When Hammer Taps Turn to Nudges

This is a continuation of "How Many Hammer Taps Can You Bare?". … Monday [May 16] was filled with doubts and deep ponderings. I was discouraged and decided to take a look on the internet instead of waiting for an email from my realtor. Then, … I need to explain that my realtor set me up to receive emails for new house listings within my criteria from the local multilisting service (MLS). But with my eagerness to find something, I would often conduct manual searches on the MLS website, and I found that the emails were usually three days behind the MLS website. This is house I missed one house that I really liked but was already pending before I could even see it. So here I was that Monday, after lunch. I had a number to offer for the last house that I’d seen, but I didn’t feel right about it. So I anxiously checked the MLS website. Then, I saw a nice-looking house in Burlington, which was right where I wanted to live. The house had what I needed—two-car garage, three bedrooms, large family room in the lower level, dining and living rooms upstairs, and 2.5 bathrooms (I only hoped for 2)! The house was in great condition with a lot of remodeling and even a recent exterior repainting. I immediately called my realtor and exclaimed that I had to see it that evening. We scheduled a time and we met at the house. The house sat in a friendly, well-kept neighborhood with wide, clean streets, a variety of house designs (not all bilevels, as many local neighborhoods are), and each house had a generous front yard that was more than twice the size of the that on the other houses that I had seen. We approached the newly painted front door and admired the professional exterior paint job completed so recently that the painters’ sign was still in the front lawn. My realtor unlocked the door and we stepped inside. Right away, I could see that this house had more room, and was cleaner than any of the others. The entry landing pad had plenty of space to stand and open the front door (the other houses barely had room to open the door), and rod iron hand-rails lined the path upstairs, which was where we first ventured. The carpet was not new, but was still in good condition. The living room was roomy with two large windows in the front, and a nice ceiling fan in the middle. The kitchen had lots of room, plenty of counter and cabinet space, and something that most of the other houses didn’t have—a dishwasher. The hardwood-floor dining room was divided from the kitchen by a half-wall with countertop, and an attractive but simple chandelier hung from the ceiling. Venturing to the bedrooms, I saw the first full bath in the hallway, and then was pleased to see that the large master bedroom also had its own full bathroom. The other bedrooms were modestly sized. In addition to every window already having blinds, my realtor pointed out the quality of these new windows, which were the kind that have the “lattice” between the two glass panes, and the windows could be unmounted-in to clean the exterior glass from inside the house. The lower level of this bilevel had a large family room with forest-green carpet and a beautiful brick fireplace. This lower level also had the half-bath and entrance to the two-car garage. We then went outside where there was an incredible, three-tiered deck with two stairways. The slightly sloped backyard was privately fenced, and the very back border was high enough that the fence was about fifteen feet above the rest of the backyard. But most-noticeable was what was taking about one third of the large backyard, was an in-ground pool! I couldn’t believe everything that I was seeing. Every time that a house had fallen through, I knew that it meant that God has something even better for me. But this was just so incredible, that there’s no way I could afford anything nicer. As it was, I had already looked at other houses in this neighborhood and they were more than $15,000 above my price range. This house’s list price was above my budget, but close enough that I felt I could negotiate within my range. Also amazing was that I was the first person to view this house—I found the listing just two days after it came on the market, which meant it was one day before any MLS-subscriber would get the email. But just as we finished looking at the house, another realtor arrived with two college guys to view the house. My heart was screaming that I had to act immediately. With the previous houses that I was serious about, I got my parents’ experienced opinion before placing an offer. But in this case, they were on vacation and only reachable by phone. I described the house to them, but only I could really make this decision. I sat in my car, parked in the driveway of this house, seeking God’s direction. Everything seemed to be telling me the same thing. I stepped out of my car, faced my realtor, and said, “Let’s do it.” And I did. In fewer than twenty-four hours, I had a contract to purchase the home. On June 8, 2006, around 4:45 PM, I was handed the keys to my own house. Praise God! His provision has been incredibly miraculous—but shouldn’t we always expect this?