The Option
7 years ago, my husband’s company decided they were transplanting his office to Austin. Though only a few hours away from Houston, this would be a big change for our small family who had gotten very accustomed to living so close to family. So we listed our home for sale in early November of 2013. Three weeks later my husband’s company dissolved. No warning, no severance, no job. And, not knowing what our future would hold for us, we kept our home on the market in the event of needing to relocate for a new job.
Dan was unemployed for 3 months. It was scary and full of unknowns but I really leaned into the unexplainable peace that God offers and trusted His plan for our family. Being in the creative design field, we knew that moving out of Houston was still very much a possibility so decided against buying a new home and, for a 7-month stint, moved into an apartment with my parents.
Living in a 3-bedroom apartment with 4 adults, 2 kids and a dog was not easy. Mainly because my boys have enough energy to power the city of Houston and, with no backyard, there was nowhere to expel this energy.
Dan was offered a full-time position that following July, here in Houston, which meant we could start looking for a more permanent living situation and bought our second home in one of our most favorite neighborhoods. Though it wasn’t our “dream” home and certainly not our “forever” home, it was a beautiful home that housed our family very well… until our 3rd boy came along a few years later.
5 years into our new address, we had played a fun little game we like to call “Musical Rooms” no less than 7 times. This entails us “rearranging” each room to better accommodate our family and current lifestyle needs (bunk beds, playrooms, offices, etc.) and knew that it was time to start looking for a larger home.
We began casually looking at homes in our neighborhood and, a few months into the search, found THE home. Sitting on a culdesac, nestled among a 1/4 acre of trees, this home had everything we wanted… (except for a pool that could be added down the line). So we immediately put in an offer and listed our home for sale. Our offer was accepted, we found a buyer for our home and all was right with the world.
“And then it all went to shit.”
The buyer of our home backed out at the last minute and, without another buyer in sight, we had to let go of the dream home. And since we were already past the 10-day option period, we had to also let go of the almost $4,000 we had already put into it.
Angry is not the word I would use to describe how we felt.
Crushed. Defeated. Stunned.
How could God lead us to this home that was perfect for us and then just take it all away?!
Y’all. How many times have I said that God always has a plan? Often. Now read this next sentence:
“The date we were scheduled to close on our dream home was now the date of my surgery to remove the tumor they found in my uterus.”
Let that sink in for a second.
Did I know about the tumor when we decided to sell our home and buy a new home? Absolutely not. It wasn’t even on my radar. Yes, I was still battling a lot of neurological symptoms and seeing specialists regularly. But a tumor?! Nope. That was a shocker for sure.
If you’ve been following me from The Beginning, you know of my health issues and all that I’ve gone through. So truthfully, real estate should have been the LAST thing on my mind.
We decided to take our home off the market. We played another round of “musical rooms” and even went as far as to completely renovate our kitchen to better suit our taste.
The Before
The after
We had succumbed to the fact that this was going to be our For-the-Forseeable-Future home and were making the most of it.
“And then COVID hit.”
All of a sudden, the walls on our already smallish home were really closing in on us. (For reference, please watch the scene from Star Wars Episode IV when Princess Leia, Han Solo, and Luke Skywalker are trapped inside the trash compactor.) I knew it was time to start looking at homes again when my middle child almost defecated in the backyard due to the lack of toilets in our home. No, I’m not joking.
Around that same time, a neighbor posted on our neighborhood Facebook page asking if anyone was listing a home that matched the description of our home and I responded. We allowed them to come and “take a look” at our home before we listed and within a few hours, their agent called and said his clients wanted to offer full-price for our home!
Holy. Cow.
Just last summer, we felt like we couldn’t PAY someone to buy our home and now, this family wanted to pay full price without us even having to go through the annoying process of showings and open houses! What a blessing!
Now the hunt was on to find our dream home… and we had exactly 6 weeks to do so.
We found a home we loved very quickly. Well, I should say I found a home I loved. But it sat across the street from a car wash and the sounds of the fans blowing every 5 minutes was enough to drive anyone crazy! And it didn’t have a pool and was listed at the top of our budget.
Enter God and His sometimes *ahem* direct rerouting techniques.
During our 2nd showing of the home, we found mold. Black mold. In more than one area. When we approached the seller about it, they denied it and then - get this - SPRAY PAINTED OVER IT.
Some people, right?!
“So now we were back to square one, with 5 weeks left to find our dream home.”
Being as since we had already ruled out all of the homes currently listed in our neighborhood, I threw a Hail Mary and reached out to neighbors on that same Facebook page, asking if ANYONE was selling a 2-story with a pool in the very near future. And, lo and behold, I got several responses! So we embarked on the super fun game of “What’s Behind Door Number 2?!” Looking at pre-listed homes can be somewhat of a gamble since you have no pictures to refer to prior to walking into the home.
Again, enter God.
We were hours away from putting in an offer on a home that ALMOST checked off all of our boxes (including a pool and a long, extended driveway) when I heard back from one more neighbor that said we could come and see his home that same day.
We walked in and within 10 minutes, all 3 of us (Dan, myself, and our amazing friend/realtor Jenna) had “that” moment. We walked from room to room with our jaws dropped, almost silent in awe of how PERFECT this home was for our family. Not only did it have everything the other home had (literally the same exactly floor plan and a pool), but it also had upgrades the other one didn’t (specifically in the kitchen and pool area).
And - get this - when we asked for their asking price, it was on the bottom of our budget! We quickly put in an offer that was accepted within an hour. We had sold our home AND found our dream home PRE-LISTING!!!!! That’s a win-win in my book!
“two hours later,
dan lost his job.”
While Dan and I were stuck in a state of shock, my amazing realtor immediately jumped into action by reaching out to our lender and raising the possibility of a co-signer so that we could still close on our dream home. And when my father-in-law offered to co-sign with us, I felt like everything was back on track!
The day we closed on our current home, a week before closing on our NEW home, our lender came back to say that co-signing with my FiL was not a possibility (and neither was the option of closing on our own now that Dan was unemployed) and “there was nothing else he could do.”
“Now we were unemployed and homeless in the middle of a global pandemic.”
The rest of that day/week was a blur. I remember crying a lot, cursing Dan’s company a lot, and questioning God’s promises and love for me. What were we going to do? Where were we going to live? Why did everything seem so. damn. hard???
I saved this image - this verse - as the wallpaper on my phone so that every time I wanted to cry or give up, I was reminded of God’s peace and faithfulness.
It was at this point in our journey that Jesus quite literally took the wheel. Everything was out of our hands - our lender, our realtor, and most definitely our own. We continued to pack up our home because the option of staying was an impossibility. We absolutely had to be out in a week.
Jenna had reached out to no less than 6 different lenders that weekend, pleading with them to “think outside the box” and make a miracle happen for us. 5 of the 6 lenders immediately turned her away. But 1 of them did not.
An angel, by the name of Tammie, whom we’ve never met and even Jenna herself didn’t know personally, took a chance on our little family by offering what’s called a Portfolio Loan. Unlike most other mortgage loans that are almost immediately sold to a secondary bank after closing, a portfolio loan is originated by a bank and then held in the bank's portfolio over the life of the loan. It’s a much riskier move on the bank’s part. The downside was that it would delay our closing on the new home by a few MORE weeks, again leaving us homeless during that time.
Remember that unexplainable peace I was talking about above? That was literally ALL I was holding onto when I presented the idea of moving into and leasing our dream home before we even owned it. Talk about a risky move! Even Jenna herself was adamantly against it. So many things could go wrong with the home prior to closing, therefore leaving the financial liability of said repairs up in the air. Not to mention we were now entering hurricane season in the city that, just 3 years ago, was underwater due to Hurricane Harvey.
Best case scenario: We move in and close on it 3 weeks later.
Worst case scenario: We move in and then are forced to move out a few weeks later if the loan falls through (which is still quite a possibility at this point)!
On August 14th, we closed on our dream home. When we first walked into the title company that morning, there was a woman sitting there who introduced herself as Tammie - the lady who had literally saved our future. She had driven all the way from Galveston (about an hour away) to just sit in on our closing. She didn’t have anything to sign and no obligation to be there but chose to be there anyway to witness the closing on one of the “trickiest” loans she had ever worked on. This was extra special to us also because our sweet, amazing, hard working realtor, Jenna, couldn’t be there in person.
After all of the documents were signed, our title agent presented us with a card and a chilled bottle of champagne. I waited until we got into the card before opening and reading who it was from.
Brace yourself for all.the.feels…
“Dan and Christine -
Congratulations!! I’m writing you this note on Friday, 8/7, but by the time you get it, you will officially be homeowners of the new, forever Douglas family home. What a ride it has been to get to this day - and I am so bummed I’m not there to give this to you in person… however there is something I want you to know: This bottle of champagne has been in my fridge since the day we found out that this might not work out. I was determined (and I know God is faithful). So I went to the store that night, bought this bottle of celebratory champagne, put a big bow and tag on it and put it in the front of my refrigerator to remind me that there WILL be a day we will all celebrate you and to not give up on that. Words cannot express how happy I am for you and your family.
-Jenna”
I truly believe that we always have the option to trust God. In the middle of fear and anger and disappointment, God can always equip us with His peace. And sometimes His peace is ALL we have to hold on to.
