We Bought A House! - Moving Pt 1
Our New Home
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| photo from listing |
We're happy to say that we've purchased our first home! We officially closed Friday, and we've been busy ever since. We're moving out of the apartment this coming Saturday so there's been a lot to do in an 8 day span. I'm excited to share some of the details with you!
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| zillow / realtor.com |
House Hunting
As I mentioned in this post, we've been looking for a house pretty diligently since this past spring. The Zillow and Realtor.com apps have been my best friends all spring and summer long, and I've probably gone to a hundred open houses. Looking for a home in our price range, in the area of town we wanted to be in, and with our must-have attributes was like looking for a unicorn. We knew that so We allllmost had one (we were under contract on it!) but the deal fell through during inspections due to some safety concerns that the sellers weren't willing to fix, and we weren't willing to accept as is. I can honestly say that I'm so glad that deal fell through. I love our new one so much more! Our agent works in the same office as the seller's agent (and the same office I used to manage) and got us in on the first day it was ready for showings--which was lucky for us because we wrote an offer the same day. The inspection came back with some things that needed to be addressed, and the sellers were willing to meet us partway, so we felt good about the deal. I'll talk more later about some of the projects we'll still need to do--I've got a spreadsheet and some bids ready to go! |
| Adaline exploring the park near our new home |
The Neighborhood
The location is really good for us--10 minutes or so to our workplaces, 15 to "daycare" (grandparent care), and only a few blocks from our church! It's right across the street from a park with a nice playground, and in a great school district when we get to that stage of life. It's only a couple of blocks from a large intersection that connects to restaurants, shopping, etc so it's fairly easy to get to all those things. We're overall really pleased with the area! |
| Super rough mockup of floorplan-notice I gave up on windows, closets, etc pretty early on! Also, I have the door in the wrong place for the 3rd bedroom upstairs. *shrug* |
The Details
The house is 1 story with full basement, brick home built in 1972 with 3 conforming bedrooms, 1.75 baths, and 1800 sqft. The good news is that the prior owners made some really positive improvements to the inside of the home. They laid new flooring--wide plank, warm dark luxury vinyl tile that imitates hardwood in the living room, dining room, kitchen, and main floor bathroom, and a pretty cushy carpet in the bedrooms upstairs. There's a lower pile carpet in the basement family room & non-conforming rooms that is in pretty good shape too. It seems like they took pretty good care of the property--it's been clean, newer roof & air conditioning, windows, etc. The layout is ranch style with living, dining, kitchen, main bath & 3 bedrooms upstairs, and a large family room with 2 non-conforming rooms, a small 3/4 bath, and an unfinished room that has the laundry/utilities and a nice sized space for storage. The backyard is a nice size but not overwhelming, and has a patio area, a shed, a firepit, and green space. There's a 1.5 car garage that I'm definitely looking forward to utilizing--at least one of our cars (mine :) ) won't need to be scraped all winter which feels like quite an upgrade to me! |
| iphone pics from final walkthrough |
The Projects
The other side of the coin is that there are definitely some projects waiting for us! The driveway is pretty cracked and uneven, as well as the sidewalk. The gutters need some help. The "deck" from the kitchen to the backyard is a weird tiny space that doesn't have any railings. There is some fencing around the backyard, but it doesn't all match and there are a couple of gaps--we'd prefer fully fenced. The gate from the driveway to the garage/driveway is wonky. There are a couple of weird electrical things--like a "smart" light switch that dims the stairway light fixture--it has a second switch at the bottom that they didn't upgrade, so if you use that one to turn the light off it goes through all the dimmable settings before turning back on. The paint is pretty fresh but not always our vibe. The basement bath & laundry areas could use some attention. The guest room in the basement is covered in dark wood paneling, giving it kind of a cave feel. Some of the doors in the basement stick a bit opening and closing. Some of these items we'll tackle right away--like paint colors, the weird light switch thing, and getting the gutters cleaned. Others, like the cracked driveway and a new deck, will definitely have to wait. I've been getting quotes so we know what to save for when the time comes. Even with those things waiting to be done, the house is obviously move-in ready and we'll be able to enjoy it right away! |
| Our current apartment / Adaline's nursery / master bedroom / exterior |
Saying Goodbye
Even though we're excited for this new chapter in our new house, we will miss the apartment that we've called home for the last 5 years. It's the place we brought Adaline home to when she was born, and where we've spent most of our married life. We've made a lot of memories there (plus been spoiled with the walk-in closets and huge bathrooms!) We''re grateful to it for being so good for us in the time we were there, and we're happy to have the opportunity to move on, but it's an emotional thing to say goodbye to everything that has happened here. |
| New homeowners! |
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SO exciting! It looks super cute! Can't wait to see more!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Julia! We're excited to dive in and make it our own!
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