It fits like a well-made suit

On a whim we went to look at a house back in April. The wife saw it depicted in an open house ad in the local paper. We looked. We liked. We looked again. We offered and lost out on the house in a bidding war. We were disappointed, but we were not even looking for a new abode at the time. We then started looking at more houses.  Lots of houses, including every single suitable (and some not so suitable) in the town where we lived.

My daughter suggested we look at homes on the North side of Indy. She pointed out we had no ties to the town where we lived except for residing there 24 years -- no family, few friends. Moving to the North side made a lot of sense. It was closer to two of my three kids and no further for the one in college. It was closer to both of our families who live in North Central Indiana. Plus there was a much better selection of homes for sale. To my surprise, despite being one of the fastest growing cities and counties in the nation, housing prices were more reasonable than in my small town! The laws of supply and demand work even in Indiana!

We looked and looked and looked. Finally we made an offer on a house. It was more than we wanted to pay, but we liked the house. I thought my wife loved it, so I went along. The day the offer was accepted I had regrets. Big regrets. The house cost too much and had many of the shortcomings we had found in other properties. But the spouse loved the place. Until she mentioned after the inspections that she wished we had not bought the house. She mentioned the price, the shortcomings and said she went along 'cause she thought I loved the place. What we had here was a failure to communicate. We backed out of the deal. We pissed off a lot of people. We lost a lot of money, but better to lose money than spend hundreds more every month for years on a house you do not want.

The view from my "office" window

The wife went back to the internet searches. She found one that looked intriguing. The daughter drove over for an outside glimpse and said we would love it. We drove up and took a twilight look at the outside. The shorten a very long story we bought the house. It was perfect as a home we could get in our price range.

From the first day, weeks before we moved in, the house has been comfortable. I showed up to paint and never felt like I was in a strange home. The first night we slept here the place felt like we had been here for years. There are still boxes all about. The wife has not done her decorating. But I have not felt so 'at home' in a long time.

Stuff happens for a reason.