Putting the "Home" in Homestead

We have big news, about 42 acres of big news.

Last week, Christina and I put in an offer on a house. It was accepted within hours.  I guess that means we are overpaying.

But this is not just any house, it is "the house that shall not be named" ala Voldemort.  Why?  Because I found it online last November before I had a job in the New Hampshire/Vermont region, and basically wouldn't stop talking about it.  The price dropped the first time when I was interviewing for my current job.  The price dropped again, and incidentally we were on our way to look for a short-term rental. 

I convinced Christina that we had to look at it, which wasn't hard because we wanted to look at stuff.  But within 5 minutes of walking in the door, she hated it.  Now, hate is a strong word, but I think it may be justified.  Sometimes my beautiful wife exaggerates, but in this instance she _really_ did not like it.

Yep, we have a pond

So I let it go, in the way only I can.  It was referred to as "the 42-acre house".  I referred to it as "that other house" and when she asked which, I gave her a look that said "you know which house".  And so, it became "the house that shall not be named".

And then, two weeks ago as we were getting discouraged with the rest of the houses we saw in the Norwich/Hartford area, they lowered the price again.  And we'd seen a dozen houses already and I *promised* that I wouldn't bring it up again if we saw it again and she didn't like it.  So we arranged a visit and upon arrival our realtor said that it already had 2 offers on it and one was acceptable to the seller.

Me: "Oh well, at least I won't have to keep thinking about this place, I hope they buy it so I can stop talking about it"
Christina: -nothing-
Me: "Where'd you go?"

And she was off exploring the place not paying attention so I hung out in the living room talking to our realtor about other places and making renovations.

See-through fireplace AND wood stove!

That was on a Thursday.  Friday my friend Casey was supposed to come over for drinks but had to cancel so Christina and I were forced to drink on our own, and we ended up talking about the house. A lot. And it seemed Christina was now interested in this place, and its potential, and maybe we had something going.  But it had 2 offers already.  So we talked about it some more.  Saturday went by, we talked some more and we talked to the realtor and he said we'd have to jump on it within a couple hours if we wanted a chance.

We weren't ready yet, but told him we were thinking.  We didn't jump, in fact we deliberated the rest of Saturday, Sunday, Monday and didn't put an offer in until Tuesday.  And I guess they liked our offer.

Winter is going to be pretty, plus we get a skating rink for free!

So, we think we're buying a house. It qualifies as a homestead in every sense of the word I can think of; it's got the "back 40", literally. It has a big fireplace, a wood stove and a screened in porch.  It needs a lot of work, we can have chickens and tap our maple trees (there better be some maple trees!) and there are endless things I can think of to have fun with it.  Did I mention 40 acres?  If not, let me say that I grew up on maybe a quarter acre lot and we shared our side yard with Mr. Hickey and his cat Goldy. Anyway, All that seems to align with "Homestead" more than "McMansion" and I hope it becomes our home. 

I have Christina to thank for it. ; )

We hope you'll visit us sometime, starting in July, when we hope to close.  Until then, fingers crossed that everything works out.  Enjoy the pictures and maybe you can see a little bit of what we want to make of the place.