Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Life Less Ordinary (Part II)

In my last post I announced that we'll be moving this summer!

Come June, our address will change as we drive states away from our beloved Virginia and into New Hampshire. After we made the decision to move to New England, we both had moments of stress and concern thinking about how we would possibly find a place to live from so far away.

During our second visit to New Hampshire, we had a wonderful experience touring around with a realtor who'd been recommended to us by one of the other doctors in the practice. We both felt confident that she would be instrumental in helping us find the place we could call home.

While we were up there, we narrowed down where we'd like to live, based on the school system and commuting distance for Jim. I took an afternoon and went and toured the two potential elementary schools our boys would attend in that area. One of them TOTALLY knocked my socks off. So, that narrowed down our house search even more and that informed my opinion on every house I looked at.

About a month ago the housing market started picking up in New Hampshire. Our realtor started sending us listings and I started dreaming and imagining us in every single house.

Now, I should probably preface this with the fact that Jim and I have been dreaming about our future house since before we started dating.

There's no telling how many hours Jim has spent researching and reading articles on sustainable living, straw bale construction, and permaculture for the property. It's like breathing for him; my wood-working, extremely capable husband has spent many medical study breaks dreaming of a life for us, a home for us and our children. We always thought we'd build a house, when the time was right.

So, maybe our style could be called rustic farmhouse, but even rustic seems to strong a word for us. We both like a simple feel, lots of natural light, and neutral colors. An open floor plan was a strong hope and desire.  A kitchen with space for the two of us to cook together, and a dining room to hold a large group of friends & family for holidays and potlucks. We prefer absolutely no carpet and love hardwood floors. Our home needs a mudroom to bridge the gap between our desire for adventure and outdoor pursuits, and our love for a somewhat tidy abode. We also always dreamed of having an apartment to rent out for extra income.

And then there's the land. We have always dreamed of having a few acres for our children to explore and climb trees, or kick a soccer ball. And space for a garden, fruit trees, and chickens was always a necessity, too. We didn't want to limit our options too much, so we put at least one acre on our hopeful list.

About one week after we started receiving listings, five houses came on the market in the very same day. I had been opening the emails immediately, every time a house came on, hoping that it would be a match for us.

At 4 PM on Monday, the perfect house marked EVERY SINGLE CATEGORY!

I opened the listing and sat there stunned for a minute. Jim and I had been on and off of the phone all day, during his 12 hour shift, working on getting pre-approval letters through the bank, and thinking we would pursue one of the houses already on the market. When I saw this house, I sent Jim and email saying "THIS IS THE ONE."

He didn't even respond to my email when he saw the house, he immediately called the bank.

I texted the realtor.

As my dad said, it's uncanny how much this house looks like me and Jim. My mom said it was made for us. And Jim and I have said over and over again that this is the house we would build ourselves.

So, thus began the absolutely absurd week of attempting to get our dream home.

I'll save you all of the details, but the house came on the market on Monday, Tuesday Jim drove to Florida to take a board exam on Wednesday, we put an offer down on the house on Wednesday, Jim saw the house on Thursday in NH(!), & Friday night our offer was accepted over many other offers!

It was a sickening week. Jim and I both didn't sleep or eat well imagining this house slipping out of our fingers. But....

 HIP HIP HOORAY, it's going to be ours!!

So, the details?

It's a four bedroom house that's attached to a large mudroom, that attaches to a two car garage with an apartment on top!! The house is built with post and beam construction, so the whole house has exposed beams-- so gorgeous! It's an open floor plan between the kitchen, dining room, and living room space with a fireplace, a master suite on the first floor, and then three bedrooms upstairs. Each of the bedrooms upstairs has a loft, perfect for creating cozy spots to read or relax!!

The house is situated in the middle of three acres, with a large open yard, and lots of woods surrounding the house. It's located very close to the high school and down the road from the middle school, so our children will be able to walk to school!! It's also within walking distance of University of New Hampshire (UNH) and the downtown. UNH has trails for running, snow-shoeing, cross-country skiing that we'll be able to enjoy, as well.

The house has a few opportunities for Jim to work his magic on, which he's excited about. There's an unfinished basement with a bathroom and the garage has space for a studio or woodworking shop. Jim's mind is already spinning.

It's brought us so much peace and stability to think about moving to a house we love so much already. We couldn't have dreamed up a better home to come on the market at precisely this time. BUT, it's also our first time buying a home, so it's entirely terrifying & nerve-racking, as well.

Life has kept us on our toes, lately!!