Cheers!

Friday night we went to the lot, parked the car, and walked around with a beer to celebrate the future site of our new home.

 It felt bigger. We have real trees, grown up trees.

We talked about what it might look like.

Next week we hope to meet with the architect to talk about design changes that might need to take place as a result of the new lot.

But this is real. It's happening.

The first part of our tiny house dream has come true.

Going once... going twice...

I'm pleased to announce that we have quite the update for you today! But first, let me rewind. The last post I made was that we were on hold. Someone else had submitted a proposal before we were able to. We knew that was always a possibility, and as it turns out, the process was more challenging than we anticipated (definitely designed for builders not regular humans - they wanted an actual list of every material going into the house, where you were buying and how much it cost, which wasn't an ideal for two people who wanted to used a lot of reclaimed and re-purposed items). Anyway, there were tears, and we started looking for other options... privately owned lots or really anything that didn't have to do with the City of Minneapolis.

We knew we were in a bit of a time crunch due to the school trying to plan their curriculum, but certainly this was a big decision that we weren't going to rush into. We weren't willing to compromise the location of our long term home. 

Our builder recommended that we check out the upcoming Hennepin County real estate auction of tax-forfeited properties. There was a cute little lot in the same neighborhood of Minneapolis, not that far from the original lot. I will admit I scoffed initially. City owned? No thank you! Until Brent did some research. We found out that the way the auctions works are pretty simple. You're the highest bidder, you win the lot. Period. Still have to go through normal procedures for building permits and such, but that's it. 

Friday morning Brent headed down to the auction with a cashier check with our earnest money in hand. We all figured emotional, anxiety-ridden me would be of no help at the auction so I went to work. At 8:30am (auction started at 9am) I got a call from Brent. Closing is immediately following the auction for the winning bidder. Two problems. One, the checkbook was at home. Two, I wasn't there to sign. So I hopped in the car and headed back downtown. Grabbed the checkbook and booked it through the streets of Minneapolis, while I got updates from Brent about how crowded the room was getting. By the time I got there, I was a sweaty ball of stress, but I made it before the initial item. 

There were more than 50 properties for sale that day. Ours was in the middle of the list. So we sat and watched. Some properties got no bids, some had bidding wars. It was stressful. That doesn't even sum it up sufficiently. Our hearts were beating out of our chests. 

Finally our lot came on the screen: 

Brent was ready. I was just trying not to pass out. Brent made the initial bid. We heard going once... going twice... and inside our heads for a brief moment we allowed ourselves to think that we would get it for the minimum bid. Then someone from across the room took the next bid. Back and forth, back and forth. Then they passed. And inside we got excited again, and then behind us came the next bid. Back and forth, back and forth. 

At this point I must say we were nearing the dollar amount we had set as our limit. So I could really just hear my heart pounding in my ears. Back and forth. Back and forth. And then they passed, and we heard, "going once... going twice... sold! To bidder number..." and Brent held up his number and that was it. We gathered our things, walked out the door, and dared to breathe. 

Then there we were, signing the papers and writing a big check (and check half as big as the one we would have had to write if we got the original lot). Official land owners in the City of Minneapolis. 

Tiny house dream back on track.