Going one, Going twice....SOLD!

When I say camelback... what do you picture??


This?
or


This?

No, no... I do not mean either of those things... how silly!
I mean...

THIS!!

Since most of the people who read this blog are from Texas or currently in Texas I will explain. Here in Kentucky there is this architectural masterpiece called the shot-gun. They are houses that look like a one-room-house from the front but actually are really long. These houses fill up most of the city neighborhoods because they can be smooshed up right next to each other on these long, narrow lots.
When we moved here, these were the ugliest thing my eye had ever beheld. But after living in Louisville for almost two years now, my eyes have grown accustomed to them and some of them are actually really nice and can be made cute! The insides vary but for the most part they consist of room after room after room...usually ending with the kitchen in the back.
They can be awkward because often people have to walk through a bedroom to get to the kitchen or the bathroom.
Most of these houses are 100 years old and so they also all have only one bathroom.
A camelback is a shotgun with an added on upstairs...get the picture?

So we have been looking to buy a house and we really want to be close to the seminary and close to church due to the amount of time we spend at those places and due to gas prices! There is a lovely area right behind/next to our church where a lot of people from our church have moved... it's the east side of Germantown. We thought we could get something super cheap in this area but 4 months later and we were still searching. These are small houses but we felt we needed around 1000+ square feet in order to still be able to host lots of people etc etc. I showed you the last house that we loved... we still love it... but with all the work it needs, it is just too expensive for us to buy. Then when meandering around the internet I found a house that I had never seen online before. It was a camelback approx. two streets over from our church, right in the area we really loved. This street is nice because the houses are up on a hill and a little further back from the street than many of the other houses. It looked nice on the outside but it was a HUD home, which means it was government controlled and probably nasty on the inside. Usually they are foreclosures etc.
So we went on Saturday morning to get a look and it wasn't that bad. In fact, it was a lot better than some of the non-foreclosed on houses we've seen. The price was SUPER and most of the work that needs to be done... we can do ourselves with help from our friends over time! Drew was obviously pumped. I really liked it too, especially b/c of the large kitchen! It has three rooms and the kitchen, bathroom and laundry room downstairs and then an almost finished room upstairs. We decided that the first room would be a living room and the second a dining room and then the kitchen and then the master and upstairs for now will be a guestroom (when completed). The house has NASTY pet/urine carpet that will be the first thing to go... and then we have to finish the hardwood floors. The walls are wood-paneling, which will also be quickly gone! Scratch and dent appliances will spruce up the kitchen nicely and paint does wonders everywhere!!
Well I am getting quite ahead of myself! The way Hud homes work is that they are put on the market "as is" for like 11 days and then they take bids. You can bid but you have no idea what other people are bidding. Owner-occupants (like us) get preference over investors who can pay more but will just flip and rent/sell. The funny thing was.. bidding closed on SUNDAY.. the very next day. So we prayed about it and felt like there was nothing else we had seen like this for so cheap and with so much promise and there was no harm in bidding... so we did. It was crazy! So quick after looking for so long.
Monday they were closed and monday night I dreamed about houses all night and woke up convinced we would not get the bid. How could we at such a low low rate? So I got up and prayed a lot about it and was working on my Hebrew when Drew called to say...
WE WON THE BID!! HURRRAYYYY!!
So now we have 7 days to get inspections (it has already been inspected by the gov't but we are going to double check) and decided... then it takes a little more than 30 days for them to process everything and give us the keys!! This is perfect because our lease is up at the end of July and we should get the house (if all works out) in mid-july.. in time to get some work done before the move!!
I am so excited I barely know what to do. Good thing Drew gave me some specific instructions on what to do! haha.
If you know inspectors who would love to donate services or have a great rate.. please let us know! We need all the help we can get!