It is official. We have put down roots here in Missouri. We purchased our dream property and the renovations that were needed to get us into the house are complete. We moved it. It took 11 months from the time that we saw the place, but we are in.
Long story short:
Move up to the Kansas City area in 2009 to plug ourselves into the International House of Prayer (IHOP) community. We wanted more than just a Sunday Morning religion, and now we are immersed in a missions/justice movement that is plugged in world wide. What an amazing journey to even get here. But once here we rented in a house until the owners demanded a rent increase and a year commitment. We said no, and my good friend Scott Standiford (Dreamer1) made the most amazing real estate connection for us (even though he is sitting down in Texas). He made a few phone calls and introduced me to one of the kindest and selfless men I have ever met, Kevin Dishong.
Kevin and his family grew up in on this property and in 2007 lost his mother. His father battled cancer and finally went to be with the Lord in 2009 and the property was passed on to Kevin and his brother. In the summer of 2011 they were about ready to sell the property when I called him up one night and asked if he would be willing to show it to us towards the end of June. He did, and although it had been abandoned for over a year at that time, and it had some issues that needed to be address, Ginnette and I absolutely fell in love with the place.
We found a federal program that allowed us to mortgage nearly $70k extra for renovations and like all federal programs, it took forever to get the money flowing. On January 27th, 2012. Renovations began and on May 12th we moved in.
Some of the items done in the renovation include:
$4500 in mold remediation
Gutting the basement down to concrete and hand placed stone foundation
Sealing up an egress window that was acting as a bathtub for rain water
Regrading and french drains to control water flow
Addition of a sump pump
Plumbing re-routing and clean up to make function
New bedroom constructed in basement
New hallway constructed in basement
New carpet or new hardwood floors
Refurbishing existing hardwood floors
Reconfiguration of the kitchen cooking space
All new appliances
New sink/faucet
Raising of the counter tops
Addition of Granite counter tops
Addition of stone to the backsplash (not tile).
Adding can lights to the kitchen and to the family rooms
Updating light figures throughout
Construction of a new king size bed (my first attempt and love it)
New railing around the lower deck and deck stairs
Removal of deck stairs to 2nd story balcony off of my office
Upgrade from 100amp service to 200amp
Concrete removal from secondary driveway
1/4" drywall over all wallpaper in kitchen
new paint throughout most of house
New chimney for furnace/water heater
And a new A/C unit (thanks to a mistake by a technician, this was a freebie - Thank you Jesus!!)
Of course this is just what we did to make the house functionable for our family. Now that we are in, we have all the "small" projects that will make the cir-1945 house our home.
Oh....and did I mention that it has an acre yard, a stream that the kids have caught over 100 bluegills out of, and 3 acres of huntable land. We have already had long beards walk through the yard, and bucks graze through while we were eating breakfast.
All this to say....we feel simply blown away by the blessing that the Lord bestowed on us. After 21 years of renting and moving from place to place, we finally feel "home."
Thank you TBH-brotheren for your support and prayers through the entire process. You are family.
Long story short:
Move up to the Kansas City area in 2009 to plug ourselves into the International House of Prayer (IHOP) community. We wanted more than just a Sunday Morning religion, and now we are immersed in a missions/justice movement that is plugged in world wide. What an amazing journey to even get here. But once here we rented in a house until the owners demanded a rent increase and a year commitment. We said no, and my good friend Scott Standiford (Dreamer1) made the most amazing real estate connection for us (even though he is sitting down in Texas). He made a few phone calls and introduced me to one of the kindest and selfless men I have ever met, Kevin Dishong.
Kevin and his family grew up in on this property and in 2007 lost his mother. His father battled cancer and finally went to be with the Lord in 2009 and the property was passed on to Kevin and his brother. In the summer of 2011 they were about ready to sell the property when I called him up one night and asked if he would be willing to show it to us towards the end of June. He did, and although it had been abandoned for over a year at that time, and it had some issues that needed to be address, Ginnette and I absolutely fell in love with the place.
We found a federal program that allowed us to mortgage nearly $70k extra for renovations and like all federal programs, it took forever to get the money flowing. On January 27th, 2012. Renovations began and on May 12th we moved in.
Some of the items done in the renovation include:
$4500 in mold remediation
Gutting the basement down to concrete and hand placed stone foundation
Sealing up an egress window that was acting as a bathtub for rain water
Regrading and french drains to control water flow
Addition of a sump pump
Plumbing re-routing and clean up to make function
New bedroom constructed in basement
New hallway constructed in basement
New carpet or new hardwood floors
Refurbishing existing hardwood floors
Reconfiguration of the kitchen cooking space
All new appliances
New sink/faucet
Raising of the counter tops
Addition of Granite counter tops
Addition of stone to the backsplash (not tile).
Adding can lights to the kitchen and to the family rooms
Updating light figures throughout
Construction of a new king size bed (my first attempt and love it)
New railing around the lower deck and deck stairs
Removal of deck stairs to 2nd story balcony off of my office
Upgrade from 100amp service to 200amp
Concrete removal from secondary driveway
1/4" drywall over all wallpaper in kitchen
new paint throughout most of house
New chimney for furnace/water heater
And a new A/C unit (thanks to a mistake by a technician, this was a freebie - Thank you Jesus!!)
Of course this is just what we did to make the house functionable for our family. Now that we are in, we have all the "small" projects that will make the cir-1945 house our home.
Oh....and did I mention that it has an acre yard, a stream that the kids have caught over 100 bluegills out of, and 3 acres of huntable land. We have already had long beards walk through the yard, and bucks graze through while we were eating breakfast.
All this to say....we feel simply blown away by the blessing that the Lord bestowed on us. After 21 years of renting and moving from place to place, we finally feel "home."
Thank you TBH-brotheren for your support and prayers through the entire process. You are family.
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