Let me back up...while I'm looking back.
In the fall of 2015,
Dudley INSISTED that I go with him to look at a small ranch that was
for sale just down the road from his cousin's house.
I had a headache. It
was raining. The only two things I need to say “No.”
But how do you
refuse Dudley? (Well, more on that in another post…)

The house went into my heart...and I said the words, “If you fix this up (hahaha) I could live here!”
Dudley was shocked.
--Well, so was I!
Then, Practical Marcie began thinking, “Wait. We can't have two houses. We can't have two mortgages. We...” But I was so charmed. Shocking. Didn't make sense.
How can we have 2 houses? We are not “2 houses; city
house/country house” people. (Love y'all...but cash challenged
here...)
Then the journey
began. (How corny is that?) Turns out Dudley can retire in 1.5 years. Here we GOOOO!!!!
"Ohhhh it is for
sale...along with 297 acres." (Crap. We can't afford that.) Well, would
they sell the house and the tract it is on? "Oh, that is 80 acres and
the house." WHO NEEDS 80 ACRES? Ridiculous.
The realtor didn't
want to even TALK to us. We hunted her down (Dudley Style) and
insisted she present an offer on the house and 80 acres, only. Maybe
she did. Maybe she didn't. We don't know. She wouldn't give us a
written offer to sign for her to present. She said she had several
and we were 'in a stack of offers'. We offered over listing price
(which was like kicking Dudley in the gut—if you know him!) and
waited.
I told Dudley, “I
think we have the right property but the wrong seller!?”
The owner had just
inherited the 297 acres with the 'cabin' and he—perhaps at the
realtor's advice—wanted to sell the whole thing; not in parts.
As months crawled on, we were told an
investor bought the whole thing and might divide it—with a profit,
of course. We were worried he would do 'improvements' we wouldn't want and the price would triple...
Next realtor. Next
SELLER.

It was countered.
“Buy it all or no thank you.”
Now, what kind of sick cosmic joke is this? Get this dang house out of my heart, then!!!
Somehow, by prayer,
by grace, and probably by offering over listing price to begin
with—this realtor began to want us to have this property.
Nice.
Shortening this—for
any of you still reading—the realtor said, “Well, if you purchase
the 80 acres, the house and an adjoining 30 acres of the hay field,
we might have a deal!”
(Sure. Let me just
get my checkbook and change that amount to your gazillion number.)
Thirty more acres ...of HAY? Sure. That's in my future and my WALLET. (I want to be a hay farmer??)
We looked at it.
Same thing happened. “Dudley. We need to sell something, move
something or SOMEthing to get this whole thing.” We submit an
offer. (again)
We wait.
At church, the
following Sunday, I had a little vision. (Rare for me…) I saw the
throne of God coming down and taking the place of the house on the
land. I couldn't see the house anymore...just a bright seat of
government descending and landing. I began 'ugly crying' in church. I
tell Dudley about it.
The next day, we have
the news our offer is accepted and we are under contract with a house
and 109 acres. Happy. Terrified. Happy. Terrified.
From sight to contract was ONE YEAR. A year!!!
I also don't like to
give up!
Something Dudley had never considered was to sell one of his rental properties...but
now that was necessary to have money to go forward. (Dudley collects people...and houses...) The house we decided to sell, was the first house Dudley and his first wife bought in the 80s. (Good Lawd.) #bye
Dudley was a broker/agent in the 80s, has a degree in Real Estate, we know a LOT of realtors that we love...and even have a family member who is a local realtor. But, #blessit, we need to net as much as possible from this sale to go for the dream. Finally, one of our rentals--as for sale by owner, the little house with the cracked foundation--sold in time to meet the closing deadline for the ranch. (I was the office manager for a real estate brokerage for 3 years and FSBO was like a bad word...but, life can humble you!)
Dudley was a broker/agent in the 80s, has a degree in Real Estate, we know a LOT of realtors that we love...and even have a family member who is a local realtor. But, #blessit, we need to net as much as possible from this sale to go for the dream. Finally, one of our rentals--as for sale by owner, the little house with the cracked foundation--sold in time to meet the closing deadline for the ranch. (I was the office manager for a real estate brokerage for 3 years and FSBO was like a bad word...but, life can humble you!)
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Remember the BLUE BATHTUB in the bedroom?? |
Then, we close. Enter JULIO!!!! July 21, 2016!!!
Here we are: January 2017. Our
primary residence is on the market for sale. It's only been 2 weeks
and we've had some activity but I feel antsy. We were in the business
enough and bought/sold enough property over the last 40 years to know
all the questions… Primarily: Is the price too high? Is the market
slow? Etc. Both of those may be true—but we had enough research
data and faith to get us to this current phase. We'll see where it goes!
Would you pray that
our house sells to the right person and the right price? And, by the way, we love
paying realtors for buyers…
A couple of months
ago, I had another one of those rare little visions. I was facing a
snowy, rugged terrain, looked down at the snow in front of me, and
noted that there were no footprints in the snow. I looked up a little
bit and saw jagged places in the ground – just not a pleasant, easy
landscape. I heard the words “You will go through this and I will
be with you.” (Gulp.)
This photo is EXACTLY what the vision looked like. (Can't believe I found this....!!!) >>>>
I believe we are in
that now. No footprints, just the Voice. And a rugged
land ahead.
Would you pray for us? (Really??!!)
“Suddenly” is
one of my favorite words in scripture. “Wait”--not so much.
But...
If any of you are
between Promise and Promise, I want to tell you—you are not alone.
You have the voice of the Lord to guide you.
And… You might need to remind me of that. :)
BONUS: For those of you who appreciate real estate humor...this is for you:
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