It is incredible how much your life can change in just 11 days. 11 days ago, we met with a realtor to discuss listing our house and buying a new one. 8 days after that, we hit MLS at 3:30 pm on a Friday. 2 days later, we had an offer in. 1 day later, we had our offer for our new house tweaked, submitted and accepted.
Khaner and I completely differed on our ability to sell our house at all, let alone receiving a full-asking price offer. We (or more me) are blown away by how different the market is from just 3 years ago when we purchased.
It all began when we returned from England and our financial advisor and friend mentioned IF and only IF we found our 30 year home, we should take advantage of interest rates before they increase. That is all it took my CFO-minded husband to turn me loose on the market. As excited as I was to look for a "permanent" home in our neighborhood with our requirements, I am also a little sad now.
I think I am bittersweet because I didn't have any time to get "used" to the idea of moving. (Again, 11 days). We've put a lot of love into our 1951 ranch and it's where we brought our sweet puppy home, celebrated with friends and family over numerous parties, showers, dinners, holidays and get together's.
It's done now though, and as we move on to our next chapter, I can't help but take stock in my first home, where Khaner and I started our life together.
Photos from our MLS listing:
And without further adieu, the house we are under contract for is two streets behind us on Eton Road. Not pictured on MLS is the garage, unfinished basement, storage room/workshop, first floor powder room, and close ups of the patio. The home has been immaculately kept, and is filled with all the 1940s charm I adore - columns, masonry work, built ins, hardwoods, heavy solid wood doors, crown molding, french doors and loads of light through beautiful windows. The kitchen is functional but space is poorly utilized. Bathrooms are a bit 90s but they work and we can update over the next several decades together.
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First up, black shutters for front of house and painting front door. I also plan on purchasing a 6 panel storm door. Thinking Sherwin Williams' Red color.
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We are giving up a lot of our current backyard space, but we realize our house's lot is the anomaly, not the standard for our area.
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| The formal living room - we negotiated the cream cornices on the back windows. Can't remember from our tours, but hoping the fireplace allows for real logs! |
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| The beautiful family room the sellers added on above garage in 1997. You can't tell, but the built ins are a beautiful french gray. |
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| Downstairs in-law suite. This house kept in mind older people, and I think when our parents come to Raleigh they will appreciate the downstairs guest room. |
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| Not feeling the wallpaper, but the tile work is beautiful and fits in with the period of the house. Plan for here is to remove and paint Sherwin Williams' Revere Pewter, to help offset the black and white. Vanity is in great shape, so leaving alone! |
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| Front dining room - hoping my dining room table with both leaves will fit. Sideboard is going on far wall in between windows. |
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| The strangest layout of a kitchen I ever saw. The sellers chose to expand it and add a breakfast nook area, but then never continued the counters, cabinets or island into the rest of the kitchen. I plan to put a bar area where the current fridge and cabinets are for entertaining. And of course, what is a bar without a wine cooler and ice maker? |
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| One of my favorite spots in the house - front foyer and staircase. I am hoping to find a staircase renovation company that can swap out the volute with a curled one and stain the entire banister and treads a darker wood like our floors. |
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| Master bedroom upstairs |
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| The door on left side opens into an optional nursery, office or in my mind, a long term HUGE walk in closet! |
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| Shower, tub and vanity are a bit dated but the plan is to eventually take down the smaller wall and make one enormous bathroom to make it feel more cohesive and not so choppy. |
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| Cute vanity area for the seller's wife. Again, we plan to merge this into the bathroom to make it feel more opened. |
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| The nursery/office off the master. I love the idea of having a nursery in here where you are close enough for the middle of the night, but can also close the door for privacy. |
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| Love, love the built ins |
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| Bedroom upstairs |
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| Additional bedroom upstairs |
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| Khaner wants to attack this soon, as well. I think we have a few years before kids really need to be using it (especially since we don't have any!). For the short term, that vanity needs to be painted white. |
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Upstairs hall.
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If we seem anti-social over the next 6-8 weeks, you now know it's not you, it's us. Lots of changes on the horizon for the Walkers. I can't wait to see what 2016 brings us.
