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Farewell to our old house!

We closed on our old house yesterday! This is such a huge sigh of relief for us, although it is so very bittersweet. Buying another house before selling was a huge leap of faith for us (also read: risk). We found our new house last year, early Fall, when it was foreclosing. Our house was already on the market at the time and we had a few interested buyers, so we put an offer in on it, not fully understanding what we were getting ourselves into. By the grace of God, we actually lost the house to an investor. There wasn’t a ton of other houses on the market at the time, and definitely none that we loved, so we took our house off the market and decided to stay. Early this spring, the house came back on the market, with most of the major repairs done (electrical, hvac, refinishing the hardwoods, roof & master bathroom). We knew we had outgrown our current house & needed to make a move, so we jumped at the chance! We really loved the house, it was just one of those houses that gave us good vibes, we loved the back yard, we loved the schools for our kids & loved how much character it had. So we bought it & were hopeful that our home would sell. We sorta just missed the peak of home buying, and really put our house on the market just a little too late. Over the course of the last four months, we showed our house nearly thirty times. THIRTY. Thirty times I swept, mopped, shoved shit in drawers, made beds & rushed three kids out the door for someone to walk through and tell me that the back yard wasn’t what they were looking for. 
We had an offer in the first month, and the sellers ultimately backed out because another house they loved became available. We were devastated! We then had two offers contingent on the sale of the buyers houses (which we couldn’t accept). After that we had about a month of no movement, a few showings here and there but we felt defeated. We lowered our price, spent the weekend moving out, and had seven showings on the first day our house was vacant. Those showings resulted in three offers (holy what?!), one being almost 10k over asking price. Of course we jumped at that offer, accepted it and did a happy dance. And what do you know, those buyers got cold feet and backed out three days later. ALL THE TEARS.
 
Our realtor reached back out to the other two buyers, and one came back immediately with a full price offer that afternoon. Funniest story, Brandon kept warning me that with each offer, buyers would ask to keep mirrors, the trampoline, our patio furniture, etc. and he kept telling me that I would have to learn to part with something in order to sell our house. With this offer, the buyer asked to keep his garage speakers that he loved so dearly and spent hours and hours wiring all around the walls. Sometimes ya just gotta part with things you love in order to sell your house. We accepted, again, but this time totally hesitant to ever get excited about it. Inspection came and went, repairs, appraisal, prayers and more prayers. And finally, 45 days later, we closed on the house, holding our breath until the very last minute.
 
We loved our first house, and it was home to most of the very best memories of my entire life. I will never forget the home that we brought two of our three babies home from the hospital to. The home that we celebrated all three of their first birthdays in, and both of us turned thirty in. We celebrated each of our babies first Halloweens, their first Thanksgivings & their first Christmases. 

The breakfast nook will always be my favorite room in that house, I loved how the light poured in during breakfast & the brick walls will always hold a special place in my heart. I will also never forget the ice storm that caused a tree to almost come through this window. I will never forget how the cupboard in the kitchen where we put our glasses always smelled like pickles to me & how our oven never looked clean again after I dumped that whole tray of cheesy potatoes over in it our first month we lived there.Or the creaky floorboards that were right in front of the pantry door that always got me caught sneaking snacks when the kids were around. And although the backyard drove me crazy by the end, I will never forget the way the string lights looked among the pine trees or the way the rain sounded when it hit all of the ivy.

Farewell, old house. We will love you forever!

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Comments

  1. Totally made me tear up. Our house is on the market right now, less than a month with almost a dozen showings so far. Tired of keeping a "clean house" is an understatement. So happy to hear yours sold!! I can't wait to see more of your new home but am in love with this breakfast nook forever I think!

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  7. Aw, this makes me happy and sad all at the same time for you guys! I have hard time parting with things, so I can imagine that moving from the house where you made most of your memories, like you said, was very hard to do. I don't know that I would have been able to be brave enough to ultimately do it when it came crunch time! I think about looking for a house again often, but honestly, I love where we are and all the memories as a family with my babies and all… that I just can't bring myself to do it! Congratulations, you guys!

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  8. It's so interesting to hear your experience from a seller's point of view. We're searching for a house right now and have put in a few offers, but nothing so far. It's kind of comforting to know that the sellers are probably just as stressed out and nervous as we are! lol

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  9. Congratulations! We bought a new house this summer also and after having 3 babies in 37 months with all of their milestones in the "old" house, it was so bittersweet. Cheers to the next chapter! 🙂

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  15. Definitely tearing up! Thanks for sharing this with us. We keep thinking about moving, but I'm not sure I can leave the house where I brought my babies home.

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  16. So we bought a house and ours is for sale and nothing! So you are telling me to be patient…it's hard?
    Good to know it ended well for you and your family, fingers crossed for us

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  17. Congrats! What a huge relief, but so bittersweet. It can be so hard to close the door on one chapter, but at least you already know what lies ahead in the next! Cheers!

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  18. Congratulations on selling your house!! We sold our first house last year and bought our "forever" home – I've ever been so stressed!! I say all the time this better be our forever home because there is no way I'm ever moving again! 😉 I can't wait to see more of your new home as you decorate and make it your own! 🙂

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  20. Ummmm these pregnancy hormones are making me weepy! Lol! So beautiful. I've been following you since you started and I love seeing how your family has grown.. we are on the brink of a big move too and I wondered how the kids have adjusted? My 3 year old has mentioned a couple times that he doesn't want a new house, he wants to stay at his home, which kills me. I reassure him it will be great, remind him that all of our stuff will be coming with us etc.. did you experience any push back from any of them?

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  23. We sold our house a year ago, and I remember holding my breath until all of the papers were signed too. It is SUCH a relief to truly get it sold and close that chapter. I have always loved the photos of your house, it had such character. I am sure you new one will have plenty too and I can't wait to see more!

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  24. Aw this post made me teary eyed!! I just remembered all the posts of your moving into it and decorating it. It's like a part of the family!!! But change can be good and on to new adventures!! Congratulations!!!

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  25. Congrats on your new house and the selling of the old. We recently sold our house too – the one we brought our babies home to. It is most definitely a bittersweet moment. Lots of memories made there, just like yours. But here's to new memories in a new house! 🙂

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  26. Congrats!! We went through something similar and selling can be so damn stressful! We sold sooner than expected and had to live in a 1BR apartment for 2 months until our house was built. You will soon look back and laugh! The old homes will hold a special place in our hearts but the best is yet to come!

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  28. What a testimony!! We were on the market for 6 months with several offers, 4 accepted, 3 that fell through. The final offer was an all cash one! We know all too well about the ups and downs of selling. Our realtor said he had never seen anything like it but in the end we got the house in Denver that was right on time for us. Congrats again Jessica 🙂

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  29. This post made me tear up, as this post completely hits home for me since we sold and moved to a new house ourselves back in June. I think bittersweet is the perfect characterization for these kinds of moments. However, cheers to new adventures & tons of new happy memories! Congrats!����

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  30. Hi! Congrats on the house moving! I've been reading your blog almost since the beginning and loving it. I'm in the process of buying and selling too. My question has nothing to do with moving though, it's about the table in your breakfast nook. Where did you get it? I need one just like that for my new house! Thanks again for such thoughtful posts throughout the years. 🙂

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