As ours reader are probably aware of by now, we have been looking a location to find or build our forever home. Over the last few months our search has taken us from Montana down to Texas and everything in between. While our forever home search started out very wide, and across several states, it has since narrowed. As much as we love Montana and our temporary home state of South Dakota the winters are too large of a negative to overcome. After considering states like Utah and Nevada we have narrowed our search to parts of Texas. This however still feels like half the country anyway.

Over the last few weeks a lot has transpired and eventually reached a crescendo late last week. Honestly we were hoping this would be the blog where we expressed our excitement about entering a new phase of our lives. But despite giving it our best effort and even going out on a limb financially it wasn’t meant to be.

In previous blogs we mentioned that we have a concrete set of parameters that we were not willing to deviate from. Additionally, we have a list of items or features that would be amazing to have. They wouldn’t necessarily make or break purchasing a property, but they could move us in that direction. I mean, if we found an amazing house that happened to be on or close to a lake that’s a bonus. Something like that would give some weight to our decision.

Since we started our forever home search we have looked any many properties. Some have come very close, but were lacking. Others just didn’t wow us at all. Several properties held high expectations only to turn out to be a complete disappointment. It hasn’t been easy, but we are also not in any hurry.

Then there was this property we recently found. Not only did it check off all the boxes on the list of concrete requirements, it nearly checked off all the boxes on the wish list as well. It was an amazing house on a beautiful chunk of land. It was close to not one, but two lakes. The surrounding area was exactly what we were looking for. Hell, it even had a community RV park where friends and family could stay when they come to visit.

Of course with all of this it was above the price range we were looking to stay in. So we were very hesitant because of that. But as we said before money isn’t the only factor when making a decision. And when something checks off nearly all the boxes we are willing to make a move. So we did.

After driving four hours just to look at the house and walk the property we made an offer. And then after a few days of negotiations, and then a competing offer, we walked away from the house. As much as we loved that place we were not willing to make the type of deal that would have been required to close it. The seller, knowing how much we loved the place, graciously gave as the last chance to make it happen and we politely declined.

As disappointing as it is, we know we did the right thing. If stretching the financial limits of our budget and performing some financial gymnastics wasn’t enough to close the deal then it wasn’t meant to be. As much as it sucks it was probably for the better.

Sometimes the best deals are the ones you don’t make. Having bought a few homes before the one thing we learned is that there will always be another house. So it’s best to move on and keep looking. We also didn’t get to where we are today by making bad financial decisions.

So onward we go and the search for our forever home continues!

See you on the road!

Joe

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