Since we’ve lived in New York, at the house where my parents currently live, we’ve gone on a walk almost every Saturday and there’s a house we pass that’s one down from my parents.’ I’ve always liked this house because it has forest right back of it and the land slopes down so you can’t see into the forest from the road. Makes it mysterious. At least to me. I nearly jumped out of my seat when it popped up for sale on Zillow. I wasn’t expecting it to ever go up for sale. We’d lived there for eighteen years or so and not once had it been for sale before now. Not that I saw. Not only was this house within walking distance from my parents (a ten-minute walk, more or less), but it had twenty-three acres! It even has enough unforested land for us to have a cow or two and some sheep, as well as goats and ducks. There are a couple ponds too.
Now, the inside of the house isn’t as nice as it looks in the pictures. It actually needs quite a bit of work and if it weren’t for the proximity to my parent’s house and the amount of land it has, I wouldn’t want it. And if we had a couple million dollars, I’d have it torn down and completely rebuilt. But, realistically, we’ll just have to fix it up over the years. I do want to add on to it and have the kitchen completely remodeled because that’s my least favorite room and the ugliest.
The deal was already off once and there’s a chance it might still be because part of the roof, which has sky lights over the bedroom, is sagging and potentially leaking. We want to get credit for it because my husband has some guys in his family that could fix it. But the guy selling it has already priced the house in his head, at a hundred thousand more than it’s listed for. We offered him exactly what he was asking and he said no because he thinks it’s worth a lot more, despite the attention it needs. But for now we’re on track to making it ours! I can’t wait to move in, to get it fixed up, to have animals and a garden. We could even have our wedding there. Our son and any other children we might have are going to love growing up there. To afford the house I now have to get a job. I still don’t have a car so I’ve been looking for something I can do remotely. I set up a profile on Fiverr and Upwork as a proofreader but, not surprisingly, haven’t had any work so far. I tried playing games for cash but that’s an insane waste of hours of my time with not enough reward. I’ve been actively browsing jobs on Upwork and I’m starting a course in proofreading for more access to those types of jobs. Staying hopeful I’ll pick up a couple jobs so that we can pull together enough for the downpayment and I can help with renovations and, of course, decorations!
Mikaela Nicole 