Our New Home: Questions Answered

You may have seen on Instagram that we purchased and moved into our new home! We couldn’t be happier as we landed in our dream neighborhood, with a home that checked nearly all of our boxes. It was a long journey to get here and we will certainly take our time to make the right decisions for the longevity of our home. With that, I can’t wait to share the entire process, the realness of just moving in and planning out projects – taking away the pressures of feeling like your home needs to be complete all at once! I’m answering a lot of your questions below and can’t wait to share more of the home in the coming weeks! Thank you so much for being here, I can’t wait to see where we go!

Why did you want to move?

If you’ve been here for a while, you may have seen me share passively that we have been planning our move since the end of 2019. While our home has been great, over the years we’ve grown (financially and as adults with wants + needs) and became claustrophobic in our home. Greg was working from the basement, we were maxed out on storage space and room for the dog to fully roam.

Outside of the home itself, we always knew the city was for our younger years and had aspirations for a larger space, a yard and community to enjoy. We spent a year driving around areas we thought we liked, spending time at shops and restaurants to see what felt like home. We immediately fell in love with our town as it brought us closer to a lot of areas we love – more on that below! Once we were set on the town, we spent many weekends driving neighborhoods to really picture whether or not we could call one home. Some may say being so set on specifics makes finding a new home very difficult, and it does, but our mindset was to truly love where we live. So, to us, it was worth waiting for the perfect neighborhood. This upfront work actually made it easier, as we set up our searches in early Spring of 2021 in two neighborhoods and patiently waited. 

How did you find your new home?

Buckle up, this is a long one that I’m going to try to keep short! As stated above, we had our search narrowed down to two neighborhoods. So, we set up our filters on the MLS and waited for the right one to pop up. There was a home that had been on the market for a while that we kind of ignored because of that fact, but one day in May of 2021, we decided to just go look at it to confirm what we think we like and dislike. It was a rainy day and with low expectations, we pulled up and immediately looked at each other with huge smiles. As we walked through the home, there were little quirks but SO much potential. It checked nearly all our boxes and we couldn’t believe it had been sitting, but chalked it up to the price and how much work it needed – maybe others that aren’t into interiors didn’t have a vision. After much discussion of pros and cons, we decided to put an offer in.

We had heard how wildly fast the market is, that deals can happen in minutes. Unfortunately, that was not the case for us. We finally heard back after a week that we had a verbal acceptance and of course became full of joy thinking this was finally it! We were just waiting for the signed contract to make it official. A day turned into two weeks of silence, stressing us TF out. We had finally heard that the seller was going through bankruptcy, explaining why this home had sat for so long. Sparing details of it, we were devastated not knowing whether or not they’d be able to sell and when. As each month went by, we rode the wave of emotions and each time we decided to give up on it and leave it up to fate, there would be something that would pull us back. Check-ins with lawyers, court documents and other agents would pop up and with no other homes on the market, we held out.

In early December, we got a call from the past agent that he was contacted and informed that the house would be going on the market via the courts. This was go-time and the best possible news over attending an auction for the house. The heads up allowed us to make the first appointment when it went live, and, bring our inspector for a “pre-inspection” to be able to wave it in our offer. We of course saw the home in the Summer, but was great to have a chance to come back and make sure nothing was majorly wrong. To our benefit, the home had been vacant so it did not show as well as it did back then to new buyers. There was a deadline for offers of later that week, but we had asked and they were willing to accept offers early. It was an as-is sale, best and final with no escalation clauses. I think we spent a DAY discussing contingencies and our offer price 🤪 My uncle was our agent and shared our journey with them, in hopes that it may help a little bit on top of our aggressive offer. We pressed submit and hoped for the best!

After a few days of luckily moving along negotiations, they received 4 more offers just as they were about to sign with us. Since they were so far down the line and knew our story, they gave us a chance to meet a price and it would be ours. Of course, we agreed! So, on a Monday we were scared shitless, yet excited to go see our dream home for the first time in 7 months…and by Friday afternoon, it was OURS. Everyone says everything works out as it should and while you’re in it, you brush it off and may not see the end light. However, after months of tears and the unknown, it truly did all work out for us and we couldn’t be happier. We are so grateful to my Uncle (our agent) who spent countless evenings on the phone with us strategizing for almost a year on how to work every angle of this deal.

What are you doing with the Baltimore home?

I purchased our Baltimore home at just 23 and was so proud of myself! While bittersweet, I always knew I’d definitely want to sell it. The stress and time required to rent out a home isn’t worth the small profit to me. The real seal of the deal for me was the current hot market. We listed it on a Wednesday and had multiple offers in by Saturday, so we set a deadline of Sunday and cut off showings. We are so lucky that it went so fast and that the profits will be very helpful to jump into projects here! We are under contract and set to close at the end of the month, so have been spending time back and forth getting it ready for the new owners. It was so fun to hear all of the great feedback and I’m excited for another couple to make it their own.

Where is the new home?

For privacy reasons, I won’t be sharing specifics of the neighborhood or town. However, we are outside of Annapolis, Maryland, and couldn’t be happier as we both share a love and history of time spent downtown. My husband grew up spending a good amount of time there with his Uncle and had always dreamed of living there. Organically, we both have spent a lot of time over the years downtown, always finding ourselves coming back. We’d move there in a heartbeat, but getting into an excellent public school district was really important to us, which was a big factor in our overall home search. We are in a water-privileged community with lots of activities, amenities and events which was really important to us for the future of our family! It’s also a huge plus that we are much closer to the beach home, saving us 45 minutes. I highly recommend making a list of what’s important to you when you think of your ideal lifestyle to narrow down what you actually want.

How many square feet? Beds/baths? Any additions planned?

The house is 2,900 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. We do not plan to add onto the home as that has already been done several times!

What is one thing you love about the house? What is the first thing you want gone?

There are so many things I truly love, but to some it up – just the potential. The flow and layout is really ideal to entertain but still have privacy. The bones of the kitchen, entry and living room are amazing, which will save us a lot of time and money to get spaces we love. The first thing I want gone is the flooring, more on that to come!

Do you plan on doing major renovations?

I wouldn’t say major – not many walls coming down, just a few. BUT, complete transformations of every space will happen, including the exterior! These things do take time, financially and to properly ensure it’s whats best for the function of our home. I’m really pushing myself to open up and share the realness of renovating a home. That it doesn’t always happen in a matter of months. That people do have “ugly” spaces for some time and that’s ok. While I recognize how fortunate we are to be in this home as-is, it’s just not our style, which is what you will find to be in many homes during the process. I’ll be sharing our first project very soon!

What will the style of this home be?

I have been DYING to get my hands on a new home to finally lean into my true style. You’ll still see myself in it – clean lines, muted tones and minimalism – but more of a traditional, classic feel with modern twists and layers. I just can’t wait to put everything that is in my head out there! I plan on sharing a House Moodboard soon to give you a peek into my mind.

I’ll leave you with a glimpse of our kitchen! It has such a great layout and I can’t wait to share the plans for this space. A house tour and all of those fun details are to come, but please comment or message me any further questions you may have! Thank you so much for following along, this is just the start!