To the tune of Katy Perry’s “Hot N’ Cold” — we haven’t closed yet, but we are officially one step closer: our house went pending at 5:57 pm yesterday. The last round of negotiations with potential buyers wrapped up, and the contract is now under contract and moving forward.
Because our sale is pending, the contract on the house we’ve put an offer on (yes — we finally found one) can advance too. The purchase was contingent on selling our current home, so with that contingency resolved, everything should proceed smoothly. If the lending process goes as planned, we expect to move directly from our current home into our new house in a little over a month. We’re beyond excited — it feels like all the pieces are falling into place.
We waited to share this news because we wanted to be sure. Announcing a move before contracts were firm would have been premature; now that inspections are complete and both transactions are progressing, we’re ready to celebrate. The remaining steps are largely tied to financing, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed for a clean loan process.
Before we get into the homeowner tips and the how-to on pricing and marketing our house by owner, here’s a closer look at the home we’ll be moving into. We’re already imagining paint colors and layout changes — it has that familiar “this is it” feeling we first had with our current home back in 2006. When we stepped through the front door and into the entryway with built-ins, we just knew it had potential. I may have smiled a little too widely and scared the realtor, but the reaction was genuine.
We worked with a buyer’s agent after calling about another listing. As it happened, she suggested we see this property since she thought it might suit us better. Oddly, this was a house we had previously dismissed during a late-night search because it had a carport. I had decided we strongly preferred an enclosed garage for storage, pest control, and security reasons, and that preference kept us from seeing this home earlier. We agreed to look at it anyway, and it was an immediate fit. Even better, the sellers are offering a credit to convert the carport into a garage — exactly what we wanted. It’s a good reminder to keep search parameters flexible; your ideal home might show up with a minor obstacle that’s easily solved.
So, meet the future Casa Petersik. It isn’t a high-gloss TV makeover exterior yet, but that’s part of the appeal — we’ll be making many of the improvements ourselves. At first glance it’s reminiscent of our current home, but the interior is larger and far more flexible. It’s a classic ranch with solid bones and a lot of potential.
THE STATS:
- Age: 1960s
- House size: approximately 2,500 square feet
- Lot size: 0.75 acres (nearly the same as our current lot but more square and less long and narrow)
- Bedrooms: 4
- Bathrooms: 3
THE PROS:
- Instantly felt like the right home when we walked in
- Open, flexible floor plan suitable for a growing family and a home-based business
- Three modest bedrooms plus a large master suite with ensuite bathroom and walk-in closet
- Plenty of blank-slate potential for renovations and creative projects
- Large, centrally located kitchen ideal for family gatherings and future layout changes
- Lovely neighborhood close to family with strong schools and convenient location
- Classic ranch layout — a style we love and feel comfortable updating to our taste
THE CONS:
- Slightly larger than we initially planned, though still well within budget
- More challenging landscaping compared to our current yard (but we enjoy landscaping projects)
- Carport instead of a garage, though the sellers are offering a credit to enclose it
- Lot offers less privacy than our current property, but we already have plans to increase screening
- Beyond those items, hard to find more negatives — we’re clearly smitten
We’re thrilled to have found a “perfectly imperfect” house with so much promise. For the next few weeks we’ll be juggling final loan approvals, prepping for a mid-December closing, planning renovations, testing paint swatches, shopping for furniture, and beginning the slow process of packing and decluttering. We’ll also share details on how we priced and marketed our current home for sale by owner, the inspection process, and the steps we take to update and personalize the new place.
Please keep your fingers crossed that lending and closing proceed without hiccups. We’ll keep you posted every step of the way as we move into this next chapter and transform this house into our new home.