I'm sure all of us have been told on occasion to trust your gut. You know, when you've studied hard for a test and aren't sure of an answer... trust your gut. While driving and you feel like you should change lanes at a random time... trust your gut. When someone tries to convince you not to do something and you really feel like you should... trust your gut.
There have been several times in my life when I've trusted my gut. I got a difficult test question right, I avoided getting into a huge car accident, and I accomplished things that others told me I couldn't do. Now I don't attribute all of these good things to trusting my gut, some I attribute to following the whisperings of the Spirit and some things that happen in life, I attribute to both.
A few months ago, Sam and I started thinking about buying our first home. To me, it sounded pretty crazy. Our apartment was in the best location and I finally was making some friends at church. I felt comfortable at the stage my life was in. So, I blew off the idea of buying a home.
For those of you that know me, I like to analyze all options. I thought about spending another long winter in a small apartment with my energetic boys. I thought about the limited living and storage space that we have. I then thought about how nice it would be to have a house of my own with more living space, a garage, and my own backyard. And of course, I had to think if we could even afford to buy a house, one that we could grow into.
So, Sam and I decided that we should see what kinds of homes we could find in our price range. Sam met with our bank to get a price range of homes we could afford. Then I began the crazy search for a home. I looked up several real estate sites and stumbled across one very user-friendly site. I would stay up to the wee hours of the morning searching for the best deals. We went out a couple times with our realtor and saw about 10 homes. One of the homes seemed really cute and I liked the neighborhood.
The more I thought about the "cute house," the more I realized how perfect it would be for our family. The house was big enough, in a nice family neighborhood, close to Sam's work, Brian could stay in his preschool, etc. I felt that my gut was telling me "this is THE HOUSE." I went with a friend to the temple and felt the Spirit tell me the same thing that my gut told me.
Of course I still had to check out more options. Over the weekend, we drove all over the valley looking at other home listings in our price range. Nothing impressed us. The homes where either too small, in a bad neighborhood, or would require way too much upgrading.
So, Sam and I decided to put in an offer on the "cute house." The sellers came back with a counter offer and we came up with what we would offer in return. When we went back to our realtor, he told us that there were two other very interested buyers, one of which was going to put in an offer too. I didn't believe our realtor at first. But then he said, "I swear on the life of my kids, that what I just told you is true." We put in the best offer that we could and crossed our fingers. The offer was accepted and we were ecstatic!
Our excitement continued as we walked in to meet with our loan officer. This man's office was decked out in Harley Davidson stuff and the man had a very persuasive and abrasive personality. He was a very intense man to say the least. The loan officer tried to convince us not to buy the "cute house." He made it sound like we were dumb to want to spend so much of our savings to get into the house. He went on to say that we wouldn't be able to afford the house and that we would hate it. He said that there's always another house, a less expensive house that would work for your family. Sam and I were practically in tears. We went home feeling horrible and that the loan officer must be right.
Even though I originally felt great about the "cute house," I started to doubt the good feelings I had felt. That night, we decided to cancel our contract on the house as soon as possible. Sam called to set up an appointment to cancel the deal. I started having serious doubts that cancelling the deal would be the wrong thing to do. If we cancelled the deal, I would be denying all the good feelings and promptings I had received. I felt so confused and didn't know what to do. When it was time to sign the papers, I had not decided what I wanted to do. Sam knew that he had to sign the papers. I tried my best to convince Sam that I didn't want to lose the house. Sam was on his lunch break and had to get back to work. So with tears in my eyes, I reluctantly signed the cancellation papers. I left very sad and defeated.
Over that weekend, we drove around looking at more home listings. Like before, we weren't finding anything we felt would be worth looking in to. I was very sad about it for a few days. I had lost hope in getting the house.
Early into the next week, our realtor informed us that the other offer on the home didn't work out and now the sellers are willing to work with us again. He told us the seller's new offer. I said I don't know if that changes anything, but I will let Sam know. I felt that we were getting a second chance on getting the house. There's no way I wanted to lose the house this time around. Somehow, Sam became convinced that it would be a good idea to pursue the house again. (I bet it was knowing that we'd found such a great home at a great price. The house had been up for sale for a year and we new that the sellers were motivated to move.) Later that week, we decided to make another offer in on the home. Our offer was accepted!!!
Of course, we went out and found a better loan officer. This guy praised us for our discipline with our finances and said that we are in the prime position to buy a home. This man explained everything to us very simply and helped us make the best decisions for our situation. And I must mention that he locked us in with a great interest rate... 5%!!! Isn't that awesome?! Anyway, if you live in the area and are looking for a home, I have a great realtor and loan officer to recommend.
For me, buying our first house has been an emotional rollercoaster. We found the house we wanted to buy, get our offer accepted, we back out, we are so sad thinking the other people's offer will be accepted, we can't find another home that measured up, miraculously the other people's offer didn't work out, the sellers give us a way better offer that is more in our price range, and we finally decide to make another offer on the house that worked out! Whew... persistence I tell ya! We sure fought for what we wanted. And the let down the first time around was a good thing because we ended up with a way better deal.
I promise that if you trust your gut and the Spirit and everything will work out for your good.
