He sent Marcus and I to do his bidding

It's not even 9 a.m. but already I have had quite a day. Today was auction day. We found an old fixer upper home in a great location. . . full of mold and pretty small but nothing that scared my husband off. He had a great vision for the place. It was a bank owned property just sitting around for who knows how long while the weather was doing a number on it.  It was bad. I can't imagine why anyone would want it. . . besides us. 


So we decided on our high bid and Marcus and I attended the live auction this morning, because Dr. Casper was all booked up. I asked Brent several times to give me all his tips because I had never bid at an auction before. He had nothing for me except that I just shouldn't go higher than we had agreed upon. As usual Brent made the mistake of forgetting that he needs to spell things out clearly with me.


So I arrived with only these directions. As the bidding began, I had my precious yellow card in hand which made me an official bidder.  Everyone was surprised to see a 2 year old at a live auction and the auctioneer joked with Marcus telling him to grab my card and hold it high for Momma.

First to be auctioned was the property where the auction was held. It was a beautiful big home on a large lot about a half hour away from the home we were interested in. 

I couldn't see a thing wrong with it and thought, "Wow, if only this was the house my husband sent me to buy". The  bidding started low and continued to progress. It was exciting and I was so happy to be at my first big auction. 

But meanwhile I was also busy trying to keep my son in his stroller quiet. The man next to me said something to me about Marcus. 

With yellow card in hand I made a very small hand gesture as I replied to him. . . . having NO IDEA what error I had just committed. 

Suddenly there was the auctioneer moving in on me calling "195 here  . . . 195. . . "Blah, Blah, Blah. . .

I still wasn't sure what was going on. Did he think that hand gesture was a bid? This went on for a few seconds. Panic was setting in. I didn't know if I was allowed to interrupt an auction with excuses and I still wasn't sure if I needed to. Did I seriously just bid $195 thousand on a property that I knew nothing of?  

After a few very long seconds I was spared from maybe just ruining my life. A couple feet over a yellow card was raised. That is when the reality of what I had almost done hit me. The auctioneer immediately turned to me and said, "Do I hear $205?" 

Are you kidding me? I'm not in the bidding? Am I? 


It sold for $200! I am still sick to my stomach.


And Brent thought it was safe to send me alone to the auction.  And I realize I totally bid the last guy up another 5 thousand bucks and I feel horrible about that.

But no time to recover because the home we wanted was next up. So there I was bidding again. The auctioneer was right in front of me and taking me very seriously now. I had earned the respect of the crowd. This woman means business. I had just jumped into a bidding war at the very end. Who knew what I might do this time around?

In less than five bids though it was above my highest bid and I followed instructions and dropped out. But before he gave it to the guy for $115,000 the auctioneer came over and asked me directly if I would go for $117,000. A personal offer just for me.  


But I was out. If only he knew my authorization wasn't even close to $117,000 let alone the $195,000 I was throwing around earlier. 

So I went home without a house. And very grateful at that.  I don't have to break the news to my husband tonight that I got a really good deal on a house, but it's the wrong location and I blew the budget. I also don't have a huge rebellion on my hands from my children because I just bought the moldy house they begged us not to buy.


The house hunt continues. Several people have asked me what we are looking for. I think they are referring to neighborhood, layout, size, etc. I only have one reply.  " A good deal". We aren't buying our dream house this time around. At least I am pretty sure it won't look like that when we buy it. We don't look at nice houses.