For at least the last year we have gone back and forth on the idea of having a bigger house, expanding our current home or just living with what we have. We have a great house - we love our house! All 960 cozy square feet of it. Our family of three fits great and we have excellent plans for the upcoming 4th member and for the kids to eventually share a room. One thing that has been on my wish list, however, is a second bathroom. Half bathroom. Ok, just another toilet? But how to accomplish that in a cost effective way that won't involve changing our foundation or impacting future resale, well we just haven't been sure.
We keep an eye on the local real estate market and even get a heads up on new listings the day they hit the MLS. We have looked at a few properties that we could maybe have seen ourselves in and some that our realtor asked us to "have an open mind" about (red flag!!) but none were the right fit or location or price. Good houses have been getting snatched up in this town in less than a week lately so we had to be ready.
On a recent Tuesday a new listing email arrived in our inbox and the house was cute but we disregarded it as it had been purchased recently for a quick renovation. That Friday our realtor called and recommended that we see the home. After a look around we decided we liked what we saw - Saturday we formulated a plan, offer and sweet letter explaining our upcoming family expansion complete with adorable family photo. Sunday we signed the offer and hoped for the best as there were already two offers and an Open House scheduled for that afternoon. Monday afternoon our offer was accepted! Cue the "You like me! You really like me!" feeling...or maybe you really like our competitive offer. But I digress.
Today we signed papers. Tomorrow we pay the big bucks. Friday we get keys! And soon we will be living in a 4 bedroom, 2 (full!!) bath home with an indoor laundry room. What!!?? We feel like this was sort of meant to be since we will be getting in and settled just in time for Baby Sock's arrival and the extra space means visiting Grandparents won't be stuck sleeping in the living room after baby makes 4. That's not to say that this isn't a stressful time (this coming weekend is the only free one we have for a month - work obligations and conferences are taking us out of town for the next 4 weekends) and topping it off we are going down the path of becoming landlords. We love our little house so much that we want to keep it for the future - for the kids or for us when we don't need a 4 bedroom house. So while moving is on the big checklist, so is advertising and renting out this house. Oh, and getting it ready for someone else to live in by taking care of the imperfections that we don't mind living with.
So hopefully I'll get some good blog posts out about all of these adventures we are about to embark on.
I love reading this over and over as you have so well planned your family upgrade and carried it off. I couldn't be happier for you as you have bought a really nice house with lots of livability and to grow in. More power too you and keep those updated blogs coming, in your spare time. Love you all, Opa
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