Around January of 2010, Hunter and I decided that the house we are currently renting just was not going to cut it. No Heat, Leaking Basement, Faulty Electricity, and not enough room for all of the dogs, led us to start looking for a house of our own. We started out just looking around ourselves in the local area of Lincoln County and found that we were slightly in over our heads with out a Real Estate Agent. In comes Tyler Hines of RE/MAX Executive Realty in Charlotte (also one of Hunter's best friends), and with helpful tips from him and watching Property Virgins on HGTV we set out on our quest to find our new home. Our requirements were slightly off than your normal everyday home buyer because not only did we need a home but we needed land for Hunter to be able to work with the dogs. (http://www.twilightretrievers.com/)
These were our requirements:
1. Atleast 3 acres of land (the bigger the better) for the dogs
2. It had to be a good location for my route at work
3. I wanted atleast 1 and a half bathrooms
4. Air Conditioning and Heat
Tyler set us up on a search engine for MLS that would send us updates everyday with houses meeting our requirements. I also spent numerous hours online doing my own searches when I felt the houses we were being told about weren't good enough.
In April we found it, the house of our dreams...it was 3 acres of land, already had fencing, 2 full bathrooms, great location for my route, and it had Central Air and Heat plus fireplaces. The house was a 1925 farm house that had been updated and added onto to create a 2200 squarefoot home with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, an office, formal living and dining rooms, kitchen, sunroom and storage. The downside was it was a foreclosure that had left the house void of appliances, light fixtures and door knobs. It was also a Fannie Mae property meaning we were dealing with the government not just a bank. We were planning on using the USDA loan program and made an offer on the house, 2 days later all USDA funding was denied until the end of June, plus there was another offer on the house. We decided maybe it was for the best and that we would save our money and keep looking.
May rolled around and we had saved up enough for the 3.5% down required by the FHA (also another government loan) and we found another home. This one was going to be a little bit more work but the house was in Move-In Condition. Again 3 bedroom, 2 full bath, living room, kitchen, dining room, and a sun room. This was only 2.75 acres and no fencing which meant Hunter would have to build them before we moved. We made an offer and it was accepted, only to find out that our FHA loan would not cover a manufactured or modular home. Great NOW WHAT?!?
The same day we found this out, I also recieved a call that the original house was back on the market, and that since we knew we already loved it and qualified for the loan, we made an offer. Full asking price, with sellers paying closing cost. The sellers countered our offer with them paying most of closing but not all. I decided that we should have the house inspected (by my uncle) before we accepted the counter offer. The inspections went great and we accepted the counter offer, only to find out someone else had also made an offer and they had already accepted it while waiting for us to respond. (Apparently bc this is a government owned home they could do that) Needless to say I was not only devastated but very angry as well.
We then decided to expand our search outside of Lincoln County. I would say we looked at over 30 houses and properties in less than 2 weeks, and came up with nothing.
Time dragged on, and I started to look around more while I was driving to evaluate my stores in the Elkin/Mt.Airy region of the state, and asked Hunter if he would be willing to move up there if we found something. He was resistant at first, but then we had a week of over 100 degree weather and not only were we miserable but the dogs were too. He gave in and I began my internet search again.
Thats when we found it. Ararat, North Carolina the most beautiful town in the state. There are rolling hills, vineyards and tons of farms. Its also where our new home is going to be after we close next week on the 29th of July. There are 8.05 acres of land (including a walk up waterfall thats on our property) The house is older built in 1955 but has been well taken care of and loved. There are 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, a kitchen, living room, and basement. Finding this house when we did was the greatest feeling, and the process from then has been an adventure in itself but that is for another day...
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