Life with The Snyders: Our Home

God is so so good. Our living arrangements have been so temporary for the last (almost) 2 years and I was getting weary...really weary...so grateful to always have a roof over our heads, but weary of the moves and lack of stability. As we began looking for something to buy here in Morganton my weariness grew. There is limited real estate here and this is an old community that hasn't grown a whole lot so the homes are old. They have character...lots of character, but are also in need of a lot of work. I am not a fixer upper...I have no desire to go in and flip a house...I'm chalking that up to lack of creativity and all the work we've put into moving the past two years...the desire to go in and do a lot of work to a house is nonexistent for this girl.

We learned quickly how limited real estate is here so Stephen has done a great job keeping an eye out this whole past year. I couldn't bear looking at what was out there because I was already weary and it only made me more weary. He would send me houses that were decent, but all I saw was work that needed to be done. Then, one day he sent me a house that had already been flipped. It looked new on the inside with a few minor exceptions (e.g., closet doors and old AC unit), but I could handle that in comparison to everything else we had looked at. We contacted a real estate agent that we know and he took us to look at it. I was ready to make an offer that night!

In his wisdom, he advised us to at least look at a few others. That was a Thursday or Friday so we scheduled Monday afternoon to look at houses. We looked at 3 and they were terrible. I was still ready to jump on the flipped house because I knew it wouldn't last long. Then, he mentions some new construction going up. New construction? My ears perked up. He said it was a split level and I literally said, "You can stop talking; I'm not interested in a split level house." I then proceeded to tune him out, but he continued talking to Stephen about it. Towards the end of the description he mentioned the price, which was way less than what we had been looking at and then he talked about how we could finish the basement, adding another bedroom, bathroom, and den, still below our price limit.

Okay...okay...maybe I'll look at it. I asked if the builder had any pictures. At this point I think sheet rock had just been installed upstairs. Nope...no pictures, but we know the people who live across the street and lucky for us this builder is building the same floor plan in this whole neighborhood. We called them at 8:00 that night and asked if we could come see their house. I'm realizing now how weird that is, but they were so gracious and opened their home for us. They have their basement finished as well and did several other upgrades throughout the house; their home is beautiful. I still wasn't 100% convinced. Stephen walked out and said, "I want it."

Numbers girl over here was thinking, "Yea me too if we can have what they have, but did you just hear all of the other "upgrades" they did?" I was sure there was no way we would be able to afford it. I told Stephen he could at least ask and get more information. Through the process we learned those upgrades were doable for us and the next thing I knew we were meeting with a loan officer and signing papers.

Overall the process was very smooth. There were a few minor bumps here and there that come from a builder who is great at what he does, but has been doing it for so long he's learned to overlook some of the details (e.g., bad paint job and mismatched metals throughout the house). Thankfully it all worked out (I only had to "go Allyson" on them once...aka get firm) and we are loving our home!

God is not surprised by anything that has happened over the past two years and knew exactly what He had in store for us. We are so grateful!

One reason I was okay with the split level is because the whole house is above ground. The main thing I don't like about split levels is from the outside they look like a house and a half because the bottom floor is usually halfway under ground.

Don't mind all of the red mud...it's a work in progress getting our yard to not drain across the driveway...

When you come in the front door there are steps that lead you directly into the kitchen, facing the window you see below.

At the top of the stairs if you look to your right, this is your view.

Living room

Dining nook

Office

Bathroom between the upstairs bedroom and office

Upstairs guest room

This is looking back towards the kitchen from the upstairs office and bedroom

This is the sign we have hanging over our bedroom door...I love it!

Master bedroom

Master bathroom

Our closet...they only installed one bar and Stephen had the great idea to raise that one and install another one. I'm so glad he did and I'm so glad we went ahead and did it before bringing all of our clothes over. It made things fit so much better.

Downstairs den

A shot of the corner because I love this sign...it's so perfect for me and Stephen. We love naps! This room is the perfect nap spot because there are no windows. If you shut the bedroom door downstairs it's really dark and gets really cool...perfect nap setting!