Again?!?! Why would you be moving already again? I know, I know…to many of you it seems like we just moved into our current house (although it HAS been two years already) and everyone wants to know WHY?!?! How could we do such a thing? So I thought the best way to answer that question would be to take a walk down memory lane.
My dad builds houses. And he is pretty darn good at it if I do say so myself. Before Michael and I even got married, he began working with my dad on some of his houses….and he instantly fell in love. Of course, I already had it in my blood. I can remember going around to job sites with my dad from the time I was a little girl. He always had some project going….whether it was buying and remodeling fire-damaged houses or gutting apartments to resell. So naturally, as soon as we got married he talked us into building our first house. This is us, the happy young couple standing in the frame of our new house. Notice the hand on the belly…I am several months pregnant with our first baby…Easton Wade. Oh how things have changed. Fast forward exactly five years and we have gone from a happy young couple building their first house, to a family of five building their FOURTH house. So back to the walk down memory lane…
Ahhh..the fired house. Many of you have heard of it as we often speak it’s revered name. Here are some pictures and the real story. I guess I have enough of my dad in me that when I drove by this burned down mess (see picture above)…all I saw was POTENTIAL, or as my dad likes to call it…a “home run.” I got the number of the people who owned it and with Michael’s dad’s help and my dad’s help, we made them an offer. They accepted it and so began one of the biggest projects we have or ever will embark upon. It took six months of hard work to clean this house out, gut it, re-frame it, and remodel it… but we did it, together. And when we got that call that our house had sold and our project had been a success, it was the most amazing feeling. It was probably at that moment that Michael and I realized this would always be a part of our lives….whether it be building houses, selling them and moving, buying and flipping houses, or buying rental properties (a dream for the future)…we realized that we always wanted to do this together in some way, shape, or form.
Which brings us to our third project: house number three and the house we currently live in. Many of you saw my post about our house being for sale and boy did I get all kinds of phone calls, emails, texts, etc…after that post. Here are some of the questions I got.
1. Are you leaving Tulsa? Definitely Not. Have you met my husband? Tulsa born and bred. We won’t be living this town anytime soon.
2. Why are you moving already? I am going to try to keep this short. Moving is a business opportunity for us….plain and simple. When my dad and Michael build a house for cost and we turn around and sell it for market value, we make a profit. Many builders we know build and move every two years. That is because there is a law stating that after two years of living in a house you can sell it and your profits will be tax free.
3. What is wrong with your house now?!?! OK. I am not going to lie. This question bothers me a little bit. Here is the deal…there is absolutely nothing wrong with our house now. Obviously, we love it since we custom built it only two years ago. I could live in this house for the rest of my life and be perfectly content and feel so amazingly blessed. We aren’t moving because we don’t like our house. We are moving because we have an amazing opportunity and we are going to take that opportunity.
4. Is this the house you are going to stay in this time? I get this question alot. I guess I think this question is funny because it just isn’t how my mind works. Michael and I don’t look at any house as “permanent.” Maybe we will live there for 2 years, maybe we will live there five years, maybe we will live there twenty years. We do not know what the future holds. We do know, however, that if a good opportunity comes up, sure we will move again! As for now, we are building this house to stay put for awhile. How long “awhile” is, I don’t know. I am hoping at least five years if not longer….but who knows!
Now that I have answered some of the questions I have been asked, let me just say this…I realize that alot of people don’t “get” our choice to move so frequently. It is not a lifestyle that is for everyone. I understand that. The way I see it…we all have different interests, hobbies, and lifestyles and what works for one person or one family, might not work for another. This is somewhat of a hobby, interest, and a lifestyle choice for us. As you can now see from our walk down memory lane, it always has and always will be a part of our lives in some way, shape, or form. Other people might golf, others might run races or marathons, others might travel….that is how they spend their time and efforts and I respect that even though I do not choose it for myself. Building houses, flipping houses, and moving is how we choose to spend our time. You don’t have to “get it” and you definitely don’t have to choose it for yourselves, but hopefully you can respect that it is what works for us! How does the saying go…”Different strokes for different folks.” I think that pretty much sums it up.
A few more pics of the kids on the job site at our new house. This is about as good as it gets on a windy day when it is 30 minutes past nap time and mom is forcing the kids to go walk around the muddy job site.
Love this one. Little momma working with her Pepaw. He is taking her to show her where her new bedroom will be. Priceless.
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