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.
Christin says
Congrats! Good luck with the closing – hope it all goes smoothly. Can’t wait to see the before shots and how you transform them! :)
Sarah says
p.s. At some point (in your spare time) would you mind posting some tips about
“Selling By Owner”? I’m curious how you got people into your house to look …
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Sarah,
Yes, that post is definitely in the works!
xo,
s
Kyle says
YAY CONGRATS! P.S. It looks like my parents’ house… :)
Kelly D says
Congratulations! This made my day and weekend. I am so excited for you guys and can’t wait to follow along on all your projects. You guys ROCK! Have fun celebrating!
Sandra Ann says
Congratulations!!! I am so excited for you guys! Can’t wait for all the new ideas and projects :) You deserve the best!
Bethany says
Can’t wait to see the inside and what you guys will do with it! Congrats!!
Mike @HA says
whoooooooooooo hooooooooooo! I’ll do my own little dance for you :)
Janel says
Congrats guys!!! Cannot wait to come along for the ride as you transform your new house!
Felicita says
Congrats!! So glad it didn’t take you guys monthssss to find a place like me. I’ve been looking since April and we finally found a house on Monday. Fingers crossed we close on 11/29! Eeekkk so excited for our first house.
Brooke says
I just realize you guys are going to have to change your slogan now! :) “Two young people falling in love with their NEW (second)house”. Congratulations!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Brooke,
We’re on the case!
xo,
s
Elizabeth says
Congratulations! I just started reading your blog also. I am remodeling our 1917 home and I have found some AWESOME tips from your website. I hope your dreams come true with your new home and make many happy memories there. Best wishes to you and yours.
Hayley says
Congrats! Great news, I’m very excited to see what you do with it.
I’m guessing this means a lot of ‘behind the scenes’ blog work for you. You’ll almost have two websites – the old house and the new one. It sounds like lots of moving of links and things, I hope it all goes smoothly.
Jean says
Big, big congratulations to the four of you! I can’t wait to see interior photos.
Melody says
ah! The anticipation is killing me! I hope you’ll be showing some pictures of the inside soon!
rd shugart says
Okay, I’m a little freaked out … seriously, this looks EXACTLY like our house that we currently have on the market! Except we do have a garage. Everything from the white columns on the porch, to the brick ranch, & our garage is located in the same place as the carport. Weird, huh? Congrats on the fast sale & hope everything goes smoothly with the closing.
Claire says
Congrats!!
Most people would hate to move around the holidays. But it’s probably Christmas dream for you two!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Claire,
So true! It’s the best present ever!
xo,
s
CarrieK says
WOOHOO!! I have creepy permasmile for you guys!
Lesley H says
So stinkin’ happy for you! LOVE that the new house is so reminiscent of the first one. Enjoy!
kyley says
wow that happened so quick!! I thought it would be months. so excited for you!
Lisa says
I feel down laughing when I read you nixed all carports at first because we did the same thing when we were looking for houses last winter. I don’t know what it is but deep down I really cannot stand a carport for some reason (they were VERY uncommon where I grew up so that might be why.) We even preferred no garage to a carport (even though we would have loved a garage.) It worked out for us in the end though.
Even though we don’t have a carport starting point we want to add a garage someday so I’m excited to see the transformation of carport to garage.
Knock on wood that all goes smooth congrats.
Kari says
What a bittersweet announcement! Couldn’t be happier for you guys, but still a little sad to hear that it’s really happening!! Good luck with the move–start packing now!
Stephanie says
Congratulations! Hope the lending process goes smoothly for all parties. Can’t wait to see more of the new place! Will you wait until closing to share photos of the interior?
Kathleen says
CONGRATS!!!! I hope the rest of the process goes smoothly! I hope the new owners take great care of the fantastic house you created! Cheers to future DIY projects!
Jennifer Oswald says
Was trying to convince my husband that we need to move from Italy and buy your sweet house. He answered “you want to live in Richmond, VA?” I guess I never thought about it…I just wouldn’t mind living in your awesome house! :)
Congratulations on the new digs. I know you are just turning circles at the thought of new projects galore. (Burger too)
Mandy says
Wow, that was quick! So happy for you guys, I am so glad that we get a whole new house full of projects from you!! It took up almost 2 years to find our house, so glad that it was more like 2 months for you guys!! :)
heather s. says
So how ‘real time’ was the blog during this? It seems like you found the house pretty quickly but were you really searching for a couple of months? How many houses did you walk through before you found this one? How many people came through your home? I want details! I love house hunting!
Congratulations on the new home. I’m sad it looks so similar to your current home on the outside since I selfishly wanted to see you tackle something different but I’m excited to see the pics and see what you do with the house!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Heather S,
We did our best to keep as much as possible in real time (with a few days between things happening and us posting about them of course, just because wiring posts and uploading pics takes time). The day we announced our house was for sale was truly the day it went on sale, and although we toured about 17 houses on the inside we only shared a few highlights since writing up pros & cons for each of them was a bit hard (especially since some were obvious nos from the moment we walked in the door). And it really was last evening that we got the green light that all our deals should be going through (both buying and selling) so we didn’t wait to share that news at all. It’s so hard to bite our tongues about things anyway- we’re oversharers to a fault! As for how our selling process went, we’ll be posting all about that. We had about 15 showings- it was craziness. More to come…
xo,
s
Cara says
Congrats! Cheers! Salut! Yee-haw! And WOO to the HOO!!!! The new place is BEAUTIFUL. Jeff Lewis can eat his heart out :)
Nancy says
I totally just had to scroll up, then scroll down… scroll up again to make sure you weren’t fooling us. I thought you didn’t sell/buy a house at all by the looks of your new house. But it just has the same color brick etc.
Boy, my brain hurts. :)
Congratulations on the new home!
Josh G. says
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Congrats, I can’t wait to see and learn even more, good luck moving… and organizing, that is a task in itself :)
Sally says
Just saw your new tag line – I’m digging it!
harmony says
CONGRATULATIONS! That’s so exciting–it all seems to have happened so quickly! Although I’m sure it didn’t feel all that fast to you guys;-)
Daniela says
WOW! Congratulations!!! I can’t wait for future posts!
Tiffany says
Congrats! I can’t wait to see what you do with it!
Holly says
Congratulations!
I was literally thinking about how your buying and selling process was going this morning – how crazy! Can’t wait to see how the transition goes and how you transform your new home!
brandt @ New House on the Blog says
Obviously mazel tov on finding THE ONE and being able to set up the sale like that! Way to go! EXCITEMENT BUBBLES OVER ME AND I CANT CONTROL MY EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!11!1!!!!11!@!!!
So first of all, I have to ask – is that a little creek running by it on the left there? If it is, I am officially jealous.
Also, I didn’t believe my agent at first, but the whole “feeling in your stomach,” “this is the one” mumbo jumbo people actually talk about IS TRUE. You go in lots of houses and kinda feel “meh, it could work,” but when you find the one it’s kind of amazing. SO HAPPY.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Brandt,
It’s not really a wet creek, but sort of a dry ravine. The landscaping is going to be a bit of a challenge for us (we’re used to flat land and lots of grass) but we’re up for it!
xo,
s
Emily says
I am soooo excited for you guys! I bet if you have any more kids, you will find that the house isn’t too big after all. Congrats!!
Misty says
Oh yay! Excitement is in the air! I love it!
Mary Ann says
Congratulations! That’s so fantastic that you were able to find a place so quickly. And that’s great that you’ll be able to convert your carport. We were originally wanting to convert ours but decided it just wasn’t going to work out for us — not enough storage space + space for my car. But no one in this neighborhood has an enclosed garage for some reason, so we all just watch out for each other.
http://frostedgingerbread.blogspot.com/2010/11/storage-shed-at-last.html
Laura says
We are closing on our first house later this month, and the renovation bug is dying to get out! It will be fun to go through our own reno fun along side yours. Congrats!!
Courtney says
Congrats, that’s so exciting! I look forward to seeing your new house transform and all the awesome projects you two come up with.
Ashley says
Congratulations! I’m so happy for both of you!
Brigid says
Has your YHL slogan already changed to “One young family ,plus one Old house, equals love”? Or am I just that dense that I haven’t noticed the change before? So excited for your little family!!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Brigid,
We just changed it about ten minutes ago! Good eye.
xo,
s
Shareen says
Congratulations! The search can be so stressful…but so rewarding in the end. Now onto the adventure of MOVING! :)
And I think I speak for all of us when I say we’d really like a video of how excited you are. Perhaps a “Carlton-dance” is in order? :)
Megan says
Congrats on both ends of the deal! We are currently in the middle of purchasing our first home (we just had the inspection last night!) so I now know exactly what your going through. But how exciting that you’ve found something and can now let the design ideas flow :) Good luck with the rest of the process!
LINDZ says
YAY! Congrats! I am super excited for you guys not only that you found your 2nd dream home but I think because my husband and I are getting to do this too. We just closed on our dream home and it’s such an amazing feeling.
Our minds are whirling with excitment and ideas for projects we can’t wait to get to so we’re excited to be able to snag some inspiration from you two err four youngsters!
Best of luck and we can’t wait to hear more dets!
Eliza says
I thought for a second that you weren’t actually moving and it was a joke because the houses (with the new one blurred) look so similar! I had to scroll back and forth to see if they were really different! Haha. But now I see it and I am so excited for you guys!
Leanne (Simplicitlee) says
Yay!!! It looks pretty! Kinda like your old house but I can’t wait to see what you do to it :) After my fiance and I are done saving for the wedding we are going to start doing DIY projects around our home! I can’t wait to draw inspiration from you guys!
Dawn says
WAHOOOOOOO!!! I’m so happy for you guys! I’ve been living vicariously thru you these days. I was hoping to be able to buy my own house but I’m going to have to wait a bit longer. However, I have been entertaining the thought of a “fixer-upper”. Just got to find that diamond in the rough that’s not in the “rough” part of town…lol.
Can’t WAIT to see what you do to this one! I actually lived in one that was similiar and my mind was twirling with all the “redo” things I wanted to do with it. If I hadn’t gotten a better job offer in a different state, I probably would have purchased it.
Lessons in Life and Light says
Wow, I’m so excited for you guys! I remember that “in love” feeling we had when we bought our current house. I remember thinking, “I can’t believe we actually get to live here!” So fun. Can’t wait to see all of the amazing projects you guys do!
Candice says
Congratulations! I can’t believe how much it looks like the current house!