Memory Lane

So, I had another gem of a post whipped up for today but due to technical difficulties, you’ll have to wait a bit to gaze upon it’s awesomeness. Try not to be devestated.

Beause I hate to leave you hanging, and because we’re talking about the reno house a ton around here, I thought I would treat you to one from the archives.

Most of you weren’t around when we moved to Maine (and if you were, bless you) so you may not have heard the story of the time Justin bought a house sight unseen. By either of us.

Behold, the drama, originally published on May 20, 2013:

Trust

It’s a big week around here at Newlyweds:North – it’s our Wedding Week!
By Saturday we will have earned the name of our blog – after 10 months
of planning and 3 years of dating, we will officially be  Newlyweds.

So in the name of forever commitment, today’s post will tell you a story
of complete trust and tolerance. It’s the story of “That Time Justin
Bought A House That Stephanie Had Never Seen”.

As you know, the first (and only) house hunting trip to Maine was a
complete bust. I will admit that even though we considered putting in
offers on a couple of houses, they weren’t houses we would have
considered options if we weren’t in this unique situation.

 To put it
simply, we are in a rush.
We need a home and we need it quick.

We flew home to South Carolina without a plan. We weren’t scheduled to
go back to Maine until Justin started work, 2 days after we returned to
South Carolina from our Honeymoon.

And the rest, for me, gets a bit fuzzy.

Somehow, Justin got a hold of a
listing for a house in Maine…I have no clue if he found it online or
if our agent sent it to him…but what I do know is that I was in
Virginia celebrating the wedding of a dear friend. My bridesmaid
schedule kept me from being attached to my phone but I do know that I
started getting text like this:

j: check out this house I found

j: look at that house and tell me what you think!

j: I think I want to put an offer on that house

j: where are you?? I have a conference call scheduled to put that house under contract…

me: (i haven’t even looked at the link) just do what you think is right! I can’t talk right now

j: ok, I put it under contract

And that my friends, is how we decided to put our new house in Maine under contract.

Via text.

Site unseen.

 By either of us.

Before any of you with real estate experience (or common sense) have a
coronary, let me say that we had every kick out clause in the book in
our offer that allowed us to back out upon personal inspection.

We immediately put Justin on a plane (most expensive flight ever) and he
got to see our house that weekend. I, on the other hand, got to look at
the online posting….and try not to panic.

Justin loved the house (as much as he could with the pressure that he
was the only one who had seen it) and we moved forward with buying that
bad boy.

Flash Forward One Week:

Our home inspection in Maine was scheduled to take place on Saturday and
one of us had to be there…at this point, it seemed important that I
get up to Maine to witness what my fiancé had gotten us into…and the
home inspection seemed like the perfect time.

Our travel day to Maine was miserable – we sat on the runway in Dulles
for hours waiting for a storm to pass. We finally made it to Bangor at
2am….and I couldn’t take it any longer. I made Justin drive me to the
house.

That has people living in it.

At 2am.

Creepers.

I don’t know if
the 2am showing made me feel better or worse but at least it had taken
the edge off of the suspense.

The next morning it was, of course, pouring.
We pulled up to the house
and the home inspection team met us in the driveway. They were so
amazing, if you ever need a home inspection in Maine, please call Dan
and Melissa Smart at Affordable Home Inspections. But anyway, in their
amazing-ness, they had arrived at the home early because rain is the
best time to find surprises in a home. They immediately launched into
the condition of the siding and the age of the home etc..I literally put
my hand up to Dan and said “should I tell you now that I haven’t even
laid eyes on this house yet?”

Dan’s mouth literally fell open.

He rushed me inside so that I could explore the house while he continued on with Justin and our real estate team in the yard.

It was probably best that I was left alone to wonder the house.

I
was SO effing nervous. I mean, this deal was done. Barring something
showing up in the inspection that said the house was about to fall down,
this place was going to be our home.

 

 

I think I held my breath through the door….but just a few steps in and I knew…this was our home.

And here is how I handled the situation like the mature, soon to be married woman that I am:

I sprinted out into the side yard, knocked Dan out of the way, and fell onto Justin hysterically crying.

I was just SO relieved! Justin (who has 3 brothers and doesn’t really
understand girls all that well) asked me if I was hurt….or sick.

I just couldn’t believe this house that we bought site unseen was THE
house, OUR house, and it was going to be the perfect home for us in
Maine.

After I composed myself (kinda), and apologized to the all male team
around us, we carried on with the home inspection. At this point, we are
all set to close on June 26th, 16 days after we come home from our
honeymoon.

I don’t usually brag on Justin very often, but this time he deserves all
of the credit for finding us the perfect home and being brave enough
and confident enough to go after it in a unique situation. 

*************

Ah, Memory Lane, the most melodramatic Lane on the block.