Thursday, September 20, 2007

Big News!!! (No, I'm not pregnant!)

Well, we have some big news! God has opened a way for us to buy a home here in Colombia and we are a little scared but mostly excited!! When we visited Cartagena in January of this year we saw this house for sale and we really loved it. It was for sale at a good price but still out of our price/budget range so we put it out of our minds.
When we returned to Colombia in June we started talking again about the posibility of buying something but after looking in the classified adds in the newspapers and seeing the high prices, we were beginning to wonder if it would be possible.
When my family visited in August we took a day to go around the city together and they went to look at apartments with us just to see what was available. We looked at a few apartments for sale but weren't very encouraged. Then we said, "Do you want to see the house that we REALLY want?!" So, we didn't know if the house was still for sale or not but we all drove out to see. When we drove up to the house we could see the "for sale" sign still hanging and everybody loved it before they even went inside!
By the time we were done seeing the house our whole family was urging us to "go for it" and not to let the opportunity slip by us!! The funds we had were our own life savings plus two large gifts we had recieved recently from my dad and my grandmother in the form of savings bonds that they had bought for us years ago (kind of like an early inheritance!) Nevertheless we were still quite short on being able to afford the house! My mom was so determined to help us that she decided to "find a way" to loan us the rest of the money we needed to buy the house.
So, to make a long story short... we were able to make a downpayment and are in the process of buying it! It will take us a few years to pay off the loan, of course, but we are soooooooooooooo grateful that we were able to get a loan from family and not have to deal with any banks or mortage companies here in Colombia!!
The house is actually just outside of Cartagena in a smaller town called Turbaco. It is a very peaceful place and full of beautiful trees and countryside. It is an older house and we will want to do some renovations in time but it is totally livable and we hope to be able to move in within the next 2 months or so.
The house has 5 bedrooms (we will use one as an office), 3 bathrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry room, and a garage. It's great because it has enough room for us to host our staff on the weekends and other guests and teams that we know will be coming!! Here are some photos:
My niece, Melissa, standing at the entrance of the house.
The front yard.
The main entrance to the house. Garage door on right, front door on the left.
This is not our furniture of course but you can see what the inside looks like. This is the living room which opens up to the back porch.
My family sitting on the back porch chatting with the owners.

Back yard! This is one of our favorite parts!

Another view of the back yard...there are tons of fruit trees! Mangoe, Lime, Orange, Tangerine, Avocado, and others that I don't know the names of in English, like Zapote (or Mamey in Mexico) and others!


Here I am with Leonor, the current owner of the house. We really hit it off with each other; she is a great lady!

So, what do you think?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is great. The house looks beautiful! Congradulations!!

Anonymous said...

The house styles/yards are sooo different from up here in Canada,I love it!!!! I think I'm living out a fantasy through you two! Congrats on the new pad! Can't wait to see what you will do with it!

Anonymous said...

Oh, Karen and Jorge I'm so happy for you! It is just beautiful! It is amazing! You will have so much fun "nesting" and unwinding and hosting in your new home. How exciting! I wish I could be there to help. That would be so much fun!

Much love to you!

Pat Barrett said...

Almost a month late in seeing your new home. Wow, it's gorgeous. I'm so glad it all came together for you. We look forward to see what God does in your sanctuary (home).

Love you guys and Congratulations!!!!!

Terry and Pat