As I excitedly showed Adam the real estate brochures I'd collected from the Taylor/Snowflake area, he didn't seem to impressed. "I thought you wanted trees. All I see are shrubs."
"We can plant trees!" I wasn't going to let him discourage me. If he would just go there with me maybe he'd see and feel what I did.
I didn't want to press the issue though. I know my husband, he doesn't respond well to being pressured. So, I played it cool. Rather than force him to go through the all real estate booklets with me, I waited till he went to work each day and started inquiring about the building lots that I liked.
I called the number on one listing that sounded awesome. There were three adjoining lots for sale in a subdivision in Taylor. They were all the same price and within our price range. Each of them were 2.5-3 acre lots with horse privileges, no H.O.A. and best of all, irrigation! Perfect for growing trees! The guy on the phone gave me the address and directions to the lots.
Now I just had to figure out how to convince Adam to make a trip to Taylor with me to check them out.
A short time later, Adam's dad asked him if he could go to Durango to help work on a cabin he was building there. I knew Taylor was on the way to Durango, so I casually showed Adam the land listing and asked him if he wouldn't mind checking it out on his way. He said he would check it out, but he still wasn't as excited about it as I was.
A few hours after Adam left for Durango (by way of Taylor) he called me. "This is it!" He said. He excitedly told me about the lots and the one he liked best. About how it backed up to a wash where big cottonwoods were growing. He talked about having plenty of room for a detached garage, and all of his his equipment. He said there were bluffs on the other side of the wash covered with shrubby trees, offering a nice green backdrop to the property. Plus, it was on the way to Colorado!
He couldn't stay there long but said he wanted to come back up there with me so I could see the property for myself. I knew I didn't have to see it to know that he was right. This was it!
After Adam got home from Colorado, we made plans to take a day trip up to Taylor and see our lot together. (We were already calling it "our"lot.) but when I called the phone number on the listing a second time, and gave the realtor the listing number in my booklet, he was confused. He said there was no listing with that number. I double checked the number and gave it to him again. Again, no listing. So I gave him the address I'd received. He looked it up. There was nothing for sale at the address I gave him. He asked me who I spoke with before. I couldn't remember. I didn't write it down. So, I asked Adam if he remembered seeing an agents name on the for sale sign. He said, "Thats what was weird, there was no "For Sale" sign."
Oh great! We fell in love with property that wasn't even for sale!
We decided to drive up to Taylor anyway. The realtor said he could show us some other lots that fit our search criteria. We didn't like any of the lots he showed us. It seemed like the realtor had his own agenda. He was showing us lots he wanted to sell, not other lots in the book that we wanted to see.
So, we thanked the realtor for his time, and called another realtor she said she could meet us in her office that afternoon. Before we met with her, Adam
Took us to the lot, our lot. The one we we wanted, but wasn't for sale. As we walked around the land with our kids we felt a bit like Brigham Young must have when he saw the great Salt lake valley and proclaimed "This is the place!" This was our our place. We just knew it.
We told the realtor of our predicament. We even took her out to "our" lot. She confirmed the fact that the lot wasn't listed for sale but, before we left, she said she would make some calls and see what she could find out.
While we waited for her call, we prayed. We told The Lord that we wanted to do his will, and that we believed it was his will for us to live in Taylor, and for some reason, on that land. We prayed for his help to make that possible.
Our realtor called back a couple days later. "Where did you see that property listed?" She asked. I told her which booklet it was in and the date listed at the top of the book. She explained that the listing must have been placed in the book by accident, because the listing had expired six months earlier. She went on to explain that the land had been listed for sale for quite some time, but that the owners got discouraged because it wasn't getting much interest. They let the listing expire and decided to just wait and try selling the property in another year or two. She spoke with the owners and they were more than willing to sell to us!!! Yahoo!
We knew it wasn't by accident that I saw that listing.
We knew we found Home.
