Things have been so crazy busy in the last few weeks. I do have an important update! We said yes to the Address. Yes! We bought a new house, and we have moved!
Journey to a New Home
Before we start the real estate search
Maybe I should back up a bit. LOL.
We've wanted to buy a new home for several years. Our focus for much of 2018 and 2019 was my dental implant journey. After fighting insurance for coverage, we had to pay a lot of money out of pocket up front, and hope for at least partial reimbursement. Then insurance denied the claims. Twice. We paid roughly $36,000 out of pocket, to UIC. After receiving partial our final out of pocket cost was roughly $14,000. Friends and family generously donated a portion of that, and we borrowed the rest. After paying off what we borrowed, we decided it was finally time to buy a new home.
The search is on!
Talk about exciting! Brian bought our first home just a few months after we first started talking as friends, so I had no role in the process. This would be our first home search, and first home purchase, together.
Our friend, Kathy, is a real estate agent and her team, The Renaud Team, is among the top 1% of local realtors, so we gave her a call. We've chatted with Kathy several times over the last five years about buying and selling, and she'd encouraged us to work toward being able to buy a new home without it being contingent on selling our current home. We were finally in a position to do that, so we started the hunt with Scott, a member of her team.
Scott is an absolute gem! He has four grown kids, and was so incredibly patient with our homeschooling family. He didn't mind the kids tagging along for home tours and established a great rapport with each of them.
We physically toured 31 homes between agent led tours and open houses (23 agent led tours). We made an offer on another home, but were outbid. I am SO glad we were. :D
We said yes to the address
When we toured our new house, we both loved it. It sits just outside a cul-de-sac. I was delighted to see 5 basketball hoops on the court. That means there are kids nearby. It had everything on our *must have* list, and quite a bit from our *dream home* list. We went home and talked about it. A lot. We scheduled a second tour. We loved it even more. Our offer was quickly accepted.
We closed on our new home in the morning on February 12th. After we closed, we ran home, and I created a Yes to the Address printable that we could use for a photo in front of our new house.
Then we went for a fun pizza lunch with Scott and waited for the call that the seller had finalized their paperwork. Once the call came in, Scott handed over the keys to our new home.
After we got the keys, we ran to Dollar Tree to grab two photo frames because I realized I'd packed all of our frames AND our laminator. Scott met us at the new house and took a few pictures for us. He's such a good sport!
We moved in on February 22nd. We chose to delay the move in order to remove carpet from the main level and replace it with hardwood floors. The existing carpeting had a distinct pet odor and our 11yo has asthma and allergies. We really want to keep the green light with her health.
In our new dream home, the kids each have their own bedroom. We have a dedicated homeschool room (more on that in another post). We have room for both of our vehicles, plus the bikes and scooters, in the garage.
Yes to the Address Printables
As I mentioned, I created a Yes to the Address printable to use for photos. I'd searched online for one that I liked, and couldn't find one, so I just made my own. I thought I'd share them with you.
The one we used for our photos says, “We said yes to the address”
You can download the We said Yes to the Address printable by clicking the image or the hyperlink.
I also made one that says. “I said Yes to the Address” because I realize a lot of home buyers are buying solo.
You can download the I said Yes to the Address printable by clicking on the image or the hyperlink.
We are *mostly* unpacked, I'm working through our Amazon wish list and slowly making our new house a home. We're also in the process of selling our former home, so we appreciate your prayers for that!
I can't wait to share more with you about our new home!
