703

At the beginning of 2013 Anissa and I decided to start looking at buying a house.  We both had apartment leases expiring in August so we began doing some early exploration in areas we liked.  We decided to search in the northern suburbs of Columbus.  What we were struggling with was how far north to go.  The further north, the more house we could get for our money.  However, we did not want to be too far from work, school, friends, or family.  We met a realtor in February and let her know that we were shooting for a July closing.  This gave us plenty of time to browse the market.  Once April rolled around we started getting serious.  The sad thing was, there was NO inventory in the areas we liked.  The number of listed homes was very low.  So even though the number of buyers in the market was about normal, homes were selling in 1 week or less.  In fact, we saw a house come on the market at 6am one morning and by the time we could go see it at 4pm, it had already been sold.  Actually I think this happened to us twice.  We started to panic, realizing that we may have to trust our gut at some point and just pull the trigger quickly.  Being property virgins, this was a scary prospect.  One day we decided to take a chance on a house that was within 2 miles of our current apartments.  It was situated in this quiet neighborhood that we drove by almost every day on our way to church, the mall, Kroger, etc., but we never really noticed it was there.  As soon as we stepped in the house we knew it was a contender.  It had everything we needed and wanted including 4 bedrooms, 2 ½ baths, a big front porch, a deck in the backyard, situated in a good school district, and close to everything (halfway between our respective workplaces, only 10 miles from Ohio State’s campus and 12 miles from downtown Columbus).  We went to see a few more homes before coming back to this house a second time.  It was then that we knew it was the house for us.  After submitting our offer we found out there were 2 other offers on the table.  The agony of trying to improve our offer without overextending ourselves or being foolish was almost unbearable.  We definitely lost sleep on this.  Our offer ended up being accepted, thus beginning more agony – the negotiation of remedies after the home was inspected.  The house was built in 1993 but the seller was the original builder and had maintained the house incredibly well.  While there was not much that needed fixed, there were a couple expensive remedies we insisted on.  Fortunately our realtor stepped in and did a great job advocating for us and we ultimately got everything we needed.  In mid-July we closed on the house – 703 Lynnfield Drive.  Around the same time my grandfather, Grandpa Pete, passed away after a tough battle with cancer.  It was heart-wrenching.  So a few days after closing, Anissa and I spent a VERY late night making car trips back and forth moving stuff from our apartments to the house.  The next morning we moved everything else and then headed up to Cleveland to be with our family.  It was pure chaos.  I was exhausted physically and emotionally.  At the same time, it was such a blessing to have so much family together despite the circumstance.  I may preach about this later, but it’s times like that that make me so grateful I have a large family.  After all the services in Cleveland Anissa and I returned back to 703 Lynnfield to spend our first weeks in the new house.  I am not usually boastful, but we did an excellent job packing because unpacking was a breeze.  It didn’t take long to get rid of all our boxes and situate the big furniture.  And now, after ~3 months in the house, we could not be happier.  We love all the extra space, we love our yard, and we love having a garage!  With the holidays approaching we are very excited to decorate our new home.  And now, here are some pictures of 703.

Front of the house

Front with the garage

Backyard (we love the mature trees!)

Our deck (it has 2 tiers which will be great for hosting our big families!)

Our family room (this was the seller's furniture); this might be my favorite room in the house.