Our house hunting fun began about five years ago while my husband and I were living over on the East side of the state. Every house we looked at, the price was either in our "jaw dropping" category or it was a full HGTV/DIY special in and of itself. Frustration set in and we decided to take a break from the hunt.
Later that year we got engaged and moved to Grand Rapids. We packed up our stuff and moved in with my sister and brother-in-law, then decided to start the hunt again. We were getting married that May and wanted to finally get a place of our own. But, once again, nothing was calling our name so we moved into a one-bedroom apartment. Three years later, we were packing up, but not to move into a house we finally found…this time we were moving across country to California into another one-bedroom luxurious resort! Okay…apartment. After spending almost a year there, we made the final decision that Michigan was definitely home and we wanted to be close to family. REPEAT: “We packed up our stuff and moved in with my sister and brother-in-law” and now nephew too!
This time though, we were in “House Hunt: GO!” mode! We had spent the last few months in Cali looking online at different houses and nothing was jumping out…frustration was starting again. I was definitely ready to be done with apartments and moved in to our own place – with more than one bedroom and bath, and preferably no landlords.
When we arrived back in Michigan we contacted our realtor and sent him the links to two houses. The first one left us with the familiar “its nice, but not the ONE” feeling. The second was a new build that was still being finished (no carpet, paint, fixtures, etc…), and even though I’m an Art Director, when everything is just blank in a house, my mind tends to do the same. But when we walked into this one, I immediately had the Christmas tree placed. I saw kids playing down the block and was so excited about Halloween and trick-or-treating. We kept up to date with the progress of the house, and at the end of March, we closed!
In the end, we realized that you might have your life planned out. You might get frustrated because you aren’t where you want to be right at that point in time, but always know that it will work out in the end. And it did. Patience, adventure, family time, and fun…I wouldn’t give any of it up, and I’m excited to start making new memories in OUR house. Now its time to go shopping! (I only had a one-bedroom apartment before, remember? These new rooms need to be filled!).
Written by: Courtney Van Hagen is our Art Director, and that means she is responsible for the look and feel of everything that Serendipity Publishing creates, from the tiniest direct mail piece to the monthly monster magazine layouts. She learned her craft at Central Michigan University, and has been using it to advance in the graphic design world ever since.
