I’m much more anxious about this huge life changing move to our forever home tomorrow, than I think I have been about anything since meeting HWMMS. Weber Wedding Weekend was nothing compared to this!

I started looking at houses online right from the start…knowing HWMMS and I wanted to have a largeish family (somehow) we would need more space, pronto. Originally we wanted to build on the ranch house, but after a while we started really consider looking for something else, in Niagara County.

Once the condo was under contract we decided to look in person. With the help of our most excellent realtor Colleen we scheduled a look at a 4 bedroom farmhouse in Newfane. And I fell in love hard and fast.

There’s a VERY long story about the condo I could/might share later. But to summarize? The contract fell through. Condo is still on the market. No, we aren’t happy about it, but it is what it is.

Next?

There’s a very long story about the Farmhouse in Newfane I should/will share later. But to summarize? The contract (verbal) fell through. Our bid we placed early in 2013 was not accepted. We moved on.

And moved on I mean looked at house after house after house…tweaked our criteria here and there to consider other options. Expanded our search seriously to the Southtowns…as long as there were 3-4 bedrooms, 2+acres, storage and workshop space for the hubby and a mature yard. Not just old farmhouses, but no new builds in developments.

Within about 6 weeks we stumbled upon a home in Springville, NY that we thought was 1. ridiculously decadent and large and 2. a wee bit out of our price range. BUT we decided to check it out while in the area anyhow, because, well…sometimes it’s fun to dream?

Yeah…we put a bid on that exact house a few hours later.

Strange how the world works, eh?

Turns out it IS rather ridiculously decadent (indoor pool, sauna, hot tub, fireplace in Master Bedroom/Bathroom…) Close to 5 acres of land surrounded by woods, a pond and a creek with no view of neighbors. Oh and a large wraparound porch. And full house generator. Turns out it IS large—4 bedrooms. 4.5 bathrooms. And a huge office space that could easily be turned into 2 bedrooms! Oh and a pretty much full basement with two workshop areas, a bar and a large entertainment room. Not to mention the pool room off the back of the house.

Turns out it was out of our price range, but with a little sleuthing finding out how long it had been on the market and looking at financials and well, realizing all the work that had to be done (mostly cosmetic, but still…a lot of work…) we put in a bid that was MUCH LOWER than the latest asking price and said we would take it as is…

There’s a very long story I might/probably shouldn’t share about how long it took us to get under contract…and why…and then how much longer it took to close and why, but to summarize—-we got the house. And 3 months later we closed. And tomorrow, we move.

Funny how things work out…I wanted an old farmhouse, we ended up buying a pretty newish one. HWMMS preferred Niagara County, we ended up buying a house in very southern Erie County. (SNOW!!) Neither one of us wanted a pool…we ended up with an indoor pool!

Now we are tasked with filling this huge home with a family. Not just the 5 cats and doggie but lots and lots of kiddos.

Oh and the renovations…so, many renovations to come!

Anxious…overwhelmed, blessed.