We have BIG news to share – we bought a new house! Yes, we will be moving within the next 6 months. Our new home is an old historic gem of a building that is in need of some TLC. This move means a new town (village actually) too, about 1 hour away from our existing home. 2018 is going to be a year of BIG changes.
Why the move?
Way back about 15 years ago we moved from a city to our rural piece of paradise on 20 acres. The home had been vacant for a long time and was in need of just about everything.
This home wasn’t our first “project” of this kind; we had bought and sold 3 other properties through the years. Jim is so incredibly handy and well versed with just about every aspect of home improvement that his skill set is suited for projects. We poured our heart and soul into making this home what it is today, and we love it. We love living in the quiet peaceful setting and seeing the wildlife out nearly every window. However, we were longing for a change. There was this little voice inside our heads that was telling us that a change may be in the air. We kind of figured that in 2 or 3 years we would sell our house and move onto another project.
2 or 3 years? Nope. We’ve been friends with our realtor for about 20 years and one Sunday I happened to go online to see her current listings. I had not done this in years. Many years. Well, there is was – an eye-catching historical Victorian home that was screaming for some love and attention. We took the drive to check it out, met with the realtor and this little voice inside our head told us to make an offer. After a few weeks of back and forth, in the midst of Jim’s meningitis diagnosis and hospitalization (the timing, right?), we finalized the price and signed the purchase agreement.
What is the plan?
The plan now is that we will be working on some of the needed renovations on the new home while we are living in our existing home. We will be cleaning, painting, etc – to make it suitable for living. We are so excited by the possibilities this new home holds! Our plan is to live on the second floor of the home, which just needs cosmetic renovations. Then Jim will work on the main floor of the home which will mean larger projects such as an entire new kitchen, a new master bathroom and walk in closet. The basement (which is large and nice and clean) will house our online business, which will be perfect.
Once the new house is ready for us, we will move and place our existing home up for sale. We’ve talked extensively with our realtor and have the preliminary steps out of the way. In speaking with her, we agree our existing home will most likely sell better without all of our personal stuff inside. Is this your experience as well?
Our hope is to have the home up for sale by early Spring. Seeing that in writing is kind of odd; but it feels right.
Oh the differences
We are gearing up for a world of differences in our new home. If you are going to make a change, we figured to go big.
We no longer will have 20 acres of wooded property. No more wildlife outside the window, but no more spending the weekend caring for the grass, the gardens, the pond, etc. Once the renovation is over we should have more free time to travel and explore. You know we love to do that! Our new home is in the village; so close to the village center that we can walk to the post office and the village offices. We can also walk to the marina and the library, we can stroll the river bank that runs in front of our home and walk to the park.
We have neighbors in our new home too, neighbors who have homes we can see outside our windows. That will be a big change!
I could go on and on…but you get the idea.
Listen to your heart
A big part of this decision was listening to our heart. We’ve always been firm believers that things happen for a reason. Trials and tribulations, successes and failures, the good and the bad … happen for a reason.
You know us well enough to know that we are not afraid of challenge. We’ve faced things just like most of you have, from health scares including cancer to financial woes to a bunch of stuff in between. Through it all we have tried our best to follow the path laid out in front of us. This decision wasn’t easy, and it involved some deep discussions of pros vs. cons. In the end, we agreed it was right. We are so, so excited for this journey and plan on sharing a lot of it with you.
Home renovation usually involves the unexpected challenge, and we are ready!
