And We're Back...

Hello, Hello, its been a while.

To kick off the return to blogging, I offer you this new series: The Hunt for a Homestead. In this groundbreaking new addition to our blog, we'll be covering the home-searching process, complete with links, tips, and anecdotes to explain our journey to find a house. Should be worthwhile.


Hunt for a Homestead

• Ultimate Goal: Purchase a house, along with a few other guys, live in it for a while, and then lease or sell as I move in to another with a wife and kids.

• Cast: Jeff, Tyler, and Brett. Jeff and I are pretty much going to buy once we find something, while Tyler and Brett are merely interested in considering it. Zach would be interested in renting from us once we find a place, and he finds a job.

• Properties: First, there was a nice house on Highland Park Ave for 43k. Great price, nice house, but needed a lot of work. Once we finally got inside to look at it, we found out that someone else saw its potential, and put an offer on it.

Next was a brand-new house in Alton Park. (5 years old, but we would be the first owners). It was listed at 123k, but we could get it for 75, with what I initially thought was a government grant, but turned out to be an interest-free loan, payable back when we sold, or accepted tenants. Not a good financial move, so we're moving on.

Currently we are looking at a septa-plex on Mitchell Ave (yes, seven plexes). Its a complicated deal that would involve purchasing with a third-party via an LLC. Its is still an option, but for the future. The house is under renovation, and is not currently on the market.

• Where we are now: Jeff, Tyler, and I are looking for a house to move into immediately. Brett and Zach are thinking about moving in November or maybe even December. If we can find a 4-bedroom then we'll be set, but we may settle for a three, and see how many we can realistically accommodate.

• Financial: Here is an interesting article on 15-year mortgage vs. paying off a 30-year early. The gist: Actually doing a 15yr would save a few thousand in interest. The benefit of a 30, is that you aren't locked in to the higher interest rate, should you fall on hard times, and, perhaps the biggest thing, is that most people aren't disciplined to actually pay off the 30 year mortgage faster. By signing a 15-year mortgage, you are forced to make those bigger payments. Interesting as we get closer to taking out a loan...

Tune in next time for an update on the Apartment search, and perhaps some links to what we are considering.

Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile...

Jeremiah 29:4-7: This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

House sitting for Sheldon tonight, and its a beautiful night, so after dropping Tyler off I went walking around the block a few times. The house I am looking at purchasing is around the corner from where I am staying right now, and so I wanted to get a feel for the neighborhood, I figure 10:30 at night is when you can really get to know an area. Its so weird to think that I may have a house soon, and may be a part of a neighborhood--not as a result of my parents living there, but because I chose to live and be a part of this place.

Its a big decision, and so due in large part to the council of Dad, I (finally) began to pray in earnest about the decision. Not only for our decision to move there, but about what He is doing in the neighborhood, and how we can be a part of it. I am so excited about moving there and being a part of the work He is doing, and seeing how He uses 5 guys who move into this place to bless it. I am constantly wondering how we can be the gospel here, in how we act, how we live, how we interact with the people we live by, to not come in and look to take, and seek what we can get, but to really look to how we can give and what we can do for those we live around. For example, once we get settled, I want to have a cookout and invite the neighborhood (Tyler Gay will cook!) so we can meet people and let them know we are interested in knowing and being known--one of man's deepest needs, and the thing he runs from most I think.

There is a largeish field in the back (not on "our" property, but vacant) that is overgrown with a basketball goal in the corner. Not taken care of, but with a little effort can be quite usable. Once we get a mower, I want to mow it so we can play ball there, not only us, but hopefully kids in the neighborhood. Take an afternoon and clean up all the glass in the alley way and around the field so we can really use it without risk of injury; buy some balls and make them available.

Praying over the area was so awesome, as it helped cement some of my thoughts, and really acknowledged God's integral role in anything good that will come out of us being there. I don't know what He will do, but if He blesses us with being able to buy that house and move in, I am anxious to be a part of it. I also realize that it won't often be easy, and will constantly be a place to fight the flesh and explore what sacrificial love looks like--love for those I don't even really know. But that's a part of the Great Adventure that is following Christ. He won't let us be complacent and ignore the needs around us, and His grace is evidenced with us being a part of the solution to the hurting that we come across.