Holy cow did you guys have questions about the whole selling/moving/buying process since yesterday’s little announcement! So we decided an FAQ post would answer as many as we could. We originally planned to share it tomorrow but you guys are still sending questions our way so furiously that we decided to share this guy today and our regularly scheduled DIY post will go up in the morning. So heeeeeeeere we go! #warningitslong
Q: Will you sell your current house by owner like you did with your first house?
Since it worked out so well for us last time, we’d love to! So other than possibly paying a few hundred dollars to have it listed on MLS again, we’re planning to market it and show it ourselves (we’ve actually already had three showings, so our fingers are crossed). We don’t even have a For Sale sign out front yet since we have been doing private showings to realtors and interested locals who are contacting us directly, so it’s kinda weird. Haha!
Q: Did you consider renting out your current house instead of selling it? We did! But we talked to a few realtors who said that a few homes in our neighborhood that were for rent were having a hard time holding tenants since the lots were so big (renters in our area typically want very small yards so there’s less for them to mow/maintain). So we shifted our focus to selling since things in our neighborhood seem to be picking up in that department (many homes are selling fast nearby, so we’re hoping ours follows suit).
Q: When will you move in?
We have to sell our current house first and think showing it with furniture will help that process (plus we don’t want to move all of our furniture to the new house and then have the sale fall through). So our best guess would be that we’ll (hopefully) move into our new house in June, although it really all depends on when we sell and when our closing date is. But we’re already working on the new house as well as finishing things up around here, so along with all the staging/showing/selling posts about our current house, there will definitely be new house projects, plans, and pictures working their way into the mix. Ahhh, it gets me so excited to type that!
Q: Wait, are you selling your current house fully furnished!? Sorry! I made a comment about wanting to keep our furniture here in order to sell it faster on yesterday’s post and it sounded like we were selling it furnished but I quickly updated it in the hopes of squashing that self-started rumor. Haha! We’re not selling it furnished, we just want furniture in the house when it’s for sale (since empty houses traditionally sell slower and for less money) – but although we’re bringing our furniture with us a lot of things will be in different places in the new house since the layout is so different, which should be fun to play around with!
Q: How many square feet is it? How can it be the same square footage as your current house when it looks so much bigger?! It’s almost exactly the same square footage of our current house, which we love (it’s around 2,500 square feet). It’s just that our current house has an 1,000 square foot addition hiding in the back that you can’t see at all from the front, so that’s why it looks almost as small as our first house (which was half the size). Meanwhile the new house doesn’t have anything hiding in the back and instead has a second floor that’s in plain sight from the street, which makes it look a lot bigger.
Q: Your new house is so pretty on the outside you won’t have a thing to do to upgrade it! That’s the funny thing about cropped photos. Below is a panned out shot that shows that there’s definitely work to be done. So we think the outside will keep us nice and busy too…
Q: Tell me more about what made you love this house in this neighborhood. Would you have taken any house in that area, or did it have to be the right one? We definitely wouldn’t have just taken anything in our budget because we always want a house that works for our family (right house in the wrong neighborhood is sort of the same womp-womp as the right neighborhood but the wrong house). So the sweet spot was finding both. And when we pulled down the street and saw this baby at the end of the cul-de-sac (zero through traffic! a spot for Clara to ride a bike! a bug-hunting mecca for Burger!) we were completely smitten. And when the layout inside didn’t disappoint, we practically lunged for the offer papers. She might not look like much right now, but we think she’s going to clean up real nice :)
Q: How did you keep this a secret?! This was BY FAR the hardest part for us! There were so many moments I wanted to over-share every detail with you guys as we went! This house sort of came out of nowhere, very quickly. We were very casually looking since we anticipated not needing something ’til this summer (or later). Then we saw it we had that moment of “we either go for it or be okay with losing it!” And we realized we weren’t okay with losing it. We actually closed on it in the fall (now can you see how hard this secret was to keep?!?!?) but we had a million balls in the air (a book tour in progress, a bunch of projects for our current house that we wanted to finish before we announced/sold, and a few immediate upgrades to deal with in the new house like a leaking roof, a bad furnace, an alarm install and an opossum in the crawl space (all of which we can’t wait to post about in detail for you guys).
We actually debated spilling the beans about things a lot sooner but we worried it would make us feel torn in half (wanting to stay focused on finishing and selling our current house, but knowing many of you would’ve mentally “moved on” to the new house). We also had to think about things like safety (we just weren’t comfortable telling the entire internet that we had a new house that would be unoccupied for a big chunk of time). So we made the call that waiting, as challenging as it was, was best for our family, this blog, and our new house’s safety. And that way we could focus and knock out what we needed to do here before shifting into “new house mode” when we were ready. Boy does it feel good to be in that mode now. I ran around the house singing this song.
Q: Last time you closed on your current house on the same day that the new owners closed on your old house, but this time it you bought the new house before selling your current house. What went into that decision? Once we were 100% sure that this was The House, we knew putting in a bid with a contingency that we had to sell our current house would weaken our offer. And we didn’t want to lose that house! There was actually another offer on it, so we knew we needed to have a strong and compelling offer to get it and we didn’t want to offer over asking price, so we decided that going into it without a contingency to sell our house would make for a compelling offer. We were so glad that the bank finally recognized us both as full time self employed people (we’ve been doing this blog thing full time together for nearly 3 years), which was a very different situation then when we bought our first and current house (more on that here) – and it was amazing to get the “you guys got it!” call.
Obviously carrying two mortgages for any period of time isn’t fun. But we triple-checked our savings before bidding to make sure we could handle it and found other ways to save. For instance, if we’re able to sell our current house by owner like we did for our first house, we stand to save ourselves more than all the extra mortgage payments that we’ve been making combined (since we won’t have to pay a seller’s agent commission). Plus, those overlapping mortgage payments are helping us pay down our loan (yay equity!), so it’s not like money going out without a return (like renting or writing a seller’s agent check).
Q: I need more details! We know, and we’re itching to give them. But please understand that we won’t be discussing certain identifying details on our blog (like what neighborhood it’s in or specific info about our closing) because we want to keep some semblance of privacy intact, so we’re resisting the urge to over-share in that regard this time! We know that you guys understand that we need to keep some personal details private and we appreciate all of you who respect that. We’d be naive to think someone couldn’t dig up the info if they really wanted to (real estate is public record), but we’re not going to hand anyone anything on a silver platter over here. Haha! Thankfully our current address was leaked even before we moved into this house back in 2010 and we haven’t had a single issue and our alarm system gives us amazing peace of mind (let’s just say it talks to us and has eyes for us). And then there’s our ferocious guard dog…
Q: When was it built? How many bedrooms and bathrooms does it have? It was built 32 years ago and it has 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms (so there’s actually one less tub for me to clean). The main bathroom on the first floor is a half bath, which I’m already dreaming of redoing… once we strip all the wallpaper!
Q: How much do you think you’ll make selling your current house thanks to all the improvements you put into it? That would make a fun post! Just like this post that we shared when we sold our first house, we’re definitely excited to see how it all pans out and spill all the details about how much we put into this house in home improvements vs. how much those upgrades affected the sale price. Based on the interest in our current house (we’ve had three showings!) realtors seem to think that our listing price is good so we’re hopeful there might even be a smidge of profit in there this time!
Q: Is it sad to leave Clara’s big girl room without her moving in? From the moment we moved in back in 2010, we always intended for that room to be a playroom (even though it somehow turned into a junk room for 2 years, oops!) so it has been awesome to finally enjoy that space and use it the way we always intended. Even if Clara isn’t quite ready to sleep in there yet, she has logged lots of play-time in there and if she had moved in there we’d have an empty nursery, so either way we knew she couldn’t sleep in both spaces so one would be a playroom while the other serves as her bedroom. The nice thing is that everything comes with us except for the walls, so since we didn’t do anything structural in there (like add a built-in accent wall or bunk-bed system) or cover the walls with anything fancy that stays behind (ex: cool wallpaper or a big wall mural) it can all end up at the new house with us.
Q: What about all the things that you did to this house that you can’t take with you? Like the penny tile and the new fireplace and the pergola? We love love love those things, and will definitely be sad to leave them, but we did them ourselves – which means we can always tackle them again (and alter them in new ways) for the new house if we want them there. We’re just suckers for showing a house some love, so we would never want to live anywhere and “hold back” on doing things just because we can’t take them with us (for us, doing them is half the fun sometimes). So it’s nice to spend the time that we have with those beauties while we live in the house, and know that they’ll live on. I’m deeply comforted by the fact that we can always drive by and wave at the pergola. Yeah, that’s definitely going to happen.
Q: I’d love to see a post talking about which of your recent projects you did for resale value and why you chose them. Nearly everything we’ve done recently has been on our to-do list for over a year. So they weren’t things we added to our roster for resale – they were just things we knew we’d love to tackle, many of them from the day that we moved in. So it was less about which projects we chose to do for resale (none really) and more about which projects from our to-do list that we decided to move ahead with. For example, converting a storage room into a useful playroom and upping the curb appeal wouldn’t hurt, but double siding the fireplace (which would involve a mason and a contractor since it’s load bearing) felt like more of an “if we were staying longer we’d love to do it” item. So there were a few things that we didn’t think made financial sense to do right now but we did pretty much everything else on our to-do list that we hoped to do. We’ll share a final rundown of Listy McListerson with everything checked off, and at the bottom we’re planning to put all the “would have been nice” items that we skipped – but secretly hope the new owners end up doing so we can house crash them. Haha!
Q: Will you guys miss the convenience of a ranch and having everything on one floor? We think it’ll be fun to try out a completely new house layout since our first and second house were pretty similar to each other. And I’m sure there will be tons of things that we miss about having a ranch, but we’re excited to see how a two-story house works for our family. We love that the laundry room is on the second floor with all of the bedrooms, which was one thing we really liked about ranches (not taking piles of laundry up and down stairs).
We also secretly hope that the upstairs will help us with separating work from family stuff, so we think we’ll institute a no-laptops-upstairs rule. Since we’re only twenty steps from our office when we step out of bed in our current house, it’ll be nice to be a whole floor away from it in our new house. And it’ll be awesome not to have to clean the whole house when people come over (if they’ll just be on the main level, we can shut the bedroom doors upstairs and ignore the mess like we did when we grew up in two story houses, haha).
Whew! So that should do it! Hope that helped guys. And we can’t wait to share a floor plan and all the crazy wallpaper-and-blue-trim-laden before pics with you guys while we finish things off at our current house and get this baby sold. Fingers crossed…
mary says
Congrats! Can’t wait to read all about it!
Sorry if it’s been asked, I didn’t read all the comments but… How could the new place ‘fall through’ when you closed on it so long ago?
If you did want to move in before the old place sells, there’s not that big an advantage to showing a place furnished. Many buyers appreciate a blank slate and your look is distinctive (though I love it), so there is even a chance it might turn off older buyers. Though I imagine you’ll wind up with fans buying your house quickly.
You guys must be pretty deeply paid into your mortgage if each monthly payment actually makes any dent in the equity! Good for you! Mine are always 90% or more interest.
YoungHouseLove says
We actually meant the sale of our current place could fall through and if we moved all of our furniture out of here and then it fell through it would be harder to sell empty (at least in our area this is true as many houses that sit on the market for months are unfurnished whereas furnished homes like our first one sell within a week or two). Nothing can fall through with the new house though, she’s ours! Mwa-hah-hah!
xo
s
Sally G says
This post (and your responses to both questions and critical comments) makes me like you guys even more. Possible? Yes. You’re smart, thoughtful about your decisions (from both a person and professional standpoint), and continue to be supremely genuine through the whirlwind of the last few years. Looking back? Crazy amount of change. Cra-zy.
I can’t wait to see what you do with this next house! I’m sad it doesn’t have a yellow tile bathroom… I LOVED what you did with the one in your current house. (Okay, I’m not actually sad, but I did LOVE that gray framed mirror.) I can’t wait to see where that insanely gorgeous rug you have in the bedroom goes. I can’t wait to see what you do with Clara’s big-girl room. I always wondered about the beige walls. I get that from a neutrality standpoint, but little girlfriend seems like she has too much pizzazz for beige! ;) (Not a criticism, just throwing out my first design opinion ever!)
You have a beautiful family. And I am so excited that you found “the one”, the perfect one for you in your favorite neighborhood. Congrats again.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much Sally G. You’re very sweet indeed.
xo
s
jill says
Geez, I miss a couple of days and look what happens. Holy moly, when I started reading this I felt like I missed the big company memo! (“Wait… what? New house? WHAT?”) I had to scroll down to catch up with the rest of the blogosphere.
Congratulations! So very exciting! Can’t wait to see what your future holds.
Amanda says
Thanks for sharing. I really want to redo my home and we hope to start this summer. Where do you get all your ideas/inspiration from? Maybe I need to search your blog, because you may have already done a post on that. Congrats on the new home!
YoungHouseLove says
It’s really from everywhere! Shows and mags and blogs and pinterest and real life needs (function, storage, etc). We just try to soak things up like a sponge. Hope it helps!
xo
s
Mollie says
I’ve been reading y’alls blog for years, way before you sold your first house and I’ve never commented before, but this was too great not to say something about!
So excited for the move! I appreciate that you take on major projects like gutting a bathroom to just simple updates. Something for everyone and this house will let us learn even more from you!
Even more, thank you for being honest and saying you bought in the fall. You could have said it was yesterday and left it at that. You are gracious to let us into your lives. It is your business, your livelihood and your life. Do what you feel is right!
Can’t wait to see whats next!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Mollie!
xo
s
Iforgotmyusername says
My FAQ’s
Will you please, please BURN Sue the Napkin? She is ugly and needs to go to the happy napery in the sky.
Will Sherry please knock off the amount of times she says “haha”? Seriously. Do a word count. It’s too much.
Will John write more posts? He is talented, readable, clever and mature.
Will you please forgive me when I say that I mentally checked out when you did Clara’s fake big girl room,(my eyes, they burned!!) and painted the sun room ‘prison cell grey’?
Iforgotmyusername says
Also, please, could you maybe lose the stripey duck in the move? ;)
tamrah ryan says
This is so incredibly rude. Are you even real? Yeah, actually, I have seen your user name somewhere else, won’t say where, and it’s sad for you to be trolling like this. What a bitter, mean post to such sweet people. If you don’t like something, don’t use it in your own house. No need to be a hater. I don’t even understand the point of your comment.
Kellee says
I’m surprised this didn’t get picked out for being all teen angst-y and not published. Keep up the great work Sherry and John and congrats on the new place!
nick says
this needed to be said (or read):
http://nickandmb.com/2013/05/01/yhl-meme/
YoungHouseLove says
Hahah!
xo
s
Norma says
I’m was a daily reader and I like your family and blog — but owning a new forever home while updating your current one as if you intended to stay there in order to mislead your readers (or keep them focused on house #2) sketches me out! I realize you were in a hard position when this great opportunity arose, but a little more transparency would’ve kept me as a reader, and I think still generated interesting blog content. Best of luck.
Tanya says
Seriously? You’d stop reading a blog because of a perceived injustice? I’m sure John & Sherry will miss you dreadfully…..
Kathryn says
So they didn’t spill 100% of everything in real time because it wasn’t best for their family and their personal life. Big whoop. They’re perfectly entitled. None of us have a vested interest either way, remember? Their blog, their life, their call.
Alexa says
Congrats! I am actually not all that surprised by the news. You seem to be on the same house buying/selling cycle that we are on these past few years. We just moved into a new home last month and I really thought we would be in the last one more than 3 years since we were in the one before for 5 years. I found myself wondering while we were moving if you were having itchy feet too… and you were! I am so excited we took the leap when we did and happy for you too. I hope to share our remodeling pictures with you someday :)
I looked for your listing yesterday and saw the one for your old house… not surprised they didn’t want the pictures shared.
YoungHouseLove says
I’d love to see remodeling pics Alexa! Good luck with everything!
xo
s
MaryB says
Wow – I miss reading YHL for one day and you’re moving! Haha :) Congrats – the new house looks great and so different from the “ranches”. Can’t wait to see what you do with it! Your blog inspires me every day and I love your positive can-do attitude!
Ally says
*wipes sweat from brow*
WHEW…
Thank you for the wide angle shot of the new Petersik Casa…I see there are still TWO very large trees in the front left quadrant (with a few more throw in for good measure! :)
I can sleep tonite… the tradition continues! :)
xox
YoungHouseLove says
Hahahahahhah! We didn’t even notice that!
xo
s
MG says
Not sure if this has been asked but…do you plan on moving every time you “finish” a house? It was an adjustment for my kids when we moved, I can’t imagine doing it very often to them. But, I do understand that this is your livelihood too. I was sure getting curious how you were going to fill the pages of your blog with everything seeming like it was almost done in your current house. Will you write a post about…”Things we meant to do but didn’t”? I seem to remember something about the wood floors (the parquet)…redoing, re-staining? Something like that. Just curious….best wishes and congratulations!
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, when we do a final check-in with Listy McListerson we’ll add a section on the bottom of “would have been nice if we were staying” stuff! As for if we’ll move a lot, I think our first house kept us busy for 4.5 years because even though it was tiny, it needed a lot more work (new floors in many areas, a gutted kitchen, a gutted bathroom) while our current house was more of a blank slate that just needed some polishing (out of three bathrooms we didn’t gut any and kept the original kitchen cabinets) but the new house is a whole new level of needs-work, so we wouldn’t be surprised if it was the last house we blogged about since it could easily keep us busy for a nice long time!
xo
s
Rachel says
I was so shocked by your announcement yesterday! congrats!
Our first home had SO. MUCH. BAD. WALLPAPER. Like velvety gold vertical stripes in the kitchen for one. One tip I feel compelled to share about wallpaper removal is to BE CAREFUL if you use a tiger. (Or whatever those little scoring tools are called.) We had some really tenacious wallpaper in one of the bathrooms that just didn’t want to release and we used the wall tiger thing and omg, NIGHTMARE. It left tiny little holes all over the drywall!! We had to patch pretty much the entire room. I can tell you now patching drywall and spackling to a smooth finish is NOT my forte, I never got a perfect finish and it drove me nuts. So if you resort to using a tool like that, I highly suggest trying it out in a small inconspicuous area first before going wild with it.
Good luck and I can’t wait to see more of the interior!
YoungHouseLove says
Yikes! That sounds awful! Thanks for the tip Rachel!
xo
s
Tara says
Can I borrow someone’s Delorean?? I would give anything to flash forward at 88mph to see the new place1-2 years from now. So exciting for you guys. Congrats!
Larissa says
I am really impressed with your sense of responsibility and maturity. (Those words sound kind of fuddy-duddy, but I definitely don’t mean them that way.) It’s a refreshing alternative to the disheartening “reality” that plagues our media culture. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders!
I’ve been reading since the first house and I’m very excited for you and for us! Congrats, Petersiks!
YoungHouseLove says
You’re sweet Larissa. Thanks to everyone for all of the kind words and well wishes! We’re so excited to share this next wallpaper-and-blue-trim-riddled chapter with you guys!
xo
s
Julie says
Wow! I can’t believe you are moving into your THIRD house. I’ve been a reader since midway through projects on your first house, so this news is exciting. I know you will post a floor plan and pics, but I just wondered if this house has a sun room and a basement as well. Seems like those things are pretty standard in homes in your area (I’m from California where basements are rare!)
Belinda says
Ha Ha! Can you do a post on how many times Sherry writes Ha Ha in a day? Ha Ha! She writes like a giddy 15 year old,Ha Ha! Ugh..
Kristen says
How about this Belinda-don’t read anymore and then you don’t have to worry about it!
Amazing how some people post mean things just to be mean–why don’t you find your own happiness, you will be less bitter and less likely to rain on someone’s parade.
Rude.
Christina says
Inappropriate response to your hashtag: #ThatsWhatSheSaid
Very excited for you new adventure (and that you so graciously let us tag along!). You always amaze me with your projects and are such an inspiration.
Congratulations!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Hahaha!
xo
s
Megan says
Congratulations, many, many times over! Your new home is full of potential, a dream house for sure and on a cul de sac, you will love it! I’m looking forward to following along as you transform her? into something grand.
Love your blog, book, and, most of all, your upbeat attitudes. Oh, and pretty envious of your secret-keeping ability as well;-). Total blabber here!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Megan, you’re so sweet.
xo
s
Marie says
I’ve been home sick for the last two days and had a fever most of the day yesterday and was a little out of it (including when I read yesterday’s big post). I woke up today thinking about the new house but couldn’t for the life of me remember if it was real or a dream! I had to get on today to see if it was really real. I rarely/never read the comments but read through all of them on this post. There are a lot of interesting people out there with a lot of interesting comments. Regardless of your motivations for sitting on this information, it’s your information, your story, your life. You are the writers for our favorite show, sometime we may disagree with decisions in the story line. We have two choices, to stop watching the show or to suck it up and continue watching. Whether or not I agree with the choices, I am thoroughly entertained! In my opinion, the most memorable “episodes” from this house that will stay are: the paved patio, the new deck, the kitchen, the office & stencil. My favorite “if at first you don’t succeed” moments were the kitchen bar stools, the chairs in the dining room (the SUV full of chairs, and your bedroom:) P.S. Did you ever get the tv in your bedroom hooked up?
Looking forward to the new adventures including the loose ends on house #2 and lots of wallpaper removal and floor plan reveal in house #3. Best wishes in the process of selling the current house!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Marie! It’s so funny that you didn’t remember if this was a dream or not. And I love your recap of your favorite projects. As for the TV in the bedroom, still not hooked up! Haha!
xo
s
Kari says
Man, I can’t imagine what the pressure (albeit satisfaction) must be like in making a livelihood off of flipping the home you live in. Thank you for including us every step of the way! It certainly is entertaining to watch your house renovate and your family grow up.
Question..you’d mentioned that the 2nd house renovation was quicker than you’d expected…was there ever any temptation to go overboard on some of the rooms? Like, gut one of the bathrooms in order to create a few weeks of posts? Or build some massive built in’s?
YoungHouseLove says
See that’s the thing, we always pride ourselves in doing DIY projects that we’d do even if no one was watching. So we don’t ever feel right tackling projects “just for the blog” since it feels weird and forced to us! That’s why we really liked having a master list of projects that we wanted to complete and sticking to that throughout the process. It felt awesome to see that giant 10 page list slowly get crossed off and it was so surreal when the house went from being “so raw” to “getting there” and then we basically blinked and we were in “almost done” territory. I definitely think the fact that our new house isn’t a blank slate like our second house (it’s a crazy mass o bad carpet and wallpaper with tons of things that need major overhauls) is exciting to us, because it feels a lot more long-term than a 3 year update :)
xo
s
Kari says
One thing I love about this house is that it looks like a smaller version of the Home Alone house. You guys need to get a statue for the front drive just so the pizza boy can zoom in and knock it over.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! You’re the third person to call it that! It makes me want to get a train set and a cardboard cutout of a person for the window!
xo
s
Kelly says
I can’t believe you guys bought a new house! Congrats on the well kept secret- I was definitely surprised.
Cara says
Congrats, Petersiks!! Did you put any of your awesome light fixtures “on reserve” so you can take them with you to your new casa?
YoungHouseLove says
Actually all of the light fixtures and almost all of the window treatments convey, but we’re excited about that because they’re some of our favorite things to make/shop for, and we think the new house might lend itself to certain fixtures that this house doesn’t :)
xo
s
Kristen says
So excited to see what the new house brings! I started following the blog when you moved in to this house, so I’m a little sad to see it go! But I have to admit I was getting worried about how short your to do list was getting…now a whole new list will come!
In a side note, you guys are so inspiring that you have this non-handy girl doing her own DIY all the time! Tonight was installing new “guts” in the toilet and buying deglosser and spray paint for a weekend project. Keep all the tips and tricks and ideas coming–or how would someone like me know that you have to use this thing called “deglosser” before you spray paint? Better believe my phone had your cabinet tutorial pulled up to buy the right brand :)
Yay dream neighborhood!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Kristen! Good luck with everything and thanks so much for the kind words :)
xo
s
A. @ Hello Door Seven says
I am so excited for you guys! :)
Thank you for answering some of our curiosity. And here are some more questions. Please, don’t hate me :)
– How does it feel like to work on a house that you know you are going to leave soon? Does it demotivate you in a way knowing that you are going to live somewhere else soon?
– Between first and second house you changed almost drastically style (from safe natural tones to bold colors). Do you think you will change somehow your style again or you will stick with the latest style?
YoungHouseLove says
I definitely think since the new house is a new style that we’ll see a fun evolution just like we did between our first two houses! We can’t wait to see where we’ll end up! And as for doing projects when you know you’re leaving, it’s still exciting for us since we’re DIY nerds (so it’s just like if you love painting like crazy, you’re even happy to paint places that you can’t keep, like your friend’s house or a house you’re selling). For us we have learned to focus on the journey and not the destination, so even though I totally cried that we’ll have to leave our pergola, it was so much fun to plan and build that we didn’t feel defeated or anything, it was still a DIY dork-fest! Haha!
xo
s
Laura D. says
Hey guys, Congrats on the new house. Im excited to see what you do with it. I see some of Holly’s points but I also understand where you are coming from. I’m wondering if you think you will ever want to transition from decorating your own digs to decorating other people’s homes and blogging about that instead? Seems like doing the latter would allow you to do what you love but avoid having to share the personal’stuff, which I’d imagine gets weird from time to time. Also, can’t remember when you bought the current house. It seems like financial folks always advise if you aren’t going to stay in a house for at least five years, it’s not worth buying. Was that ever a concern?
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Laura! Yeah we thought about doing others people’s homes but it felt too “design show-ish” to us so I think we’ll stick to doing some personal project (like the one we did of Granny’s bathroom, we loved that!). And we’ve never heard that 5 year thing you mention, but it doesn’t seem to hurt us (we have had lots of showings and our asking price would make us a smidge of profit, so it wouldn’t be a loss :)
xo
s
Lindsay says
Laura, I’ve read that the 5 year rule more concerns the type of mortgage you get (i.e. adjustable-rate vs. fixed rate), rather than the decision to buy the house itself. Hope that helps!
Traci C says
Wow! I was on vacation for a couple weeks – sans laptop – and just got back on to read and catch up for the first time yesterday. What a post! Congratulations you guys! I wish you all the best in wrapping up in your current house and moving on to the new one! Can’t wait to see all the new projects! (And you guys really are good secret keepers!)
Traci :-)
Pip says
Ahhh a Q & A post – thankyou! Thanks also for keeping honest with Listy McListerson – I’d find it overwhelming having that kind of ‘accountability’ to a heap of readers I’ve never met. I change my mind often and frequently have ‘what was I thinking?’ moments, so I make new lists all the time.
Your move is inspiring me not to give up on my dream neighbourhood. Thanks Petersiks :)
Susan (Between Naps on the Porch) says
Sherry and John, your new home is around the same age as my home. I’m so looking forward to seeing how you’ll renovate it. BTW, if you need an awesome wallpaper remover, Safe and Simple is the absolute best. It was the ONLY thing I’ve found that will remove wallpaper from walls that were never primed. You can buy it online. It’s the exact same product professional wallpaper removers use. I blogged about it here: http://betweennapsontheporch.net/home-office-renovation-update-welcome-to-the-111th-metamorphosis-monday/
I’m a fan of it for life! Forget that stuff you find in the hardware stores…this is the best!
YoungHouseLove says
Wow, thanks for the tip Susan!
xo
s
mribaro says
Since generally what was left to do on your Listy McListerson were the floors (staining and varnishing/sealing), both inside and outside, maybe this time you do the floors in your new house first (if you’re sure you still like the mocha tone very much and there’s enough funds). There’s no better chance than when the whole house is still empty, and there is no furniture to move around from room to room, and there’s still some time for it all to evaporate and smell normal when you finally move in.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, we are so excited about having time to deal with floors first! In our current house we had to sell our first house and close/move on our current house in the same day, so there was no time up front! But man I have wished there was just a week or two to get those done before we had moved in here!
xo
s
mribaro says
P.S. Are you still going to stain and seal the wooden deck in your now house?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah that needs lots of help!
xo
s
A Brit Greek says
Wowsers, clearly i’ve missed so much on this blog, a new house?! Congrats! How very exciting and it looks amazing. I really can’t wait to see what you guys to do it when you’ve moved into it!
Have a fab weekend, love from across the pond!
x.o.x.o
Peter says
Hi Guys,
I just stumbled upon this blog, Congrats to you both.
It’s great to see a young couple having success with property.
I should show my kids that it can be done!
Pallavi says
Phew! You have so much patience to be able to answer to every question and also prepare an FAQ based on that. I am very very excited for you guys! Hope you have a smooth moving in process and all the best to both of you and Clara and Burger, of course! :)
Courtney says
Wish yall were renting! I just finished grad school and am moving back to RVA. Can’t wait to see the new house projects.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, we definitely thought about that first! Who knows, if this selling thing doesn’t work out, maybe we will :)
xo
s
Stacy says
Any advice for a first time seller? My husband and I are probably going to put our home on the market tonight and I’m SCARED!
Stacy says
Also, forgot to ask, but the room in my daughters room is peeling so I have a professional painter coming in to repaint the room – is this silly since we are just selling it? Or are we still better off having the trim work painted throughout the house before we move and having her bedroom painted? Or just leaving well enough alone so future homeowners can make the changes they want to make? We are basically going to break even on this sale.
YoungHouseLove says
Hmm, that’s tough because in our case we like to sell a house when it looks great! It would be hard for me to leave peeling paint because I’d worry it would turn people off, and we just have this inherent nerdiness to fix things before we go. So I think your decision is great! Hopefully it’ll make for a faster sale and you’ll leave the house knowing you made it look awesome :)
xo
s
YoungHouseLove says
I think so much revolves around pricing a house correctly, so that would be my advice! Price it to sell and know that if it’s worth more people will usually bid more but if you price it too high people won’t even come to see it and you lose that initial draw that dropping into the market gives you :)
xo
s
Stacy says
Thanks Sherry. I am definitely going to have the room painted then. I had pretty much made the decision, but just wondered what you would do if they were selling. I feel the same way – can’t hurt anything. Worst case scenario, the new owners hate the color and repaint.
YoungHouseLove says
Totally!
xo
s
Alina I says
Wooow.. moving again! That’s a pretty big/hard step to make. I don’t really like moving from one house to another. 3 years I’ve lived in rented homes and we changed the first one because the owners decided to sell. We currently live in our own home and me moved in last year. After moving I told myself this is not a thing I’ll repeat very soon. But good luck with your moving and have fun with the new projects! Do you plan to change houses every 3 years?
Lisa Wenckus says
I am so happy for you!!! You finally got your dream neighborhood and I have NO doubt that house is going to be fantastic when the two of you are done with it!!! Congratulations!!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Lisa :)
xo
s
Michelle @birdsofberwick.com says
I’m so excited for you guys! You must have draft posts and pictures up the wah-zoo!!!! I can’t wait to follow along and continued to get inspired by you both!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha I wish! We’ve been so focused on finishing things up at our current house that we have yet to make a house tour video or do a floor plan for you guys but we can’t wait to dive into that! We did take lots of before pics that we can’t wait to share though :)
xo
s
Michelle @birdsofberwick.com says
I hear ya… with a full time job I can’t keep up with blogging every week, so with blogging about one house being your full time job, plus adorable Clara, you’d have to be super heros!
John @ Our Home from Scratch says
When we signed the contract to build our current home, we hadn’t sold our first home yet either. We decided to sell it ourselves to save money and ended up with a buyer two days after it hit the MLS. We priced it agressively and took the first offer that came along though. You guys are mega-talented and clearly have great judgement… you’ll get a buyer in no time. Lots of luck to you!
Katie says
So, maybe this has been addressed in another post, but I was wondering, how often are you really working on projects? HAve you just had a busy 6 months jumping between 2 houses, or have you done like 20 projects in 1 weekend, but just space out your blogging about them, or are they more in *almost* real time?
YoungHouseLove says
We far prefer real-time (our brains hurt when we’re not posting about things as we do them since that gets a lot more complicated), so in most cases we’ll do a project and 2-4 days later it hits the blog. We need time to upload pics and write posts, so that’s why it’s not the same day (although sometimes we’ll do something on the weekend and stay up late on Sunday to write the post so it’s up for Monday). When we were on tour we couldn’t do real-time as much (we worked overtime to squeeze in projects before we left to share while we were gone) and it was really hard! It’s much easier to keep it simple and just blog as we go :)
xo
s
ro says
Good for you guys and best of luck! You don’t owe anybody any explanation, especially your loyal readers who have vastly contributed to your “livelihood”, (sp?) Frauds will be frauds…
Allison says
Do you worry about the new owners ripping out a project you love and slaved over because it’s not their taste? I know I always see houses with “newly renovated kitchen”, and I think “what a waste because I would rip that out in a heartbeat”. I, like you, prefer an untouched house so that I can put my own stamp on it, and also get a better deal on it instead of paying for upgrades I don’t like. Would you be heartbroken if they gutted the kitchen? (I love what you did in there, btw) Or tore down the oh so cute pergola?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man I’d cry if the pergola went! Haha! But actually maybe because we’ve seen listing photos of our first house (it was recently on the market) and they left almost everything the same (the kitchen & bathroom were just as we remembered them!), it made us feel good that hopefully whoever buys this house will be buying it because they like how it looks now… but of course you never know! And heck, it’s their house. I would hate for the previous owner to tell me how to decorate. So they should make it their own I think. Just don’t touch my pergola! Hahaha!
xo
s
Heather from KC says
So happy for your new adventure! Thank you for taking time to share it with us. What an exciting time for you guys, & Clara :) Enjoy
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Heather!
xo
s
Karen says
I can’t wait to see a floor plan of the new house! So different to the other 2. I think those floorplans were very similar! Will Clara have a nursery in this house or a big girl room (with her crib in it until she decides she wants a bed!)
YoungHouseLove says
We just want her to have one room (and not have to move later) so if she’s still in her crib it’ll go in there and if not we’ll be in bed territory! Wahoo!
xo
s
kimb says
With all the improvements you have done I’m sure you’ll sell. But the if I was buying I would be disappointed that the floors are not done. Other then that it is move in ready.
keisha says
Congratulations and good luck! I have to admit that your news of leaving your current house caused a slight emotional reaction in me, haha! I look forward to seeing what color your new door will be eventually. :-) (And selfishly, I eagerly await bathroom reno posts.)
keisha says
*new FRONT door
Dawn says
I can’t say this enough…..congrats on the new house! I’m sure you all are very excited as as your fans! And honestly, I can’t imagine you’ll have any trouble selling your existing house…..best of luck!
Lisa says
Congratulations on the new house! We moved into our dream neighborhood last year and although it was a little tough to uproot a 2.5 year old it is so worth it to be in a great neighborhood! Hope Clara copes with the move well! Wishing you guys all the best! And I’m sure your current house will sell in NO time! You’ve turned it into just about anyone’s dream home!