houses... sigh...

Wanted to write a quick update on our house situation here in Galesburg. As most of you know, we've been looking for just the right house for our family since August, and are currently living in a duplex.

We have literally been inside any home that might possibly work for us, and we scour the newspaper daily, receive updates each night on new listings, and drive around town periodically looking for For Sale By Owner signs. Everyone knows we're looking, and helpfully pass along any leads they uncover. But no luck.

We have found 2 (in our price range) that we love. However, 3 times now we have had our hopes dashed. The first time, when we went to make an offer (the one on the left), we were told by their agent that they were no longer accepting any (why they even showed us the house is the mysery). About 6 weeks later, the same house went back on the market, for less. We found out the pipes had burst, and the original buyer backed out. We tried again, but by the time we put in our offer (the same day it was listed), another one had already been accepted.

This takes us to last Thursday night. We saw a new listing and thought it looked quite perfect(the house on the right), but they weren't allowing showings until the following Monday. So we saw it Monday, and loved SO much about it. I'd describe it but I might get depressed if I think about it again. Anyway, we put an offer in, and they said they hadn't received any others and would get back to us by 5:00pm on Tuesday. We got a call Tuesday afternoon saying the received another offer in the AM, and we had one chance to make our final offer (but they couldn't tell us how much the other offer was for). So we did, going a little about the asking price even, and then we find out about 5:15 pm that they accepted the other offer, which was $500 more than ours.

I know God must have something even better waiting for us, but its so hard to keep our spirits up sometimes. I start to question if we should 'settle', i.e. are we looking for 'too much' of a house. But I feel we've already had to adjust our expections so much when our CA sold for about 75,000 less than we originally had hoped for about a year prior. I know I won't be able to purchase the furniture I'd like, and decorate how I'd love to, but we need a house that will fit our big family and make for an inviting home... right? I don't want to let go of that yet...