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Luckily this house had been winterized.  Still, when you see a pile of snow inside a house and know that it is blowing in through the door jamb it's a little disheartening.  We really didn't have to think about anything though, we asked Jacquie to start writing up paperwork.  She called that night and said it was all ready to go. 
The house had been in foreclosure and abandoned (according to the neighbors) for four years... the price drop was attracting some attention so we knew we had to move quickly to secure it.  My (ex) husband had been an "entrepreneur" for many years and I will leave it at that.  My job at the time was what qualified us and got us in.  Inspections revealed a few things that needed to be done, and actually, with so much snow still on the roof and around the property there was no real exterior inspection done.  We had a Registered Geologist/Hydrogeologist come out as well.  There was a crack in the well cover, that had to be replaced immediately.  We had her do a full flush before moving in to ensure that the water was sanitary.
The real estate market was getting a little volatile at this time.  We wanted to sell the home we currently lived in, the one we moved into when we moved to Colorado, but it was winter in Colorado.  Not many people are looking to buy or sell at that time of year.  Years before he had decided we needed the bigger house down the street.  I was a stay-at-home mom at the time and did not agree because I was offering no financial help.  We ended up getting that big, horrible house and the home we were living in was not sold for several months - which meant double mortgage payments.  If this has ever been a circumstance in your life, you know how quickly any savings you might have could dwindle very, very quickly.  Anyway, that time in our lives came quickly back to mind.  I was nervous about it happening again, so agreed that we would rent the house for a bit... a bit turning into years.

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