It was October of 2006 and my mom wanted to go see an old farmhouse she had found online. My wife and I had our curiosity peek and just had to go along. Although we had driven by the place many times, it wasn't until we turned into the driveway that we noticed it.
The house was buried in 8-10 feet shrubs, and the porch was barely visible. The box gutters were completely deteriorated along with the eaves and facia. The Realtor had arrived a little earlier and had begun to air out the house. As we approached the back door, which was the only one that he could open because the others were nailed shut, we had to pass through a narrow corridor between the shrubs to get to the door.
As we stepped into the narrow hallway that lead from the back door to the dark kitchen, our feet absorbed our footsteps into its soggy subfloor. Off the cramped hallway was a full bath crammed into an awkward space where the door actually hit the toilet when it was opened. Garbage bags filled the tub, the pipes were disconnected, and there were definite signs of mold.
Continuing on to the kitchen. The odor of moth balls became quite apparent at this point. The dark cabinets and countertops along with the fact that there was only one window, made it seem a bit tight. The spiders, evidently, were fine with it.
The rest of the home continued on about the same. In one second floor room, there was a hole in the ceiling and you could peer out through the hole in the roof above it. A makeshift funnel was made to direct the incoming water into a large garbage can which was also filled with trash. It wasn't doing much good anyhow because the trash can had a hole in the bottom and the plush shag was was soaking it up.
In the Master-suite-to-be (it was only framed in) there was a full size exterior hot tub plumbed and still holding a little water, old stinky water. The room was also cluttered with old tools and more junk.
The second floor bath was dark, the ceiling was starting to collapse, and the electric was a mess. You could turn on the light, or you could turn on the fan, but when both were on, they hardly worked.
The plaster above the bed in the south facing room was bulging as if it was going to explode. It was obvious the structure, which by the way is brick, was collapsing.
I guess it is obvious by now, we fell in love with the place. Who wouldn't? We walked away with the notion that it was just too big a project for us to take on and we still hadn't finished the house we currently owned.
Over the next couple months, my wife and I kept talking about the place and its potential. We'd drive by and think, "what if...?" We decided to let fate guide us. We finished remodeling our current home and placed it on the market in April. We thought, if it sells, it was meant to be. If it doesn't, at least our home is finished and we can relax.
We didn't have much time to wonder. The sign went in our yard Sunday, we had our first showing Monday, and we were in contract in a week with the first visitor. I guess our destiny had been chosen.
Excited and a little nervous, we made an offer and held our breath. We were countered and countered back, but in the end we got it. So the fun began.
Let me remind you, we sold our house and bought one that was uninhabitable. This meant temporary housing. We found a nice town home within a few miles of our project home, which was very convenient. Our goal was to be in our new home by the beginning of school for our niece who lives with us. That meant we had 2 months to make the place safe and inhabitable. We went into a 3 month contract to give us a buffer.
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