Guess What ?!

We found a house that we love, and not just the house, but the yard, the layout, everything was perfect, as if it was built with the knowledge that we had 1 boy and three girls. We entered negotiations and after some back and forth we decided we were ready to pull the trigger. THEN... we couldn't get in touch with our original lender so after some time we decided we would have to contact the lender our agent uses. After some time he came back to tell us that although we have the income, the credit score, and the down payment, due to a new law with freddie mac and fannie mae you have to have at least 12 months of rental history on your tax forms and we only have a 5 month rental history from our town home in Utah we are renting. So basically... NO DEAL. You can imagine our shock since we were preapproved for a loan (twice) before we even went to Georgia to make sure our ducks were all in a row and what price range we would be comfortable in.

The good news is we weren't devastated. In fact maybe it just isn't the right time for us. I guess we aren't meant to leave Jersey just yet. After talking, Randall and I decided that we are going to use our down payment to pay off our van (hurray!) and some other debt. We have decided that instead of this being the year of our dream home and settling in, it will be the year of getting out of debt. The thought of that actually brings us even more joy than buying our "dream" home would. We feel very peaceful about that decision. We all know the economy is in the toilet and we have heard the housing market hasn't hit the bottom yet, so maybe next year would be an even better time to buy.

The hard part of course is that we now know what Georgia has to offer. It is absolutely stunningly beautiful. It is the epitome of American suburbia. The homes and yards and businesses are all clean, well groomed, and beautiful. The weather while we were there was perfect and sunny. The kids did some swimming and loved it. The people there could not be any kinder. The home that we fell in love with was on almost an acre backing up to a ten acre woodland that would not be built on. Basically a peaceful paradise. With that in mind it is a bit hard to come back to our present situation, of sirens and parking meters, no garage tiny bathrooms and one dim light in the kitchen. I'm sure for a lot of people all over the world this would be their "dream" home. I'm just going channel my inner Pollyanna and play the glad game for a bit to get my head back into the New Jersey realm. As we drove the 14 hrs last night we made a lengthy list of things we get to do here this summer. Camping and kayaking, beach visits, NYC of course, and a plethora of other things. For now it's all good and maybe we will just try again next year.