So, funny story about the house below. We bought it and we’re moving in.
We know this news probably evokes a whole range of reactions. Excitement for new makeovers. Sadness for leaving our current house. Curiosity about all of the logistics. Confusion. Anger. The inexplicable urge to do The Carlton.
Starting this story requires rewinding seven years, back to our first house hunting experience in Richmond in the spring of 2006. We had just moved from New York City and Richmond real estate felt very spacious and very cheap by comparison. It made dreamers out of us. We checked out a bunch of neighborhoods, and fell for an awesome old area with nice big wooded lots, great schools, charming tree-lined streets, and kids on scooters.
But none of the sweet old character-filled houses in that neighborhood were in our price range, especially because the bank had no faith in us. The issue was not our savings, but the fact that I was less than 2 months into my new job and Sherry was just as deep into her career as a freelance copywriter. In the eyes of the bank, Sherry was unemployed since she was a newbie self employed person (even though she was earning more than me!) so I ended up being the only name on the loan – basically cutting our buying power in half. Goodbye dream neighborhood, hello this looker.
As deflating as that financial reality check was, it turned out to be one of the biggest blessings. Had we not been steered towards a fixer upper, we might not have ever started this blog or learned the advantage of buying a home that’s well within our means. By not stretching financially, we could stash away a lot more project money and build up our nest egg – because we hadn’t lost sight of that neighborhood we first fell for, we had just put that dream on hold.
Fast forward 4.5 years, past a new puppy, a wedding in the backyard, Clara’s birth, and me coming home to work full-time. Our beloved little 1,250 sq ft ranch (with only one full bathroom) was suddenly feeling cramped and we found ourselves house hunting again. Dream neighborhood here we come, right? Try again, compadre. This time I was the financial deadweight (having just left a salaried job six months earlier to come work at home – great timing, right?). So once again we found ourselves approved for something far below our actual mortgage-paying abilities thanks to the bank’s you-haven’t-done-this-self-employment-thing-long-enough-for-it-to-count doubt.
But it dropped another gem of a fixer upper in our laps. And this time we knew that an affordable needs-work home meant even more projects and more money squirreled away for our “maybe someday” neighborhood.
Now, I wouldn’t say we ever consciously thought of these homes as “stepping stones” or rungs on a property ladder that we were itching to climb. Even though we always loved that dream neighborhood from afar, Sherry was fully convinced our first house would be our “forever home” (we even have that statement on video). When we fall in love with a house, we fall hard. But the experience of outgrowing and leaving our first place made us realize that we enjoy the process of loving an old house back to life way too much to stop at just one.
So when we moved into this house, we went into things with a more open attitude. Knowing we’d soak up every second of living here (you know we’re nuts about the journey) but no longer making bold declarations like “we’ll stay here forever.” Admittedly, at halfway through year three of living here, the end came a bit sooner than we expected, but our time here since 2010 has been jam-packed. We’ve celebrated three Christmases in this house, created a book from start to finish here, and enjoyed countless Clara milestones (crawling, walking, talking, Gangnam Style-ing). So this place is by no means a blip on the timeline of our family history. It has been “home” through a heckova lot, which makes leaving it that much more bittersweet.
We just knew we didn’t want our current place to be our last fixer upper (it’s not only what we love to do, it’s our livelihood), so when we felt ourselves tackling the last few untouched rooms on our list we started casually keeping one eye open for a deal that could be a potential rental or even a future Casa Petersik. We’d occasionally flip through real estate listings and drop in on open houses. We always hoped that something would come up in our price range in that dream neighborhood so we could jump on it like a velociraptor, but after two house-hunting experiences that didn’t lead to us ending up there, we weren’t very confident.
And then it happened. Pretty much out of nowhere, we found the sweetest needs-lots-of-love home in that old charming neighborhood that we’ve driven through at least five times a year just to stare creepily since 2006. Yes, this is a seven-years-in-the-making house coup of ours. We would have loved to take you guys on the house hunting adventure with us like last time, but it all happened so fast and before we knew it we were closing on it.
And thanks to putting some of that saved-for-years cash down at closing, our new house’s mortgage amount is almost exactly the same as our current house’s – but our interest rate is even lower. We both spent closing day waiting for Ashton Kutcher to jump out and scream “you got punked!” but all went well and the house is officially ours. We’ve even had it long enough to fix some first-priority issues like a leaking roof, a broken furnace, and even hooked up the alarm system.
The house hasn’t been updated since it was built around 35 years ago, and knowing that its interior might scare off others trying to buy in a mostly turn-key community, the sellers priced it way under assessment. It was over $100,000 less than another house of the same size that was for sale down the street. A low-priced fixer upper in a neighborhood that we’ve dreamed about for almost a decade? Yes please. 70’s wallpaper, blue trim, lumpy carpet and all…
Beyond the price, neighborhood, and glaring need to be rescued – this place is perfect for us in so many other ways. It’s nearly the exact same size as our current place (huzzah, no more extra square feet to clean). The street is beautiful and quiet (perfect for someday teaching Clara to ride a bike). It’s still just as close to our family (maybe they can watch Clara while we strip wallpaper). And it presents us with so many new design challenges and opportunities that our minds are spinning with ideas. I mean, hello, we have stairs for the first time in seven years of home-ownership!
Perhaps the funniest thing is that at our age, my parents were moving into their third house, which was where they stayed for over three decades. So apparently it’s in the Petersik blood.
We know that you guys probably have dozens of questions – When are we moving in? (Don’t know yet) When can you see more pictures? (Soon) What does Clara think? (She already picked out her room… based on the closet size. Is she 16?) But this post would be ten thousand words if we tried to cover everything, so we’ll get to those things in time. We also have a few things to finish around here to get our current house sold (anyone interested?) so in an effort to keep our own minds focused on those to-dos, it won’t be all new house posts all the time. We’ll just be moving at our usual real-time pace and sharing a little bit of everything that’s happening (selling, packing, planning, moving, and diving into our new house adventure).
Did I mention these two are the most excited of all? Okay, three if you count Ariel.
We can’t wait to continue sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly with you guys. Seriously, who wants to come paint some mauve trim with us? And if there were a moral to this story, it’s patience. This is not “the house the book bought” (we still haven’t hit our royalty point), it’s the house that seven years of saving up and living within our means bought. Had we strained our wallets and gone for a larger or more turn-key house back in 2006, we probably would’ve had a very different financial path, and most certainly would have had a different career path. So even though we had to wait a while, it just makes this new chapter in our lives that much sweeter. Who knows, we might just stay there forever…
Michael says
Totally nosey question so understand if you don’t want to get into the financial aspect, but did you do a bridge loan? I ask because my job relocated out of state (back to my home town actually) and though I’ve been house hunting, I really need the equity out of my other house to make what I want affordable. If I sell my other house first, then I’m stuck doing a cross country move with nothing to move into. If I buy first and for some reason don’t sell, then I’m stuck with two houses. The logistics of it all completely stresses me out. Totally interested in hearing how you made it all work.
YoungHouseLove says
We didn’t do that, we just thankfully were in a place where the bank trusted that we had the income to do overlapping loans this time. In our area it seems really common (hardly any of our friends had to close on the same day like we did when we moved into our current house, we just had to do that because they weren’t counting John’s income since he had just come on full time as a blogger). So I think it’s typical if two people with full time jobs apply for a loan for a mortgage with the intention to sell the other house soon, they run credit reports and stuff and if you have the equity and a good down payment I think it’s usually pretty simple to get approved. Houses are a lot cheaper here than in a lot of other areas of the country though, so that might be a factor too!
xo
s
Kate says
WOW!!
Congrats you guys!
I can’t wait to see all the new projects. =D
JennW-M says
Wow, way to go. I can’t wait, there is a ton of potential in that gem of a home. People really painted their trim that color?
I was thinking the other day about how much value all the moldings, car pergola, and transformations added to the house and if you had an appraisal done after finishing some projects (kitchen)? I guess now you have.
I would like to know what value your projects brought to your home. I can only imagine…too bad your home is not in NM…I love it. Are you selling FSBO?
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, we’re doing the FSBO thing for now! Hope it works :)
xo
s
Lynne says
Wow – talk about dropping bombshells lol
Congratulations – the new house looks amazing and the snippets you showed are tantalising.
You said it’s not much bigger than your existing house but it looks so much bigger !!! probably due to the second storey?
YoungHouseLove says
Our current house is twice as big as our first house but they look almost the same from the front since the current house has an 1000K square foot addition on the back, but you can’t see it from the street at all. Meanwhile the new house doesn’t have anything hiding in the back but has a second storey that you can clearly see, so it looks a lot bigger :)
xo
s
KC&Co says
That’s amazing – let the new makeover begin, not to mention the new family memories to be made there :o)
Sarah from a fine line says
I’m shocked, but thats so exciting! Congratulations, after 7 years in the making. I cant wait to see what you do with this one! At some point, I hope you’ll stop long enough to enjoy living in a fully rehabbed house!
Megan says
Congrats! I had a feeling this would happen soon!
Shay says
We moved into a flipped house about two and a half years ago (we knew our jobs would prevent us from getting anywhere with a fixer at the time). We love this house, but it’s never been my “forever” home – now even my husband is talking about future home plans. Which is exactly what you did – buy the cheap house on the nice street and run with it! I wish would could take advantage of the mortgage rates but real estate here in Northern California is going completely crazy again >_<
Dana says
Do you think you guys could write a post on how you decide on where to settle down? (Obviously not specific to your situation, since you guys want to keep the location on the down low.) I feel like we can make any house a home, but we really want to love the neighborhood. We are hopefully moving to a new area (Greensboro/Kernersville, NC) within the year and I have no idea how to figure out where we want to buy without living in the area first!
YoungHouseLove says
We just try to drive around as much as possible and even go walking in many areas and visit the nearby parks and restaurants to see if we like them! It’s not really a science, we just sniff around. Haha!
xo
s
Bec from Pour Ameliorer says
OMG I’m so excited for you guys!!! The funniest part for me is that back when I first started reading your blog, my hubby and I had just moved into a serious fixer upper, and you were still new to your current house. Then we just announced recently that having mostly finished it, we’d secretly signed a contract to buy a much bigger fixer-upper and would be moving in shortly, and now you’ve done the same!
Here’s to never sitting still!
All the best with the sale preparations and moving, and may the fun begin again soon!
Love Bec
Kate says
Congratulations! So looking forward to all of the great projects to come! These questions can be answered in a future post if you are planning a follow-up, but what are the elements of this current house that will be the hardest to part with and would you consider recreating certain elements in this next house? I’m going to miss updated pics of the gorgeous penny tile wall and the newly tiled fireplace.
Best of luck with the sale!
YoungHouseLove says
There are definitely things we’ll miss like crazy! We want to do a post about them all like we did for our first house so they’re memorialized all in one place, and of course we’d love to add some of our favorite aspects of this house (maybe with a new spin) to the new house if we think they’ll fit :)
xo
s
Annabel Vita says
I hope you do another sweet video with Clara like you did for your first house! (Even if you don’t share it with us so you can commemorate the real family favourites in the house)
Heather says
Congratulations…but all I keep thinking to myself is that they just finished this project and that project and haven’t really had time to enjoy them yet. Have fun with the new house!
Nikki says
So excited for you guys. We are moving too and our house sold in 12 HOURS!!! Seriously 12 hours. So I am now sending our quick selling home vibes down your direction.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, that would be awesome!
xo
s
emma says
As so many have said, warmest congrats!! Can’t wait to see what this new adventure contains! How great is that gut feeling that says, “Yes, this is totally it. This is right!!”
Tracy says
OMG…OMG…OMG I’m doing the snoopy dance for ya!!!! HOW EXCITING!!!!
Megan @ Rappsody in Rooms says
Wow! I’m so excited for you. I guess I am one in a long list who thought this was a joke for a little while. But I cannot wait to see a full house tour and the start of the projects! Hurray and congrats!
Eileen says
About the “it won’t make a good rental because of the big yard” thing … that’s not been our experience. A year ago, my husband and I were on a wedding anniversary vacation in Charlottesville and somehow impulsively bought a home there to move to in 3 to 5 years when my husband retires. (We live out of state.) It’s a full acre with lots of grass to mow, but we had no trouble renting it at all! It’s all about the location. In our case, it’s a nice family neighborhood convenient to a military facility, and we rented very quickly to a nice military family who will be there at least 2 years. It might be worth exploring the rental market a bit more, because the yard thing is only one element.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much Eileen!
xo
s
Maureen says
No, wait! You can’t move yet. I need to know about staining the deck. Replacing all the boards on my deck this month and was counting on you for tips and tutorials of staining. You know, the real tips, not just the directions on the can of stain. Was positively giddy after the pergola post, can’t wait to have one over my garage.
And what I really mean is congrats on the new house! Can’t wait to see it transform.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh there will be a staining post! Soon!
xo
s
Lauren says
I know I am late to the comment party here but had to reiterate what everyone is saying – HOLY FREAKING MOLY. Didn’t see this coming but absolutely thrilled to be reading along on your newest journey!
Is it safe to assume on of the top orders of business will be painting that blue trim and stair spindles white? Yikes! ;-)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! I might need 10 gallons of paint just for trim…
xo
s
Jamie says
What awesome news! I am so excited to follow your journey with the new home!!!! Thank you for inspiring us all with your positive attitude and fiscal responsibility!
Kendrick says
As a fellow Richmonder (In Stratford Hills probably not too far from you) who just made the decision to see what is out there on the market I am super interested in your house! Would love to know more. We love our current house but are busting at the seams with baby on the way! Can’t wait to see what you do to the new house!! As someone who has lived on both sides of the river I hope you decided to stay on the south side or go to the near west end (we loved it there too)!
vicky s says
Why do I feel like “I’m” the one moving?! You have pulled on my heart strings with this one. Cheers for this new adventure!!!!!
Mel says
Whoa! I thought this was a joke at first but congrats! Here’s my question: Were some of your recent projects done to add interest to the house before selling? Like the crown molding, car-pergola, etc.
YoungHouseLove says
Those were all on our Listy McListerson (our whole house masterlist) for around 9 months or more, so they weren’t added to the mix recently to sell or anything. In general we don’t believe in doing things just to sell a house that you don’t want/love/enjoy, so they were things we’ve wanted to do to show this home some love and it was so nice to see them completed after picturing them in our minds for so long :)
xo
s
Kaisa says
I just had to double and triple check to make sure it wasn’t April fools day!
Congrats!! The house looks gorgeous from the outside and will surely look the same on the inside soon enough! Can’t wait for a virtual tour!
Erin@Managing the Manor says
Holy cow!!! How exciting for y’all! Looking forward to seeing all of your project in the new house. I could totally see another book from this. Maybe you can come up with a revolutionary way to strip wallpaper or something :)
Jamie McPherson says
Omg! Congrats! Once I finally decided this post wasn’t a belated April fools joke, I was totally excited!!! Yay for john and sherry! Y’all better spend lots of time on that brand new deck you’re leaving behind! :))
Meg says
Wow!Beautiful! I’ve enjoyed following your blog, and have admired all you have done with both your houses, even though I’m not a huge fan of the mid-century ranch style (and I say this having grown up in one, although it was a modern ranch at the time). Love colonials, though. I’ve been browsing through the comments, and see that you plan to move everything but the light fixtures and curtains. What about your desk? It looks built-in, but is it? I’ve always really liked that feature of your home. Will it sell with the house like the bed and closets in your first home?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, all built-ins stay, so the desk, the built-ins in the dining room, and the built-ins in the laundry room stay with this house :)
xo
s
Nicole says
Wow guys! This is so exciting!!! Congratulations! It is so true that good things come to those who wait! Can’t wait to see the new adventure!!!!
Cindy@Made2Style says
HOLY AMAZINGNESS!!! Wait! Big Karl in a new living room…Clara and Burger climbing stairs…new furniture placement!! I can’t contain myself!! So happy for you guys, CONGRATS!!
kara says
Nice work you guys! That is flippin’ awesome! :)
Bobbi says
I’m so excited to see you guys make it fabulous!
Kristy says
GAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was thinking “Ashton Kutcher” even before the Ashton Kutcher reference! I’m sooo jelly but super excited for you, and I cannotwait to see how you tackle all the new challenges. Love you guys!
Lindsay says
Party me! My birthday is in just a few months – fantastic and terrifying all at the same time!
Kim Vincent says
Wow! Just like everyone here, I am surprised, congratulations on new house. Like most people here, I am very happy for you. Location, location, location!
On a goofy side note, earlier this month (like Katie in a previous post) me and my family also drove from Florida to South Carolina (to pick up my son who graduated from Army basic) and took him to Ft. Eustis/Langley for his next training. The whole time, my family heard, “Wow, this is where my favorite bloggers live…wish I could meet them.” They are convinced I’m a certifiable dork…oh well, they are kids, what do they know? Virginia is beautiful…if it wasn’t for all the snow shoveling, I would pack up and move there! I loved it that much! You guys are lucky to live in such a lovely area!
Lesley says
Oh, I have always had “Ranch envy” of both of your homes. We live in a 3-storey Victorian, and I find stairways over-rated. Maybe you’ll make me love them.
Have fun with the new opportunities!
alisha says
I found this out on Instagram when everyone was congratulating you on the bubble image of Clara…I couldn’t believe it was true and fired up the laptop immediately to find out for myself!
I am in shock and, quite honestly, pretty bummed =[ I think your house has so much charm now that you’ve done your magic, but I get it. The neighborhood sounds great (and the house presents a WHOLE new set of challenges to blog about) but I still feel bummed thinking about the big girl room that Clara will never grow up in and the pergola over the garage we will never see covered in whatever undecided upon climbing vine you were going to plant there.
Don’t let me bring you down, I am excited for your journey and know this will be an amazing adventure, I just have a tough time with change (when we moved from my childhood home that my parent’s built I had to say goodbye to each. room. of. the. house. multiple. times.) so please forgive me and my pouting. I’m just jealous of the new baby. I really AM happy for all of you. =]
(AND BTW did you see over on the forum that your first house is up for sale again?! Under the feed about you guys house crashing the first house. It was wild to see the furniture choices the new owners chose for different spots in the house–everything was giant scaled!)
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, isn’t it funny that the first house is for sale at the same time?!
xo
s
Lee says
So crazy about the first house!! The first YHL post I ever read (or TYH post, I should say) was the one about the bedroom built-ins, which I clicked through to from an IKEA hacking blog. So weird to see that they are gone (and yet the new owners didn’t even repaint Clara’s nursery for all of that dark office furniture??). You two are so talented – congratulations!
Rosemary says
I noticed that it was taken off the market yesterday. It was only on for 2 weeks. I wonder why…solely out of curiosity.
YoungHouseLove says
I wonder if it sold! It went off the market a few weeks back but the sale fell through and it came back on! Maybe this time it’ll stick!
xo
s
Sara says
How/Where do I see these pictures?
YoungHouseLove says
I think it’s off MLS now since it has an offer (as of yesterday I think!). It was on there a few weeks back and then disappeared once but that offer fell through so it came back. I assume since it’s gone again there’s another offer. Hope it sticks!
xo
s
Rachel says
Congratulations! It’s obvious that you have worked very hard for a long time to get to the point were you can live in your dream neighborhood. I look forward to watching the house come together over the next few years.
Savannah says
Wow! I totally had to read this post twice to make sure I didn’t miss the punch line! As a long time reader, I am thrilled for you, but sad to see the chapter on your current house close. What a bittersweet time for your family!
Melissa says
For what it is worth Petersiks, I have a rental in NC with a rather large yard. I do yearly maintenance on it and renters mow. I have never had a problem renting it. Usually I have a long list of people who will happily mow for the privacy of a house. I don’t use a rental agency either. But, I hope you can sell it!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much for the tip Melissa!
xo
s
Destiny says
Congrats, congrats!
Sue VanParys says
SO EXCITED FOR YOU GUYS, AND FOR US, WE GET TO SEE YOU PERFECT ANOTHER HOUSE !!!!! YAY !!!!!!!!!! and, I knew I loved you guys, but when you used the Charlton clip, that sent me over the moon! hahaha, my best friend actually did the Charlton dance for me,while in labor to cheer me up, because the Charlton dance ALWAYS cheers me up !!! CONGRATS !!!!!!!!!!!!
Jen says
You dropped a bomb on me, baby, you dropped a bomb on me. (The Gap Band… Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?)
Congratulations, guys. Thank goodness John won’t be driving the U-haul through snow and ice this time!
wendy says
WOW!!!!! We’re a military family relocating to your lovely state of VA from TX at the end of the month . . . keeping our home here in College Station since we love it and it’s on its way to being our “dream home.” Researched hours and hours to decide where we want our boys to go to school in the Richmond area to decide where to rent . . .wonder if we’ll be neighbors or not!? Seeing two properties this weekend and hoping one of them feels “right” to us. Since I figured out the ice cream shop you posted about will be our new favorite place, (hubby’s Italian and we love some good gelato!) I dream of bumping into you all over town! Many blessings to you through this excitement! xo
Shaz says
Congrats, guys. Obviously I wasn’t the only one to check and make sure it wasn’t April 1st. Talk about having to get my bottom jaw of the floor moment. Like others, I thought it wouldn’t be too long before you needed another ‘project’. Can’t wait to watch the new adventure unfold.
Brooke C. says
Congrats!! I cannot wait to see the new journey unfold <3
s says
Congratulations to the 4 of you!! Can’t wait to see the new house evolve. One things for sure(I think)there will be great ceramic animals around the house.lol Good luck and I can’t wait to see the projects that lie ahead.
Ally says
I just wanted to say congratulations! I can’t wait to see what your new home brings you!
Em says
Congrats on the new house—lots of character. Love that. But please tell me you aren’t doing advertising on your page now to sponsored “news stories.” I hate those on websites and I liked how your posts had all the little pictures and links at the bottom. Today the one at the end is to smiletrain.org. I know you have to advertise to make money but the more targeted ads are way less annoying. Just my two cents!
YoungHouseLove says
Hmm, I’m not sure what you’re seeing but it’s possibly it’s a glitch or unauthorized? We don’t see any news stories or anything about smiletrain.org. We have always done ads on the sidebar and then we just have recommended posts on the bottom in the little squares. The first four squares are our posts within our site, and the last square always links out to something else, just because that’s how the plug-in works (it has been that way for years though, so I don’t think that’s what you’re talking about, right?). Hope it helps :)
xo
s
Em says
I really didn’t think you would want it like that… I look at this post there are five boxes instead of four. The first four recommends other posts and the fifth is newsmaxhealth.com with a picture of some dude.
Is it completely crazy that I’m super excited I got a real Petersik response to my post? Makes me feel like we are friends…. ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, yes there has always been an outgoing link in the fifth box (for the last 2+ years or so since we added the plugin). That’s just how it works, although I have no idea why there’s a picture of some dude for you! Mine is showing an article from HGTV.com about built ins. They’re supposed to be home focused but I think they vary by region (we once had a really funny comment thread about all the random things people were seeing, and it seemed to vary a lot by location)!
xo
s
Sayward says
So once John and Peg the pegboard have a few months apart under their belts, I expect a post full of detailed tips on how to keep the romance alive in a long distance relationship…
YoungHouseLove says
Ha! Maybe we’ll Skype or something. :)
-John
Paula says
Congrats you guys!!! I thought I was being punked when I first read this, haha. So happy for you, I love following your journey (all the way from Australia) and you’ve inspired me so much. I’m excited to see all the new DIY ahead!! :)