Lessons Learned (How We Found Our Homestead, Part 6)

If you’ve been following our adventures in house-hunting, you’ve heard about the years it took to get ready to buy and over a year it took to actually find a place. You’ve read about our many let downs, but you also joined in our joy as we finally were able to close on a house. The whole experience was a trying journey, but one that was eventually very rewarding.

If I had to buy a house all over again, I do a lot of practical things the same way, but I would think about it all very differently. If I could start over again, what would things look like this time?

We’d still save up as much as we possibly could for our down payment.
We would still look under our top budget, so as not to overextend ourselves financially.
We would take our time searching- again.
I would still be willing to make compromises on my idea of a “perfect” house.
I would try not to make compromises on areas we really cared about- like giving in and trying to buy a city house just to get into a house when we reeeeeallly wanted a country house. I look back and I’m SO glad that home didn’t work out now.
I would try not to attach myself to houses so much this time before we bought them!
I would try not to count my chickens before they hatched. In other words, I would try to expect that problems would come up with a house, rather than spending my time daydreaming about how perfectly it would work out. I’d try to adapt the “expect the worst, hope for the best” type mindset.
I would try to move in the spring or summer, not the winter. It’s a bear to move into a place at the end of November when the oil tank is dry!
I wouldn’t give my landlord moving notice until I knew for sure that I was moving. Apparently closing can be delayed- by a LONG time!
I would try to let go a little more, pray, and trust that things would work out (or not work out!) in God’s timing. We found that the more we pushed, the more frustrated we became with our efforts.