The Story of the Big House

Finding this house was totally a God thing. We just happened on it while we were out for a bike ride one afternoon. There was a small "For Rent" sign out front and we called right away about renting it (remember, our options had been really limited so we didn't waste any time). I don't know why we even rode down this particular street, it isn't on our usual bike path route.

A couple things we really like about our new house:
The refrigerator has an ice maker
Having a garbage disposal and a dishwasher
More than one bathroom
We can open the oven even if someone is sitting at the kitchen table
We can all fit in the kitchen to eat a meal, even if the kids have a friend over

This house does have an interesting history, though. It was built by a local builder "on spec." He obviously intended it to be high-end and included lots of expensive details like ceramic tile, laminate flooring, a gas fireplace, and nice appliances. Unfortunately, some of the work that he tried to do himself, he should have contracted out instead. So, we have lots of lovely upgrades, but they don't all work. For example, we have a whole house vacuum, but it doesn't work. There is a very nice filtration system for the water, but it is hooked up wrong. There is a nice jacuzzi type tub, but the water heater can only supply enough water to fill it about 1/3 full. Yesterday, Dwight went to run the garbage disposal in the kitchen and it fell off the sink. (It is now firmly reattached.) Even the doorbell doesn't work.

However, a buyer was found and the new owners moved in. They only lived here one month, so the story goes. They were apparently frustrated by the number things not done properly and arguments ensued on who should pay for repairs. They finally simply moved out and the builder was left with the house. This being a small town, word quickly got around and he was unable to find another buyer. He finally let the house go back to the bank and our landlord purchased it from the bank as an investment. He has spent the past several weeks working on many of the repairs that needed to be made. When we moved in, he said that he expected us to find more things wrong and just to call him when it happened (although Dwight did just fix the garbage disposal himself).

When we decided to rent the place, lots of people warned us off. They didn't want us to get stuck with all the problems and we had to keep reminding people that we weren't buying it, just renting it. So, we get to live in a really nice place that has plenty of room and is essentially brand new and the landlord gets to deal with the repairs. Our landlord is really nice and we keep running into him at places like church and the SCCS soup supper. I know it could turn out that he won't follow through on fixing things, but we've had no indication so far that we should be worried about that. We are feeling blessed to be able to live here and enjoy this beautiful house. Next time you are traveling through northwest Iowa, you'll have to stop in for a visit.