Holy cow — you all had so many questions about our selling, moving, and buying process after yesterday’s announcement that we decided to put together an FAQ to answer as many as possible. We planned to post this tomorrow, but your messages kept coming in so fast we moved it up. Our usual DIY post will appear in the morning. Here we go!
Q: Will you sell your current house by owner like you did with your first house?
Since that approach worked well for us last time, we’d love to try it again. Other than possibly paying a small fee to list on the MLS, we plan to market and show the house ourselves. We’ve already had three showings, so fingers crossed. We don’t even have a For Sale sign out front yet because we’ve been doing private showings for realtors and local buyers who contacted us directly.
Q: Did you consider renting out your current house instead of selling it?
We did think about renting, but after talking to a few realtors we learned that large yards in our neighborhood can be hard to rent because many renters want low-maintenance yards. With nearby homes selling quickly, we focused on selling instead.
Q: When will you move in?
We need to sell our current house first and think staging it with furniture will help. We don’t want to move all of our furniture to the new place and risk the sale falling through, so our current plan is to move into the new house in June — but it depends on when we sell and the closing date. In the meantime we’re working on both houses, so expect posts about staging, showing, selling, and new-house projects and plans.
Q: Are you selling your current house fully furnished?
No — we aren’t selling it furnished. We want furniture in the house while it’s on the market because empty houses usually sell slower and for less money. We’ll move most furniture to the new house, but arrangements will likely change because the layouts differ, which will be fun to rearrange.
Q: How many square feet is the new house? How can it be the same as your current house when it looks bigger?
The new house is almost the same size as our current home — roughly 2,500 square feet. Our current house has a 1,000-square-foot addition in the back that’s hidden from view, which makes it look smaller from the front. The new house has a visible second story, so it appears larger from the street.
Q: The new house looks perfect on the outside — won’t you have nothing to do?
Cropped photos can be deceiving. A wider shot shows there’s plenty to update outside, so the exterior will keep us busy, too.
Q: Why did you love this house and neighborhood? Would you have taken any house in that area?
We weren’t willing to take just any house. We wanted the right house in the right neighborhood. When we pulled down the cul-de-sac and saw this house — with zero through traffic, a safe spot for Clara to ride her bike, and great yard space for Burger to explore — we fell in love. The interior layout sealed the deal. It might not look like much now, but we think it will clean up beautifully.
Q: How did you keep this a secret?
That was easily the hardest part. The whole process moved quickly — we closed in the fall — and we had a lot going on: a book tour, finishing projects on our current house, and immediate repairs at the new place (roof, furnace, alarm, and an opossum in the crawl space). We debated announcing sooner, but we wanted to focus, protect our family’s safety while the house might be unoccupied, and finish important tasks before going public. It was tough, but worth it.
Q: You bought the new house before selling your current one. Why?
Once we decided it was the right house, adding a contingency to sell our current home would have weakened our offer. There was another offer on the property, so we submitted a strong bid without a contingency. We confirmed our ability to carry two mortgages and were relieved when the bank approved us as full-time self-employed borrowers. Carrying two mortgages temporarily isn’t ideal, but we checked our savings and identified ways to offset the cost — including potential savings by selling our current house by owner and avoiding agent commission.
Q: Will you share more specifics about the new house and sale details?
We want to share plenty, but we won’t post certain identifying details (specific neighborhood or exact closing info) because we value some privacy and safety. Real estate records are public, but we prefer not to make it easy. We appreciate your understanding. Our alarm system gives us peace of mind, and we’ve got our vigilant dog on duty.
Q: When was the new house built? How many bedrooms and bathrooms?
The house was built 32 years ago. It has four bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms — meaning one fewer tub for me to clean. The main first-floor bathroom is a half bath, and I’m already planning a redo once we tackle the wallpaper.
Q: How much of the improvements you made to your current house will return to you at sale?
We’ll share the full breakdown after the sale, similar to the post we did when we sold our first house. We’re excited to compare what we invested in improvements to what they add to the sale price. Realtors think our asking price is reasonable based on interest so far, so we’re hopeful there might even be a little profit.
Q: Is it sad to leave Clara’s big girl room without her moving in?
We always intended that room to be a playroom, so it’s been great to use it as intended. Clara gets plenty of playtime there, and since we didn’t do structural or permanent decorative changes that must stay behind, most of the furniture and items will move with us to the new house.
Q: What about features you can’t take with you, like penny tile, the fireplace, or the pergola?
We love those improvements and will be sad to leave them, but because we installed many of them ourselves, we can recreate or reinterpret them at the new house. We enjoy renovating as much as living with the results, so it feels good to know we can bring those ideas to life again. And we’ll probably drive by and admire the pergola from time to time.
Q: Did you do projects specifically for resale?
Most recent projects were on our long-term to-do list rather than chosen solely for resale value. Some upgrades made clear sense to tackle now (like creating a playroom and improving curb appeal), while bigger structural changes that would require contractors were saved for if we stayed longer. We’ll post a final checklist showing what we did and the items we skipped, which hopefully future owners might tackle.
Q: Will you miss the convenience of a single-story ranch?
We’ll miss some ranch features, but we’re excited to try a different layout. We like that the new house’s laundry is upstairs with the bedrooms — that’s one ranch perk preserved. We also hope the upstairs will help separate work from family life, so we might institute a no-laptops-upstairs rule to keep work downstairs and family time distinct.
That should cover most of your questions! We can’t wait to share floor plans and the “before” photos full of wallpaper and blue trim as we finish things here and work to get the house sold. Fingers crossed — and thanks for all your enthusiasm and support.