Keeping Up With Kristy: My Anniversary Present to David

For the last year David and I have been living in my parent's travel trailer to save money so that we could buy a house this summer. Our plan sounded great at the time, but we quickly found out when your goal is to save- other things happen that prevent it. For example, my husband totaled BOTH, yes BOTH of our vehicles. Thank GOD for Gap insurance, but we still had to use our savings for a down payment on my car. We are still shopping for him a car and hope to have one by the end of the summer. A few weeks ago we moved the trailer back to Mom and Dad's because it was not working out- if I had to stay one more night I would have run away! We are still about six months from finishing our debt consolidation (we will be debt free yeah!!!!!) so we were not ready to buy and I was going nuts living in my parent's living room. I have been watching Craigslist and the paper for rental homes, but one day I came across this really cute house, close to our parents, and to work. I liked it and called to set up an appointment to see it, but when they called back I had a virus and decided to wait awhile to look at it. I thought the rent was kind of high and thought I would just keep looking. Fast forward a few weeks and I came home and looked at the site again to see what was available. I could not believe my eyes- the rent on the house had dropped $100 a month. I had been praying every night for God to show me a sign on what I was supposed to do- keep living with the parents for six months, get an apartment, keep looking for houses..... I took this as my sign, called the guy back and took my parents to look at it with me. I told David about it but told him I was not really sure, etc........ I LOVED it when I saw it and my parents said it was a really good deal, and we have an option to buy if we like it once we move in. I got a call back the next day and they told me they were waiting on my rental history from the apartment, but there was another application and if it went through first- we would not get it. I called the apartment and let them have it (I know does not sound like me at all). I then get a call back that we got it - everything looks good-expect a call from the broker. After two hours, no call, I get nervous. I call back and they inform me that both applications went through at the same time and now they wanted to know if I would go up on the rent. What do I do? I want to be firm, but if the other people decide to go up- we lose. I decide I would offer $5 more a month and at this point I have pretty much decided we would lose the house. About 10 minutes later David calls. He says "did you get a house because these people are calling me and asking me when we want to sign the lease?" So much for keeping it a surprise. We went to sign the lease the next day and the broker told me two of us were competing, and three people were holding waiting to put in an application. I think it was pure luck that I looked at the site that night and called the agent back. Here are some pics of the house before we move in.