The House

Tuesday, April 6

I was heading to school when I noticed a For Sale sign at the end of Woodridge Estates.  We had been looking around at various houses for almost a year now.  Seeing them, pondering their positives and negatives, trying to decide whether to make an offer, watching them get sold before we could act.  We had also gone to talk to some businesses about building, inquired about lots for sale in a number of locations, and looked at floor plans.  Yet, we were fairly content in Kidron.  We had good neighbors, a beautiful view (especially out back), and enough space.  We wondered if our looking was because there was a home out there for us or if we were just “keeping up with the Joneses.”  But we knew what we wanted – a bit more space for an actual office for Jeremy, a master bathroom (I was tired of sharing), and closer to the school.  All of these things could not happen at the Kidron house.  We had made improvements – a new deck with a patio, new roofing, bathroom remodel – but we couldn’t make space for the other things.  So, we were tentatively looking around, but not in a hurry either. 

But then I saw the sign.  In Woodridge Estates. In the location of some of the potential lots we had thought about.  Right next to the school.

I sent Jeremy a text.  Sent Laura Martin (our realtor) a text.  Looked at the listing on Zillow.com. The listing looked mediocre at best.  The pictures appeared to have been taken by a cell phone with poor lighting and absolutely no effort at staging it for sale.  BUT I liked the description of the layout of the house.

                                                 

Laura suggested we book a showing the next day at the latest.  So, we did. 

Wednesday, April 7

We met at 3:30 for our showing.  We went in with very low expectations.  Jeremy wasn’t thrilled about it.  I didn’t think it had curb appeal.  But it was in a good location and worth looking at.  Laura informed us there was already an offer on the house, and the seller wanted all offers in by 9pm that night!  What?!?  Are you kidding?  So, we looked with a different perspective – one that was not just perusing, but one that was in the market. We overlooked the mattresses on the floor, the random massage chair, the pile of stuff in the guest room, and the broken couches.  We did look at the layout, the yard, the appliances (a little), and as much as we could take in during the hour or so we were there.  Then, we walked away.  While walking away, the neighbor and my high school classmate was pulling out of her driveway.  I ran over and tapped on her window – scared her to death!  I told her we were interested in the house, and asked if she could put a good word in for us. She said she would

As we pulled out, we talked about it. It met all (most?) of the criteria – high basement ceilings, office area, master bathroom, bathroom off the utility room connected to the garage, finished basement (bonus), and a few other things.  We called Laura and decided to make an offer.  Thankfully, we still had our pre-approval letter from last March that would work.  Our offer didn’t make it at 9pm.  We had kids to feed, paperwork to fill out, a price to decide on, and the jitters of our decision to contend with. 

But it did make it by 9:30pm.  Laura said the sellers waited on our offer because of my friend’s recommendation!

By 10pm the seller had accepted our offer, and we were on the path to a new home.

We hoped we had made the right decision; it was so fast.

Friday, April 9

Go back to look at the house with our parents.  Make sure we know what we bought.  (Think nervous face emoji here.)

Friday, April 16

Personal day off.  Meet with Laura to list our Kidron house as Coming Soon – attract interest, give us time to pack up and move out some things, clean, get professional photos, etc.

Let the moving begin – paint the shed, pack/move as much as possible out of the house

Pepper’s not sure if he is supposed to move in with the boxes or not.  I think he is just trying to find something that seems stable and normal – his crate.

Saturday, May 1

The Kidron house is officially on the market.  Our official pictures – we worked our tails off to get our house this nice (and empty)! 

                                                           

We left for the day.  Three showings in the morning.  Open house for two hours in the afternoon.  Additional showings that night.  One offer came in sight unseen (all cash) on Friday night.  We wondered what would happen this day. 

Monday, May 3

We officially closed on the Dalton house!  After that, we met with Laura to go over offers that had come in for our Kidron house.  We had 3 offers.  One had a number of contingencies with it that didn’t really appeal to us.  The other two were strong offers and very similar.  They both had what is called an escalation clause.  This (we learned) means that they will continue to increase their price against a competing offer until a specific price.  Jeremy and I went to eat to consider the offers.  What happened next got really confusing.

We counteroffered on offer A; they came back with something that felt like we were losing out.  So, we counteroffered offer B; they accepted.  Offer A was upset, and we ended up going with their offer since we misunderstood the escalation clause.  In the end, everyone was happy. 

This guy pretty much has no idea what is happening.

Sunday, May 9

The keys to our new house are in our hands.  As we walked around, we were pleasantly surprised with the condition of the house.  The carpets and flooring looked good.  The walls looked pretty clean.  There were a few dings, but overall, it was good.

Friday, May 30

Suzanne, a friend from church, had offered to come help me pack if I wanted it.  I took her up on the offer as the time drew to a close.  She helped box up the kitchen and a few other things, while I knocked out all the leftover spots I had skipped over.  Then, she and I transported all the hanging clothes over to the new house.  It was a gift.

Pepper pretty much looked like I felt that day. 

Saturday, May 29

The youth group from our church took up our offer to help us move all our boxes.  With a forecast of rain for Saturday morning, we had called some people in the church to see if they could get box trucks from their place of employment.  They could! What a blessing.  They all showed up at 10am.  What an amazing group of youth and a sprinkling of parents.  We ended up dividing up the group.  We had a lot of stuff at my brother’s garage from our massive emptying of our house weeks prior.  (The youth had also helped with this.)  Both groups worked hard (and without complaint) to get everything loaded – and unloaded! – in about 2 hours.  We provided pizza, cookies, chips, and pop. 

Then, they went back to get the garage stuff, and as a surprise bonus, took apart our play set (which was going to cost us about $400 to have someone move) and our trampoline. 

I cannot say enough about this group of kids and their leaders.  They are a gift to each other and to others.  It made our move so much easier.

This was our first night at our new home.

Sunday, May 30

We had packed a few days worth of clothes, so we got up and went to church this morning.  Then, we returned home.  My first task was unpacking the kitchen.  You really can’t live somewhere unless you have a place to eat.  So, I worked doggedly to do this.  Jeremy cut out shelf liners from the leftover flooring to cover the wire pantry shelves so that we could put small things on them without them fall through or getting all tilted.  It made it beautiful. 

     

Tuesday, June1

Today, we had scheduled for a moving company to come move our furniture.  They worked for about 5 hours moving tables, chairs, couches, washer, dryer, deep freeze, and a few other things.  While it came into the correct room, it was a bit of a jumble.  It took us a few days to get the main rooms in a semi-orderly state. 

Madison has pitched in with some tasks.  She has learned that she likes building and tools – taking things apart and putting them together.  She pretty much did this little bookshelf by herself – screws and nails.  She was pretty proud of it, and I was pretty excited for a place to put my cookbooks.

    

The really cool thing that happened over the following week, while Jeremy and I were working our tails off, was the girls got sucked in full force into the neighborhood.  They went over to houses of kids their age to play, tooled around on their bikes using their sidewalks (things we didn’t have in Kidron), and were completely entertained while we were completely absorbed by other things.  That was the best “welcome to the neighborhood” we could have received. 

Rest of the Week

Jeremy worked really hard at the Kidron house to finish cleaning out the garage paraphernalia.  I went over a few days to help and on Wednesday, we had a woman come clean for us a final time there.  I have learned in this house move that sometimes it is worth spending some money or asking people to help you – movers, heavy cleaners, youth group members, etc.  There is no pride in doing it all yourself. 

Monday, June 7

We signed the papers to close on our Kidron house.  It was not a sad time.  That house held a lot of good memories, and it was a really good place for us to be at that point in our lives. 

But we are all looking forward to this house.  We are starting to settle in and enjoy the gift our our new home.