Back at Easter, Sean and I were just starting the journey to buy our first house. We got pre-qualified, talked about what we would want and need in our home, and narrowed down the towns we’d be happiest living in for at least 5 years. Up in New Hampshire (and I’m pretty sure all of New England right now) it’s definitely a seller’s market; new listings would be up and off the market in a matter of days, sometimes before we could even get in to see it. Cue all the curse words.
Everyone kept saying “the right one will come along.” (UGH, WHAT IS PATIENCE?) I actually joked with Sean on more than one occasion that we should forget the whole thing and go on vacation. Luckily he’s much more level-headed than I am so we continued to look at what was available, which wasn’t much. I had my naive first-time homeowner heart set on a colonial, but realized very quickly that it was not the style we were going to end up with. When I was finally able to wrap my head around potentially getting something along the lines of a split level, Sean found “the perfect raised ranch” with not-so-great listing photos. When he swiped through the photos and landed on the image of the kitchen, I didn’t hold back a very loud “EW!” Poor guy. He convinced me to just go look at it and I obliged knowing full well in the back of my mind that there was NO WAY I was going to want, nevermind love, this ranch house.
Long story short, he was right. The right house did come along and I knew it was that ranch the moment we stepped inside. It felt right. (I don’t think Sean will ever get tired of saying I told you so.) I’m now a firm believer that buying a house is like being in a relationship; you can’t force it. It has to fit.
The scary part of the whole process came soon after. Once we fell in love with the house (after being there all of 10 minutes), we knew we needed to put in an offer immediately. With the help of our wonderful realtor, we were able to put in our strongest offer and beat out six others all within three days of the house being for sale. Our situation, from first showing to close ended up being 28 days altogether which is definitely not the norm for the whole home buying process, but for a girl was zero patience it was a welcomed surprise.
So, here’s a quick (and empty) tour of our new house! I can’t wait to get in there and start on the projects we have lined up: staining the kitchen cabinets and putting up a backsplash, painting all of that wood trim and the walls throughout the main space and then eventually getting to bigger things like finishing the basement, cutting down a few trees, painting the bedrooms, etc. I’ll be sure to update the blog to not only document the changes but also what worked, what didn’t work, and our favorite brands along the way.
Side note: I can already envision a GIANT Christmas tree the back sun room with the high ceilings and large windows. Sean thinks 7 feet is good. I’m thinking 12…
I can’t wait to see how it all turns out as we move in, get settled and really start to decorate. Here’s to this next chapter!
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Wow! The house looks amazing, after your initial kitchen comment I thought it would be terrible but the granite and stainless appliances look awesome. Staining the cabinets will make such a differnce! After traveling for work the last 2 years we are just starting to think about buying & even that stresses me out 😉 looking forward to seeing some of your before and afters!
Your new home is gorgeous! Tip: we hired a cleaning service to do a deep clean so when we moved in we can just start putting things away! Definitely the best move we made! Although your house looks very clean, it was nice to have someone clean out the oven, the fridge, and all of the cabinets!