter, nothing. So I had my realtor put in another offer for $115K right away. Well little did I know she wanted to take a long weekend, so my offer that I thought went in on Thursday didn’t actually make it to the bank until the following Tuesday. So not cool on the cool scale! The bank said sorry, it was going to auction and if I wanted it I would have to win it at the auction. The auction was on my birthday. I really didn’t want to do the auction thing, and I was really upset with my realtor, so out she went and I went on the hunt for a new one. My parents had one that they had used in the past so she started helping me find a home for me and Sadie. A few weeks after that we found a cute ranch that didn’t need a lot of work and had a great fenced yard. This one was a short sale, so I submitted an offer to the seller, got that approved and it was sent to the bank. Wait. Wait. Wait. Meet a great guy. Wait. Wait. Two days before Christmas 2007 the bank came back and wanted $40K more then I offered. Um no thank you. So we were back on the hunt again.
On Christmas morning I was doing my daily house hunt when low & behold house #1 was back on the market for $6K less then my first offer!!! I called my realtor the next day first thing in the morning and told her to put an offer! I ended up getting the house for $92K. Not too bad considering 3 months prior I was willing to spend $115K on it! I closed on it Friday, March 7, 2008. The next day my parents, Sadie and I meet at the house so we could come up with a game plan. My boyfriend meet us there during the day. Here is what my he saw for the first time...
Dream house - right?!?!?!?
So the first thing that we decide to do is put a new from door and change the locks. Oh and take down the "Up for Public Auction" sign that they nailed to the side of MY house. As my dad and I were getting set to put the new door in, my then boyfriend shows up. Sadie didn't realize who it was and she knew she had to protect her new home, so she did what any good guard dog would do. She put her head through the rotting wall to bark at him. True Story!
So the first thing that we decide to do is put a new from door and change the locks. Oh and take down the "Up for Public Auction" sign that they nailed to the side of MY house. As my dad and I were getting set to put the new door in, my then boyfriend shows up. Sadie didn't realize who it was and she knew she had to protect her new home, so she did what any good guard dog would do. She put her head through the rotting wall to bark at him. True Story!
We spent the next 10 months re-doing EVERYTHING! We did new plumbing, electrical, septic, siding, windows, added a dormer to the back, knocked walls down, moved rooms around, put new floors down, painted, the list keeps going...
