We did it. We listed our home and a quick 30 days later we went under contract!
Many of you have followed my crafting and decorating journey over the past couple years. And thank you for that! I have put my heart and soul into our home. I’ve refinished kitchen cabinets, and refinished again. I’ve made Sean layer paint coat after paint coat on these walls. We’ve added moulding, we’ve added hard floors. We updated the electric with recessed and pendant lighting in the kitchen. It is beautiful. I know it is, because without hesitation, EVERY single one of you have said, “Kimmie! Your home is so pretty, why are you moving!?” I sigh, and I smile, and I think to myself, it’s just not “right” anymore.
Ok, let me back up. You might want to grab a snack or a drink because I can already tell this is going to be a long one.
Six years ago, after spending a few years in a couple different rental houses, we became first time home buyers. Our little guy was turning 6 months old and we wanted our little family of three to live in our forever home. I spent the next 6 months working hard to bring my credit up and as soon as my credit score hit that magic number, we financed our first home. We loved it! I had been obsessively searching online listings for “the one” and this was it. Around the time we were celebrating Everett’s first birthday, we were also celebrating the purchase of our first home!
Fast forward a year or two later and the honeymoon phase was over. We have no storage space. We didn’t love the big backyard like we thought-it is too hilly. We didn’t love the layout like we thought- the two main living areas are too close to one another. We have NO storage space in this big house. While we made sure to not have any neighbors to the left or right of us, or behind us for that matter, we still purchased a home with 7 houses across the street. Don’t get me wrong, we are fortunate to have kind neighbors. There are just so many of them. Did I mention we have no storage space?
So, just about every year for the last 4 years, we have considered selling our home. We have almost listed it 3 other times. We even put an offer in on another home two years ago. Thank goodness that offer didn’t get accepted because we still wouldn’t have been happy. The way the market has been, we seem to always fall just a bit too short; what we would net for the sale of our home has always been just under what we would need to move into the house that we want. So we kept backing out, and joking about building instead.
Then, one hot (and it is safe to assume rainy) July day, we decided to do some actual research on building a home. Maybe, just maybe, we could hand pick our property, create the perfect floor plan, choose our dream exterior, and stay within our budget. After all, it was prime time to sell! I spent the next few weeks pinning every single (realistic) dream home imaginable. It didn’t take long to realize Sean and I were on the same page with just about every aspect of what we wanted. We got excited! Sean made some phone calls and before you know it, we had plans to meet with a general contractor.
So, on Sean’s birthday, we met with our builder. He happens to be a childhood friend of Sean’s. It was like a dream. Everything was perfect. He was prepared, spent hours explaining the process to us, answered every question we had, suggested a bank and a draftsman for us to work with, and said he could stay within our budget. We were sold.
After that, we met with a local bank to obtain a construction loan, we listed our home For Sale By Owner (thank you and huge shout out to David for making it possible), and then met with a draftsman to draw up our perfect home- with lots of storage space. Over the course of about 2 months, we have finalized pretty much everything we need to move forward. And hopefully within the next 30 days, we will close on the sale of our current home!
There you have it. We are moving!
Stay tuned, friends! I am excited to share more of our Dream Home Journey with you all over the next year!
Have a happy day!
