01_The Background

We met in Germany when I was studying and my husband was stationed there. After my husband finished his 3 years assignment, we decided to embark on a new adventure in a new place. I was so excited because I have lived for 5 years in total in Germany; it is time to start something new.

By the end of 2016, we knew that we would go to Fayetteville, North Carolina. We started our house hunting research on Zillow. We decided to downsize because we are only 2 people and we had been living in a 3-story 4-bedrooms house in Germany. It was too much for us; we thought living in a condo would be the best option. However, we also looked at small houses to broaden our options.

Since my husband had known the location of his office, we looked at the properties around it. He had enough commute time in Germany: 45 minutes drive to the base. Waking up very early for Monday’s morning formation or for early parachute jump was not a pleasant experience, so he would like to have much shorter commute time. If he could walk or ride a bicycle, that would be way better, he could use that as his daily workouts. Furthermore, we could contribute on reducing carbon emissions and save our expenses. 

As the second option, we looked at the properties at Haymount, the downtown area. It would take around 30 minutes commuting time for my husband, but it might worth to do because the area is nice and pretty. Museums, theatres, library are within close range; as well as public transportation such as buses and trains. I wouldn’t get bored if I still don’t have a job and have to stay mostly at home.

For budget, we decided to be a cash buyer so we would be free from any debt. If we could find $70 – 80K house and do a renovation for around $30K, that would be perfect for us. My husband’s job requires relocation. If we have a mortgage that we couldn’t settle in one place, but we have to move to another place, we would have two mortgages and that would be unwise. Of course there’s always an option for foreclosures, but we would be tangled in different commitments and attachments. The time and energy spend for those are not worth to do.

     

Mid-February 2017

In mid-February, we had a moving company to pack our stuff. We were told that the mover would keep ours stuff in a storage until July 20^th 2017. If we haven’t requested to unload it by that time, we have to pay the storage cost by ourselves.

The moving truck.

Our last night in our house in Germany, with no furniture.

Even though from February to July is a long stretch, but at that time we were still unsure about our departure to the US. I was still at my early stage on applying a Green Card, who knows how long it’s going to take. But we stayed positive because based on my husband’s last house hunting, he only needed a day to look at several properties and decided to buy one.

Since we longer had no furniture, we also terminated our housing contract in mid-February. We became officially homeless.

Second Half of February – Early May 2017

We spend all these times staying at different places, which included 3 hotels, 1 friend’s house while he went back to America, and 1 Airbnb in South of Spain. During this time, we had seen hundreds of properties online. However, we didn’t save any page. We wanted to see the neighborhood first and then pick on the potential houses.

By the second half of April, I have gotten my Green Card, so we were ready to move the US. In late April, we contacted Team Harris, a real estate agents company in Fayetteville. My husband happened to know Wendy Harris, the owner. We had Kristin Barfield as our realtor.