The Back Story {The Moving Chapters; The Prologue}

Our moving story actually began two years ago when I spotted a home listed on MLS. It was out of our budget but it seemed like it could really work for our family. It was in the perfect location and I was immediately smitten with it.

So, I acted like most anxious home buyers do and I stalked it daily.

I drove by the house and fell in love with the street it was situated on. It was only a two minute drive away from our current home but was literally a street outside of our cities limits. Also, it totally backed onto a farmers field which spoke to my country loving heart. All that peace and quiet and it yet was still a short drive to the library and grocery stores.

It was settled. I wanted that house.

Except there was one problem. The house was overpriced and out of our current budget.

Cue the water works.

A few weeks later the house still stood un sold and the sellers suddenly dropped the price of the home substantially. I didn’t waste a minute to call my husband to convince him that our dream home was now within our grasps and bank account.

So like all the best home showing stories, we walked through the home with the selling realtor at sunset.

It was as if the realtor had planned it that way.

We stepped out on to the master suite balcony (Yes you read that right, BALCONY.) to hear birds singing, crickets chirping and to the see the pretty backyard covered with the suns golden rays. It was peaceful and perfect and we put an offer in that night.

Flash forward to a disappointing meeting with the realtor where he informed us that there was already an offer on the table and flash forward 48 hours of anxiously waiting to have the other offer firm up and the house slowly slip from our grasps.

We didn’t stand a chance. We were a little too late.

I hate when that happens in life but I am always aware that there is a lesson to be learned when things don’t seem to work out the way that I want them to.

So, I looked for the lesson with no luck.

The other offer firmed up and that family became the new lucky owners of the house on the quaint street that backed on to golden sun drenched farmers fields.

Waaaaa Waaaaaa Waaaaaaaaaa

I immediately went into house hunting overdrive. I knew if that house wasn’t for us then there would be something better. There had to be right?? We convinced ourselves that the whole house must have been covered in mold and rats. Which was the only way to deal with the cheated feeling that lingered.

My husband kind of lost the love to look at real estate for a while after that let down, but I however, couldn’t claim defeat or help myself and kept searching for the perfect property and home.

I looked and looked and dragged my children to at least 100 open houses over the year to follow like every crazy nesting Mama would. And you know what? It became our “thing”.

If we spotted a for sale sign then we went to go look at the house. For a year I literally knew the housing market in our town better then any realtor. I was, for the lack of a better word, mildly obsessed. I remember Christmas day sitting on MLS wondering why no one had put their home for sale. Like, what? Was it a holiday or something and people were too busy celebrating with their families and friends around a table laden with turkey and all the trimmings? Didn’t these celebrating people have time to list their house for my prying eyes?

I didn’t care. It was like I was hunting for a unicorn or something that seemed completely unattainable but I just couldn’t help myself.

I did what most crazy house hunters and type A personalities do and I finally compiled a list.

It went a little something like this:

I knew my list was pretty hefty and was a tall order but it didn’t deter me. The home with all the needs that were on my list still needed to fit into our budget too, so I searched and searched hoping a good deal had yet to be seen by others. So, determined, we looked and looked and yet nothing seemed to work for ALL of our needs.

Finally, after exhausting my husband with my constant house talk and MLS stalking we tried to figure out a way to happily stay put. I mean, we love our current house. Do we really need to make a move? We have done so much work to it and have made it our own. What more could we want? And REALLY what more could we actually NEED?

We discussed some elements about our current home that we wished were different and why, then concluded that we needed a better master closet (Read: one able to hole more then five hangers) and we needed to finally enjoy our backyard by creating it into a place where we wanted to spend time in. Of course it didn’t back on to golden farmers fields, we knew, but it was a perfectly quiet yard that had a lot of potential.

My husband and I both agreed that if we changed those two predicaments about our house we could happily live here for quite a while.

So, I stopped opening up my lap top 5 times a day to see what was recently listed for sale on line and we focused our energy on creating two spaces that had functionality and charm. (Note to self, stop taking on more projects before I share the final pictures of each said project with y’all!)

As you know we worked on our deck last year and finished up our mater closet and I have to now say that with those added spaces to our house I was feeling completely settled. We could get organized in the morning quite easily with our larger closet with custom diy shelving and we could unwind on the back deck in the evening together as a family. Our house had every corner of it touched and we felt like it finally felt like home.

Of course, nothing stays the same for long when two adventure seekers marry though.

Flash back to April of this year when my handsome, hard working, hubby and I were dealing with our crammed and unorganized garage when we got a phone call from the realtor who had sold that lovely house on the quaint street that we had lost out on a year previous. He had remembered our love for that street and had listened when we had begged him to fill us in if another house on that street ever went for sale. It didn’t seem likely at the time, since most home owners had built their houses there in the 50s and 60s and weren’t planning on relocating anywhere. So, we were as shocked as anyone when he called us out of the blue to let us know that a home on the street that we loved so much had just been listed.

Cue a happy dance.

My husband took one look at me across our garage and we knew we had to go take a peek at it. It was worth a look, wasn’t it? Even if we were happy with where we were? Even if we had decided not to look at moving for a few more years? Even if we were finally settled and happy with our house? Even after five years of constant renos and a summer on the horizon full of happily anticipated relaxation?

Yes.

This potential home came out of nowhere and made us immediately giddy with excitement, full of questions and anxiousness and yet it just felt right.

Could our dream of living in this special spot be something that was actually attainable? Would the house be a total flop? It couldn’t possibly fit all of the requirements on our list, could it? It didn’t matter, we had to check it out before it was too late.

We didn’t waste a minute speeding the two minutes down the road to our favorite street in town.

Once again, just as the golden sun was setting its back drop on the quaint street, setting the scene for falling in love.

To be continued…