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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
Kate says
Wow – Congratulations! That’s got to be a home-sale record in this economy! Way to go, you guys worked hard and earned it! Can’t WAIT to see all the new and exciting projects to come in the years ahead! Happy closing!! :)
lizkayl says
I’m a bit late chimeing in – mostly because I read your blog on my RSS feed and only hop over to the site once a week- but…
CONGRATS!! I’m so excited for all of you!
This weekend, my sister and I started chatting about how excited we were that your house had sold- I got her reading your blog a few months ago. We’re 10 minutes from the NoVa Ikea that I’ve seen you visit on your blog. And I know that my SIL (Lynchburg, VA) reads your blog because I sent her your painted brick den as inspiration for her new house and she said she already read you! So, yeah, half my family reads this blog and we’re so excited to see the new house.
Carolann says
Congratulations!!! Super exciting!!
Sarah@StyleandCentsability says
Congrats- that is exciting. I love a ranch myself- although I would love a larger ranch (one day).
Clara in Paradise says
Since both my husband and I are freakishly monogamous, we balance it by being “home philanderers”. We are on our fifth home between us.
I know the feeling, and it never cease to fill us with excitement and promise. Congratulations on your new home. I am looking forward to your new adventures.
Janet says
All the best to you!! You certainly deserve it!!!
Natalia Beley says
Congrats!!!! That house looks beautiful and I cannot wait to see what new projects you guys get into!!!! Good luck!
Andrea | HomageStyle.com says
Congrats on the sale! That was *fast*!
Here’s what I’m wondering…since real estate markets are very local and different in different areas, is your area considered to have a slow market right now? If so, how bad is it? Just trying to get some context around this fast sale.
I can’t wait to read your FSBO tips!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Andrea,
Real estate in Richmond isn’t known to be hopping but it’s not so bad that it makes the new either. We think we read somewhere that the average house in RIC is on the market for about 50 days, so ours was a bit on the quick side but still within the range of normal (we didn’t get an offers the first week or end up with a bidding war or anything like that).
xoxo,
s
Kari says
Ah, the joys of living in Virginia and not the Intermountain west where it’s a seismic zone. I totally agree that older homes have more charm but in this part of the country they were built using unreinforced masonry which means they’ll come crumbling down in an earthquake. And since my husband is a structural engineer specializing in retrofitting buildings for earthquakes, for our final house purchase we avoided homes that look just like yours (and are among my favorite house styles). Congratulations on your new purchase.
Nik says
Awesome- Any word on what is first on your to-do list in your new house? Curb appeal? Kitchen? Nursery?
YoungHouseLove says
It changes every day! We definitely have some general things like whole-house color scheme brainstorming and some obvious updates that we’ll need to make for things to be more functional (like a new washer & dryer, etc). We really can’t wait to to work on everything- from the kitchen to the curb appeal! And setting up a workable, safe, and sweet nursery for Clara will be the first thing we do of course!
xo,
s
CommaHappy says
Congrats! We recently decided to stay in our 1940s ranch home rather than upgrade to a new, larger place, so I’m really feeling your list. Aren’t ranches the best? :)
Trina says
CONGRATULATIONS YOU GUYS!!!! I heaved and rolled out of bed this morning (last month of pregnancy with twins!), and thought of you and your house hunt. So glad I checked in as I wanted to send heartfelt congratulations on finding The One. Look forward to reading more about this new beautiful chapter in your lives.
Happy New House To You!!!!
Trina
cottonlily says
Aww, I’m sad to see you move out of this house it’s so great. But congrats on the new place with more room!
Page says
Hmmmm, 15 year mortgage, pay it off early—are you guys on the Dave Ramsey plan?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Page,
We actually have heard from a lot of Dave Ramsey fans but we haven’t read his books or anything. We’re just the product of two cheap dads who taught both of us to hate debt and try to pay things off asap!
xo,
s
Candy from Candied Fabrics says
WooHOO! Hugh congrats! I can’t wait to see you transform your next place!
Barbara says
Wow! I’ve been offline for a few days and am just now seeing this! This is fantastic!!!! I’m SO excited for you guys – cannot wait to see what you tackle first when you move in!
Just in time for the holidays, too. It’s blissfully perfect. Huge congratulations!!!
Michaela says
Such an adorable house! And so excited to watch your new dream home unfold before us! You guys are awesome (:
Nancy R says
That house looks quite similar to ours – I want to knock out a wall in our kitchen too – actually, I want to lop off the top of the stairwell. I can’t wait to see what you do!
Elaine Huckabay says
I’ve been meaning to ask you this for awhile – when you decided on a budget for the new house, did you factor in leaving a budget for repairs/remodels/upgrades? So, for example, if you total money allotment was $200k, did you purposefully buy a house at $160k to leave room for changes?
YoungHouseLove says
We’re good little savers, so we knew how much we wanted to spend on a house with the knowledge that the nice low price would save us money on the mortgage that we could put towards improvements (along with a bit of our savings if we need it). We’ve been renovating for the past 3+ years, so it’s an expense that we’re used to budgeting for- especially since we have a soft spot for inexpensive fixer-uppers.
xo,
s
Donita says
YAY John, Sherry, Clara and Burger. Congrats to your family!!! This house is SO YOU guys. Love the fact that it is BIG, so your family can grow. :-) Do you think you will live in this FOREVER? You know, so the kids can come home, and someday bring their kids, to the home they grew up in. :-) This seems like a perfect house for those kids and grands to come visit. ;-) *I KNOW, long way off for your family……BUT time goes by way faster then you would think.* I’m so excited to see what it looks like inside and what your ideas are for changes. ENJOY the packing and dreaming of your new home.
YoungHouseLove says
We’re totally dreaming of moving in and never moving out! But we thought that with our first house so you never know…
xoxo,
s
charles says
Sorry I think the one you are in is better!
misscorinne says
I just discovered your fantastic blog (as in, 5 minutes ago) and am adding it to my blogroll stat. My fiance and I also recently found our “this is it” house in upstate NY and should be closing mid-December as well (I’m 28 and rented in Brooklyn for 10 years) Perhaps if we both send good house vibes out to the universe then all pending sales within the continental US will go smoothly?
Good luck with everything!
YoungHouseLove says
Good house vibes in progress! Eeks, it’s so nervewracking!
xo,
s
Chelsea says
I’ve been following your blog for a couple years now and feel like we’re family. Each time I read your current announcements like, “Burger has his own blog!” or “We’re pregnant!” or “We just bought a new house!”, I can’t help but to smile and be oh-so-happy for your cute family. Does that make me a stalker?
Congrats on your new home and next stage of life!
~Chelsea~
Wake Forest, NC
Kristin H. says
Been bouncing around reading posts of yore.. the last one I read was Clara’s birth announcement followed by this one.. And.. did you realize you heard about your house closing at the *exact* same time of day that Clara was born?! Haha!! Crazy coinkydink right! It’s not often things happen right at 5:57 pm :)
YoungHouseLove says
Woah- that’s nuts! How did we not notice that?!
xo,
s