Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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The Process Of Selling Our House By Owner & Buying A New House

To the tune of Katy Perry’s “Hot N’ Cold”… WE’VE BOUGHT AND WE’VE SOLD!

Well not really, but we’re headed in that direction. As of 5:57 pm yesterday evening we got word that the the last of our negotiations with some potential buyers of our house have gone through, so the contract on our home is officially “pending.”

Contract Sale Pending Sign

Which means that the contract that we’ve got in on our sweet new house (yes, we fiiiinally found one) should move right along as well (since it was contingent on selling ours first). In fact if all goes well, in a little over a month we’ll be moving from our current house directly into our new casa. Holy bananas. We’re geeking out over here (high fives, jazz hands, the charleston, my own spin on the Elaine-from-Seinfeld dance, the whole nine).

You’ll have to excuse us for not sharing anything sooner. We just wanted to be sure this new found casa could really be ours before getting all excited-slash-attached and making a big ol’ blog-nouncement about it (it would’ve been such a buzz kill if things fell through). But now that both contracts are well underway (inspections have even been completed) and are only dependent on the lending process going smoothly – which should be fine, fingers crossed – we’re ready to shout the good news from the rooftops internet.

We’ll fill you in with all the how-we-priced-&-marketed-&-sold-our-house-by-owner details soon, but first let’s chat about our new house. We’re on the brink of obsessed. Picture us doodling our new address with hearts all over our notebook. It’s a total throwback to how can’t-sleep-excited we were about our current house back in 2006. And we’re so grateful to have that feeling again – especially because we were beginning to doubt that we’d find anything that gave us butterflies. But the moment the front door swung open and we found ourselves standing in our future entryway (complete with some amazing built-ins) we just knew. Which means I broke out my creepy permasmile and probably scared the realtor. So much for a poker face.

Speaking of the realtor, we ended up using a buyer’s agent after calling her to see one of her listings and, well, one thing lead to another and she ended up showing us this other home that she felt would be a better fit. We were skeptical at first because it was one we had already nixed during a late night realtor.com hunt. Why did it get nixed? Get this. It had a carport.

Contract No Carports

I stupidly decided that we strongly prefer an enclosed garage (for storage reasons, bug control reasons, and so-people-don’t-know-when-we’re-gone reasons). So I ruled out all homes with carports. Little did I know that odd parameter was keeping us from finding The One. So we begrudgingly agreed to see the house anyway, and the rest as they say is history. Even more amazingly, the sellers of the house were offering a credit to cover the entire cost of enclosing the carport to create a garage. Is that proof that it was meant to be or what? So the lesson here is to widen those parameters because your perfect house might be right under your nose (and hiding behind a carport).

But enough jibber jabber, let’s meet the future Casa Petersik. Admittedly, it’s not a Jeff Lewis exterior (yet) but we probably wouldn’t buy it if it was already there. And yes, it’s more than a little reminiscent of our current home at first glance, but the inside is larger, more flexible, and it runneth over with potential.

Contract House Filtered

THE STATS:

  • Age: 1960’s
  • House size: around 2,500 square feet
  • Lot size: .75 acres (almost exactly the same size as our current lot, but it’s more square and less long & narrow)
  • Bedrooms: 4
  • Bathrooms: 3

THE PROS:

  • Gave us that “this is IT” feeling the moment we walked inside
  • Open & flexible floor plan that will accommodate a growing family and a home-based business
  • Three modestly sized bedrooms just like the ones we have now PLUS a large master bedroom with an ensuite bathroom & a walk-in closet
  • Great blank slate with tons of potential (we love all the projects that we see when we look around)
  • Large centrally located kitchen- which makes it perfect for family gatherings (we can’t wait to knock out some walls)
  • Amazing neighborhood near our family with great schools (it’s actually very close to where we live now)
  • It’s a ranch, just like our first love house (we were open to all house types, but 50 yr old ranches never fail to steal our hearts)

THE CONS:

  • A bit larger than we expected we’d like (but still very much within our budget)
  • The landscaping will be more of a challenge than our current home’s (but we do love a challenge)
  • There’s a carport (but oh happy day, we get a credit to transform it into a garage)
  • The lot is less private than our current lot (but we have plans to change that)
  • We can’t think of anything else (we’re blinded by love I tell you)

Oh, and I guess we can meet this one minus the artistic photoshop filter. Ooh. Ahh. So crisp and non-blurry.

Contract House Unfiltered

We’re so glad that we found our perfectly imperfect house. The potential is so thick you can cut it with a knife. So cross your fingers that all continues to go well for everyone’s loans and that we end up closing in mid December without any hiccups. Until then you’ll find us gushing about our future home, playing around with paint swatches, brainstorming all sorts of layout ideas, virtually shopping for every room, charging the batteries in John’s drill, organizing and paring things down, packing, and just generally being freakishly excited. We can’t wait to share the next chapter of our lives with you guys.

Comments

  2. Ashley says

    So exciting! My husband and I are in the process of buying our first home right now! Set to close in 2 weeks! Looking forward to DIY-ing right along with you!

    Reply

  5. Dawn McL says

    Congrats!! A fellow readers of yours texted me this afternoon to share the news. I was to busy moving. We bought our new house on Wendesday and sold our old one the same day. Lots of paint and boxes in my future.

    Reply

  6. Nicole G. says

    My heart can’t take this…I may have to go lay down for a bit. I’M SO EXCITED MY CHEST HURTS!!!!! (insert fan girl shriek here)

    Reply

  9. rashmi says

    Oh Wow!
    Congratulations You Four! Cant wait for you to wave your magic want .. sprinkle some of your creative dust on this beautiful house and transform it into your Home.

    Reply

  11. Lauren says

    Congrats! I think it would be awesome if you guys did a video tour of the new house before you make any changes (sorry if this was already mentioned….I didn’t read through every single comment). :-)

    Reply

  12. Monica says

    yay! congratulations on both buying and selling!

    The neighborhood with those beautiful tall trees seems so peaceful, you def can’t get that in those newer carbon copy subdivisions, pretty much my worst nightmare. The new house kind of looks like your old one… and both photos have two tall trees in the front yard! it was meant to be.

    Looks beautiful, congrats again!

    Reply

  15. Alyzande says

    Dear Sherry and John

    I’m so very pleased for you that you found what you wanted, and I’m with a gazillion other readers who are looking forward to falling in love with it, with you. And oh-boy are you going to love that en-suite! *envy*

    I raise a paint-pot as an honour (honor) toast! “to your new home”.

    Reply

  18. Nat says

    Congrats. Do you know much about the family buying your home? Are they DIY’ers like yourselves or were they happy to move in to a house that was perfect as it was?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hey Nat,

      We don’t know much about the buyers other than they were looking for something already done and they don’t read our blog (but of course we disclosed it to them so they’re aware of it). We’re certainly glad they love our house enough to make it theirs!

      xo,
      s

  19. cristina s says

    congrats!!! :D We continue our home search at 10 am & hope we have as much luck. Can’t wait for the reno/redos!

    Reply

  20. Wanjiku Mugo says

    Congratulations!! (high five all the way from Nairobi, Kenya) and looking forward watching you guys make the new house your home!!

    Reply

  22. tracy says

    hi guys,
    Im tracy from sydney australia.Love reading your blogs i am only new to this site so its so much fun looking over all your older blogs to catch up with the now.Glad to here you have found a house now i can look forward to seeing all the work you will be doing .Keep up the great work…

    Reply

  23. Paula M. says

    Congrats! And I just now noticed that you changed your wording under Young House Love [to: one young family plus one old house equals love]. Cute! When did you change it?

    Reply

  25. Sarah A says

    Congratulations! I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with your new house. Your excitement comes through in your post, which is lovely.

    Reply

  26. Monique says

    Congrats! Amazing that you sold and found a home almost at the same time. Sure sign this is meant to be. Best wishes!

    Reply

  27. Kathleen says

    OH my—congratulations—I can’t wait to see how you sold your house on your own—we are putting our house on the market in the Spring—and I can’t wait to see all your upcoming projects in your new love!

    Reply

  28. Jane from Oz says

    HUGE CONGRATS!!! You guys don’t mess around – that was super quick! Can’t wait to see more of inside, hear your plans and see it all come together. YAY for you!

    Reply

  29. Kathryn says

    CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is so exciting! I can’t wait to see the pictures, ideas, inspiration boards, and renovations to follow!

    Reply

  30. SandyL says

    So excited for you guys! I – like all your readers I’m sure – can’t wait to see what you’ve got planned for the new casa! Your creative minds must be racing 24/7!!

    Reply

  31. Jyl says

    ::throws confetti:: Yaaaaay!

    New house for you and new posts for us! Woo hoo!

    Very happy for you guys, hope everything goes smoothly! I’m a little sad you’ll be moving so close to the holidays, but Clara’s first Christmas is sure to be filled with joy and excitement from the whole family, and isn’t that the point? Yay!!!

    Reply

  32. Debbie says

    So happy for you and your family!!!

    We are in the process of preparing our ’empty nest’ for sale. I would appreciate any of your great ideas and tactics – that got your house sold in 17 days. We have raised 3 kids in this great house and we are looking forward to our next chapter. Keep us posted!

    Reply

  33. ginger says

    I love ranches too – have lived in several – but one of the first things I always want to do is raise those 8′ ceilings to 10′, and get rid of that popcorn. You ever feel ceilings are too low?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hey Ginger,

      Yes, we hate popcorn and love high ceilings- but around here it was nearly impossible to find lofted ceilings in the area/school district that we wanted to be in. Oh well, we’re in love with our new house so we’ll definitely make do! And who knows, we can always loft a room or two someday!

      xo,
      s

  35. LauraC says

    Question here (I apologize if it’s repeated, not going to slog through 500 comments). How does your desire (and need) to jump in and make a lot of changes jive with what I’m pretty sure you’ve said before (and many others have), which is to live in a place awhile (a good year or so) to see how you use a space and to really know the house and determine how best to make changes that will really fit the way you live? I would feel bad if you did a lot of stuff for the sake of the blog, then change your mind (I’m talking wall-moving and such, not paint) because that would be very pricey.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Great question Laura! We wholeheartedly believe in living somewhere for a while before making major changes (if we hadn’t lived in our house 6 months before taking on our kitchen reno we never would have thought to close off a doorway and gain way more space) so we’ll definitely dive right in when it comes to easy changes (like wall colors, furniture arrangement, small projects, bathroom and kitchen tweaks and updates, etc) but when it comes to major house-changing alterations, we’re definitely going to live there a while before touching those. We want to maximize the house – and the only way we believe that anyone can do that is to learn how they use their casa first.

      xo,
      s

  36. Jessica D. says

    Wow, congratulations!! Great buy from what you’ve posted so far, definitely gives you room to grow! Has it hit you guys yet that you’ll be leaving your home? I can’t imagine how hard it’ll be after all the love you’ve put into it, but it’s time for bigger things! Congrats again!!

    Reply

  37. Dayna says

    You all are so great! Congrats!! I just love this blog; no snark, just warmth and fun! Thanks for all that you do and all of the inspiration! I cannot wait to see the transformation.

    Reply

  38. Meg says

    Hooray! I knew your moment would come soon! As always I am at the edge of my seat. Best of luck with the finalizations of closing, etc:)

    Reply

  39. Lani @ Diapers and Divas says

    Congrats!! You’ve so given me the itch! How did you find the market going, considering everyone still says that its so stale and blah blah blah. You’re house is beautiful so it’s no wonder that you got an offer…but did you feel like you had to sell yourself short in any way? Did you feel like there were lots of people still eager to buy in this market? I’m wanting to move, but my better half doesn’t think that we will get what we want for the house. Congrats again…I love it and can’t wait to see all you do with it!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hey Lani,

      We definitely aren’t varsity house buyers (this is only our second) but we thought there was lot of inventory so it was fun to look for our future casa. And as for selling this one, we were lucky to get lots of calls and to schedule lots of showings. The market definitely isn’t dead from our point of view!

      xo,
      s

  40. Theresa says

    Wow, that is so similar to the late 50s ranch we moved into a few months ago, it’s almost scary! We haven’t really gotten started on all the renovations our house needs, but I just know I’ll have plenty of ideas and motivation once you get started on your house! Congratulations!

    Reply

  41. Tamara says

    Wow, congratulations! I’m so excited and can’t wait until you move in. Seriously, the news put me such a good mood this morning! :-)

    Reply

  43. Laura says

    Congrats on finding a new home sweet home. Sending you wishes for a speedy and stress free selling and closing. Can’t wait to see what this next place has in store for you!

    Reply

  44. crissy says

    Ahh! I’m so excited for you guys, but also teensy bit sad to see you say good-bye to the old homestead. It’ll be so fun watching you guys transform your next pad.

    I know you said something about your bed staying behind for the new owners since it fits perfectly between the two closets. But is there anything else that you guys are leaving behind for the new owners (or something unusual that you’ll be taking with you, like a light fixture you’re particularly fond of)?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hey Crissy,

      We’re leaving all of our appliances, curtains, blinds, curtain rods, and window shades behind along with all the light fixtures in the house except for Clara’s curtains & light fixture (since we love them so much that we can’t bear to leave them). Also as you mentioned we’re leaving the built-ins and the bed frame in the master bedroom and some of the furnishings in the basement. We’ll also be having a big moving sale and using things like craigslist to make some money selling things that we know won’t work in the new house so we’ll only spend time moving things that we love!

      xo,
      s

  49. Johanna says

    Congrats you two!
    We found our perfect house last week as well – closing in 8 weeks! Probably would have never dared to buy something in need of so many updates until we found your blog! Now we cant wait…
    It will be exciting to check out where and how you’ll start diy-ing!

    Reply

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