home sweet home
This week is the week we've been talking about for years. The week when we'll bite the bullet, take the plunge and in a grand effort to get out of the 'burbs once and for all, list our house! Over the last few weeks I've been purging our closets, touching up paint and even refinishing the banister. This place was pristine when we moved in due to the former owners being child-free, and our family has taken its toll. Believe me.
With all the preparations, all the hoping for a great buyer right out of the gates, yesterday was the first time I felt a pang of sentiment about this place and realized I had never paid proper homage to it, as I did with our first house. So here it is...
***********************************************************
When my husband accepted the new job that would take us out-of-state, I had very mixed emotions. Our children were really just babies, at 5, 3 and 1, and we had been making plans to live very close to my parents and two of my best friends in the world. So when the plans changed, I was not exactly thrilled.
We were already living in temporary housing since we had sold our home and were in the process of building another, so that gave us some flexibility, thank goodness. I started doing realtor.com searches in Colorado to get a feel for the housing market. I almost fell over! The houses were three times as much as in Texas and for less space. We had been in a 100 year-old house on half an acre and it looked like we were going to end up in a cookie-cutter house with no yard. Once again, I was not thrilled.
To make things even more dramatic, we had just one weekend to find a place. I became obsessive, making lists of MLS#'s I wanted to see once we arrived. I felt like hyperventilating every time one of my listings disappeared before our trip. Thank goodness we had a great realtor who took charge.
My husband flew up a day earlier than I because of the kid situation. I called him all day asking if he had found us a place. He sounded disoriented and said he'd seen so many places he couldn't even remember any of them. That made me even crazier. I had no control in the situation at all. I flew up a day later and recall seeing a rainbow from the plane window as we were landing at the Denver airport. I took it as a sign.
The next morning, the realtor came to get us and start the hunt. My husband was absolutely right. We saw dozens of houses and they were basically all the same. Nothing really jumped out at us. I had been praying that we would "know it" when we found the right place and so far my prayer was not being answered.
By the end of the day we were exhausted but had managed to narrow it to one or two that would work for us. Like I said, they were basically all the same so it wasn't a matter of finding the "perfect" one. We made an offer on one that had a good feel to us and was close to a school, even though it really was not big enough. Our realtor said he'd contact us in the morning as soon as he heard something. The same morning we had to fly back to Texas.
We went to dinner to celebrate and then back to the hotel. I did not sleep very well that night. I think my gut was trying to tell me we were rushing things.
The next morning the realtor called and said that the people would take our offer but they needed a 60 day closing. We only had 30. They threw out some weird options like having us buy the house but rent it to them for a month and things like that. We said never mind. From our past experience, the 'right thing' was never that complicated. That's when our realtor said, well, guess what? There was one new listing just that morning that sounded like what we wanted.
He picked us up and first took us by a couple of the places we'd seen the day before that were "okay" with us. They looked a little better to us the second day since the pressure was on. We said we'd probably put an offer on one if the new listing didn't pan out.
Then he took us to the new listing. We were the very first ones to see it. They didn't even have a sign in the yard yet. And the price was less that any of the others we'd seen. We walked in and after a quick look around, we "knew" that this was the house for us. It had exactly what we needed and was within walking distance of the elementary school! As we looked out the windows upstairs my husband sighed, "Look...we can see the mountains from here," but my mind was somewhere else, "Look, we can see the grocery store from here!" We each had our priorities and as someone who'd been commuting 20 miles to a grocery store for four years, I knew what mine were.
We signed yet another offer, left it on the realtor's hands, and headed to the airport. We were doubtful that the owners would take our offer since we were the first ones to even see the place. As soon as the plane touched down in Texas we turned on our phones to check for messages. There was none.
We rounded up the boys from my parents' house and headed back to our temporary apartment. Halfway there the phone rang. "Are you sitting down?" our realtor asked. "Yes!" I said. "They accepted your offer and have already signed off on it!" We screamed in the car and explained to the boys that we were on our way top start a new life in Colorado. They just blinked at us.
After all my lists and lists and anxiety, we ended up with a house that had not even gone on the market until hours before we had to leave the state! I think God must have gotten a kick out of that. A good reminder that I'm never in charge so I might as well just relax.
*************************************************************
I tell this story to explain that although it turns out we are not suited to living in the suburbs, we have been very blessed to live in this home for the last three years. Although there were no new babies brought home here, no first steps taken or first words spoken here, this place is were we started our new life. A life in a beautiful place where we've been fortunate enough to meet some really great friends and create a lot of happy memories.
Hopefully it will sell quickly and the next people will also love it and be more 'burb oriented. Then, we're off to find our third home together. A home with a big tree for a treehouse, a big yard for playing games and basically some fresh air and space. The home where we will finish raising our boys. I can't wait!
With all the preparations, all the hoping for a great buyer right out of the gates, yesterday was the first time I felt a pang of sentiment about this place and realized I had never paid proper homage to it, as I did with our first house. So here it is...
***********************************************************
When my husband accepted the new job that would take us out-of-state, I had very mixed emotions. Our children were really just babies, at 5, 3 and 1, and we had been making plans to live very close to my parents and two of my best friends in the world. So when the plans changed, I was not exactly thrilled.
We were already living in temporary housing since we had sold our home and were in the process of building another, so that gave us some flexibility, thank goodness. I started doing realtor.com searches in Colorado to get a feel for the housing market. I almost fell over! The houses were three times as much as in Texas and for less space. We had been in a 100 year-old house on half an acre and it looked like we were going to end up in a cookie-cutter house with no yard. Once again, I was not thrilled.
To make things even more dramatic, we had just one weekend to find a place. I became obsessive, making lists of MLS#'s I wanted to see once we arrived. I felt like hyperventilating every time one of my listings disappeared before our trip. Thank goodness we had a great realtor who took charge.
My husband flew up a day earlier than I because of the kid situation. I called him all day asking if he had found us a place. He sounded disoriented and said he'd seen so many places he couldn't even remember any of them. That made me even crazier. I had no control in the situation at all. I flew up a day later and recall seeing a rainbow from the plane window as we were landing at the Denver airport. I took it as a sign.
The next morning, the realtor came to get us and start the hunt. My husband was absolutely right. We saw dozens of houses and they were basically all the same. Nothing really jumped out at us. I had been praying that we would "know it" when we found the right place and so far my prayer was not being answered.
By the end of the day we were exhausted but had managed to narrow it to one or two that would work for us. Like I said, they were basically all the same so it wasn't a matter of finding the "perfect" one. We made an offer on one that had a good feel to us and was close to a school, even though it really was not big enough. Our realtor said he'd contact us in the morning as soon as he heard something. The same morning we had to fly back to Texas.
We went to dinner to celebrate and then back to the hotel. I did not sleep very well that night. I think my gut was trying to tell me we were rushing things.
The next morning the realtor called and said that the people would take our offer but they needed a 60 day closing. We only had 30. They threw out some weird options like having us buy the house but rent it to them for a month and things like that. We said never mind. From our past experience, the 'right thing' was never that complicated. That's when our realtor said, well, guess what? There was one new listing just that morning that sounded like what we wanted.
He picked us up and first took us by a couple of the places we'd seen the day before that were "okay" with us. They looked a little better to us the second day since the pressure was on. We said we'd probably put an offer on one if the new listing didn't pan out.
Then he took us to the new listing. We were the very first ones to see it. They didn't even have a sign in the yard yet. And the price was less that any of the others we'd seen. We walked in and after a quick look around, we "knew" that this was the house for us. It had exactly what we needed and was within walking distance of the elementary school! As we looked out the windows upstairs my husband sighed, "Look...we can see the mountains from here," but my mind was somewhere else, "Look, we can see the grocery store from here!" We each had our priorities and as someone who'd been commuting 20 miles to a grocery store for four years, I knew what mine were.
We signed yet another offer, left it on the realtor's hands, and headed to the airport. We were doubtful that the owners would take our offer since we were the first ones to even see the place. As soon as the plane touched down in Texas we turned on our phones to check for messages. There was none.
We rounded up the boys from my parents' house and headed back to our temporary apartment. Halfway there the phone rang. "Are you sitting down?" our realtor asked. "Yes!" I said. "They accepted your offer and have already signed off on it!" We screamed in the car and explained to the boys that we were on our way top start a new life in Colorado. They just blinked at us.
After all my lists and lists and anxiety, we ended up with a house that had not even gone on the market until hours before we had to leave the state! I think God must have gotten a kick out of that. A good reminder that I'm never in charge so I might as well just relax.
*************************************************************
I tell this story to explain that although it turns out we are not suited to living in the suburbs, we have been very blessed to live in this home for the last three years. Although there were no new babies brought home here, no first steps taken or first words spoken here, this place is were we started our new life. A life in a beautiful place where we've been fortunate enough to meet some really great friends and create a lot of happy memories.
Hopefully it will sell quickly and the next people will also love it and be more 'burb oriented. Then, we're off to find our third home together. A home with a big tree for a treehouse, a big yard for playing games and basically some fresh air and space. The home where we will finish raising our boys. I can't wait!
posted by Nicole | 1:14 PM
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