We're MOVING!

Bare with me over the next couple of weeks as we purge, pack, sell, and move to a new home.

With our home under contract, we set out on a search for a home in Fayetteville for our family.

We put an offer on three different homes. Apparently, the third time IS the charm, because the third home turned out to have almost everything on our list.

Our list looked somewhat like this:
Cute home, possibly in need of updating. On a quiet street with big trees. Large lot. Garage and/or shop for all of Chase's tools. Priced well because we were looking to lessen our mortgage payment each month.

That's about it really. We didn't have huge expectations because we want to personalize and update the home ourself.

Here's the road that led us to what we believe a great neighborhood and home for our little family right now.

Home #1:
A cute cottage. 2br (ACK!) 1ba (DOUBLE ACK!), but on a HUGE lot with pretty trees, and beautiful hardwood floors and lots of character.
Upside: it was super cute and we could see our little family loving it there, although our family would have to stay little to not outgrow the home too quickly. Also the price was killer.

Downside: It was small... 1,000sqft small and was on a major road (15th Street) which meant no teaching Connor to ride his bike on the quiet street.

Our amazing realtor advised us that the house would be hard to resell, (which is true), but would make a great rental or maybe storefront for photography. It had an offer, so we submitted an offer quickly because of the price and cuteness factor. Fortunately for us, our offer was declined! We were then led to our next property...

Home #2:
A cute 70s ranch in need of updating on the inside, but with charm and a cute exterior! (we had cute plans in mind!!) 3 br, 1 1/2 bath, and a super large lot.
Upside: The neighborhood was amazingly cute, with tall trees and sidewalks on each side of the street.  This property was also within walking distance of Butterfield Elementary, which we loved!! The location was superb, even though the house was still a little small. 1175 sqft.

Downside: There was a lot of updating to be done, and the lot backed up to a daycare, even though it was a huge lot.

We really liked this house, and found out there was a cash offer  (although lower we think than they wanted to get for the home, because they were countering, etc..) but we submitted an offer anyway. While waiting for them to decided, we decided to not wait, and check out literally one of the last homes available in our price range that we were interested in.

We are super glad we did!!

House #3:
Adorable 90s ranch-ish style home. 1350sqft 3br, 2ba.
Upside: almost 1/2 acre lot, privacy fenced backyard. A covered back patio, and covered patio off the master suite. Super clean and well maintained. My favorite.... covered front porch that runs the length of the house. It's also at the end of a cul-de-sac, on a super adorable and quiet street with lots of big trees and character. The houses don't look the exact same! It's also .5 miles away from Happy Hollow, which I have heard, and read, is a fantastic school! It's also the only home we looked at that had a fireplace.. and it's wood-burning/gas!

Downside: We will be removing popcorn ceilings and painting just about the entire inside of the house before we move in. This is kind of an upside though, because it will feel so personalized after we are finished. Also the updates are all ones we can do for a relatively inexpensive cost!

We loved the house, so we made an offer and withdrew our offer on the other house! While there was a bit of drama incurred on our part from the seller, we sat tight and let our awesome realtor sort it out, and eventually our third offer was accepted and the contract signed by both parties!! The seller is a sweet older woman, and we believe she was just having a hard time letting go of her lovely little home. We understand, and although we were very stressed at the time, are very thankful!

So, that's the story about how we found the home that we will be moving into in just three short weeks!!

On our timeline over the next 2 1/2 weeks is:

-Purging all unnecessary junk
-Packing!! Packing!! Packing!!
-Garage sale at our house on FRIDAY!
-Scraping ceilings, mudding ceilings, painting ceilings, walls, trim, cabinets... and so on!

It's going to be a wild ride, but definitely an adventure.