Buying a House with IBC: Finding “The One”

It's been a couple weeks since I've shared a "Buying a House with IBC" update, so I wanted to take the time to circle back with you about my process. Today I thought it'd be good to talk about how you know when you've found "the one."

Through the ups and downs of this house hunting process, many folks have told me reassuring things like, "You'll just know when you've found the right place." "It didn't work out with that one because there's a better one out there." "When you find 'the one,' you'll know why the other ones didn't work out."

I'm certain there are situations in which people have ended up in "the wrong home" for one reason or another. But the consensus seems to be that the right house will come along, and I've latched onto this way of thinking. It's the kind of optimistic, forward-looking advice that I needed.

As I've been hinting for the past couple weeks, I have found a house!

Side note: The pictures in this post are not my new house. They are from a blogger event I attended in Texas.

I am ecstatic and beyond excited to share this news with you. The things involved in buying this particular house have been underway for about three weeks now, so I am at the point where I feel comfortable officially breaking the news. I have made it through the home inspection process, been officially approved for the loan, received an appraisal above my offer price, and have gotten past the threshold of possible things standing in my way. In a few weeks, barring a major disaster, I'll have a new home.

I lost count along the way, but my guess is that I looked at close to 20 homes in person. I looked at homes in the city and outside the city. I looked at homes in areas I had targeted and in areas I wasn't even considering.

Throughout the process, I knew within minutes (often seconds) of arriving at a house that it wasn't "the one" for me. Sometimes it was tiny details, other times it was an overarching feeling, but I just knew in my gut it wasn't "it".

Surprisingly, the home I chose has been on the market since this past fall. However, I didn't pay much attention to it because it was outside the area I was initially looking at, and it was priced a bit too high. However, in March I expanded my search, and by then, the price of the house had dropped.

I ended up visiting the house on my own during an open house. (My realtor was out of town.) After opening the door and taking one step inside, I got the feeling: "This is it."

As I looked around the house, there were a couple things that didn't match my required and desired list: the ceilings aren't grand and high, and there's no big kitchen island. However, even with those boxes not being checked, it felt like home.

The following day, I set up another showing and brought my realtor along. She's been exceptionally helpful through this process, so getting her opinion on this property was important.

(My realtor is Stephanie English of Lifespace Pittsburgh. If anyone is looking for a home in Pittsburgh, she comes highly recommended.)

I also shared the listing with my mom and dad and asked for their feedback. With thumbs up from each of them, I moved forward with an offer, and after some drawn-out negotiations, I was able to get the house under asking price.

I decided to negotiate on the price because the house needs some immediate work, such as a new roof, wood floor refinishing, and new windows as well as extensive updating (new kitchen, new bathrooms). There were no current offers on the home so that helped my chances.

The home was previously owned by an older couple who lived there for over 30 years. While the home has been well cared for, the style and decor haven't been updated in a long time. This was fortunate for me as parts of the house didn't show very well. Thankfully, I could see the potential.

I'm holding off on sharing photos and other details, but I hope to give you a full tour once everything is official. After that, I'll have plenty to share and keep you posted on. My mind is swirling with ideas.

One final note on Finding "The One": Because there are millions of places in this world where we can live, I'm certain there are many homes that can be "the one" for you. However, as many people have told me over the past few months, "listen to your gut." I also think it's important to have patience and faith in the process. It wasn't always smooth sailing, but the more I trusted it would work out, the better I felt.

Whether or not your home buying process (or life in general) is working out as you think it should, have a little faith and assume everything is happening according to plan.

More to come!

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