It should never amaze me how things can change suddenly from one day to the next. Yet, they do. Last week was no different. After waiting the entire month of August for the appraisal, we finally received it on Thursday of last week – two days past the promised date. One look at the appraisal, and Jim knew they not only had unnecessarily delayed the process but had also failed to do what they promised. I will not bore you with the details, but suffice it to say that there were huge issues with the appraisal, so much so that the bank is taking out a third-party action against the appraising company for failure to properly assess our property and design. We were both livid about this latest red flag and additional delay.
After sleeping on it and discussing it with our contractor as well as a lengthy discussion between the two of us, Jim and I decided on Friday to pull the plug on this project of ours. We could have continued with it, but after so many issues with the bank and the entire process, we both felt that it was no longer worth the hassle. Also, frankly since the bank was acting like they did not want our money, we no longer felt like giving it to them. This appraisal issue was the last in a long line of frustrations that only made us realize we did not have to do this to ourselves.
So, no more library or four-season room. No more having to pick out cabinets and countertops and fixtures. While we obviously did not come by this decision lightly, we headed into the weekend feeling much more optimistic about everything. Instead of building a new home, we are going to put the money and our efforts into sprucing up our current home and making all of those updates people always say they want to do on their house but never get around to doing. This means little projects like turning the playroom into a dance studio for Holly, moving the kids into different bedrooms, pulling up carpets to replace them with hardwood flooring, repainting the walls, changing the door handles on all of the cabinets, etc. We will even be adding solar paneling to our roof and trying to make this house energy-efficient.
In the end, this is a good thing. I might not get my dream library, but I am going to try to turn my current office into one. The kids may not get new bedrooms, but they can redesign/redecorate their rooms as if they were. We can take our time doing these projects, squeeze them in on weekends or when time allows. Plus, it still gives Jim something to do over the winter. We get to keep our beautiful backyard that borders a protected area, and we do not have to move anything. Our emotions have rightly shifted from disappointment to excitement as we cross things off of our list one project at a time. In fact, Jim immediately tackled one of the projects on our list and tore up the concrete patio attached to the house. Jim and I hauled broken concrete to the dump, and Connor and Jim filled in the hole and added the rock design Jim wanted. He finished it in two days. So, no feeling sad about this or feeling sorry for us. This decision is a good thing and feels right.
