When I started this blog 7 years ago, my first post was centered around the process of buying of our first home together. Since buying a house was what prompted my blog in the first place, it seems only fitting that I take it full circle and tell the story about our experience selling our first home.

When we officially signed our contract to build a new house back in February (more info on that in a future post), we had no idea what was in store for us and the rest of the world in March.

March came in with a bang and the excitement of building a new home was quickly replaced with feelings of anxiety and fear from all of the headlines about COVID-19, death, and quarantine. March through May we worried about our timing, was this still the right time to sell our house and move into a new home? Would we lose our jobs? How could we possibly list and show our home while the world is closed for business and human contact is essentially cut off? I will say those first few months, we had no idea what was going to happen, but we continued to push onward with all of the preparations as if everything was still on track.

Prepping Our Home to List

Pre-pandemic, we had a list of contractors at the ready to help us check off all of the items in order to get our house ready to put on the market and we planned to list our home at the end of April. Fast forward to April and we realized it was not the time to list our home yet. We still had a lot to do to get the house ready and all of the contractors were closed for business. On top of that, the market was very slow and it seemed that people were hesitant to do the traditional showings due to fear of spreading the virus.

So, we did it ourselves…well, I should rephrase, Bryan did it all! From electrical work, to painting, to drywall, to power washing, to landscaping – and he freaking crushed it! At the time, we were both working full time jobs from home WITH the kids home from daycare which was closed. I still don’t know exactly how we did it all, and I may or may no have some sort of trauma from those few months, but we basically never slept and used anytime we could that was leftover from working and watching the kids to get the house ready to list.

Putting it on the Market

Fast forward to the end of May. Our awesome realtor, Drew, came to the house to ensure the house was ready. He helped us with last minute enhancements and repairs, took photos, wrote up our description of the home, and then BOOM the listing was live June 1.

To our surprise, there really couldn’t have been a better time to list. Because of the pandemic, there were limited houses on the market in our area and the interest rates were at a record low due to economic uncertainty. This creates the perfect market for sellers.

We listed our house on a Monday and by Wednesday afternoon we had 4 offers. I am so grateful the house went under contract so quickly because showing a home while all four of us (and the dog) were home 24/7 was near impossible. Trying to keep the house clean with a 2 and a 4 year old, lugging both kids and Rooney in the car every time we had a showing, and trying to pre-plan to go to a parents house to be able to be on Wi-Fi and work for the day was insanely stressful, and that is putting it mildly. Thank goodness it only lasted three days! We ended up going under contract and accepted an offer over asking price. I can’t stress this enough – if you are even thinking about selling, now is the time.

Moving Day

So a bit of a hiccup in our selling journey…we accepted an offer where the buyer wanted to settle a month sooner than our new build would be complete. What does this mean? Displacement. During a pandemic. BUT, we had a plan if this were to happen. My dad and step-mom SO graciously are allowing us to stay in their home in the interim and we are so so grateful.

Even though we have a place to stay, that doesn’t take away that we then had to plan (and pay) for a double move! We spent weeks packing as much as possible and about a week before the movers were scheduled to come they dropped off boxes and other packing materials and again we had those long sleepless nights.

I literally never want to move again after all that packing. My back, legs, everything was sore for weeks! This past Monday, the movers came and took most of our stuff to storage, Tuesday I spent the day making trips to bring remaining items to my dad’s garage, Wednesday Bryan got everything else, Thursday the cleaners came, and Thursday night we went to the house one last time to say our goodbyes.

The Final Goodbye and Settlement Day

I knew saying goodbye to our home would be hard. This was our first home. We were married in May and moved into the house in August. A few months later we brought our puppy, Rooney into our home. In 2016 we had Lucy, and two years later Conor. This house was where we became a family. These walls have seen it all, the highs and lows and everything in between. The memories we shared together in the house almost 7 years will forever stay in my heart and I thank the house for keeping us safe throughout the years.

As I mentioned, we went to the house one last time to say goodbye. The kids were having a hard time with the move. The first night at my dad’s they were unsure why we weren’t sleeping in our beds anymore and crying because they couldn’t understand why we couldn’t go “home”. Going to the house provided the closure we all needed. Seeing the house empty helped me realize that while it was a wonderful home to us over the years, the real magic was what was inside of those walls. It was us, our family, that made that house a home.

I wanted to create one last memory in the house before we left for good, so after the kids went screaming through the house checking out the emptiness and hearing their echoes bounce off the walls, I had them check the freezer. I had ice cream waiting and together we sat in the middle of the living room on the floor and said our goodbyes while having an ice cream party.

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The next day was settlement day, and in true quarantine fashion, we sat outside the settlement lawyers office on a picnic bench, signing our papers in masks. I wish the new buyer a wonderful journey ahead as she gets to start her own story in the house. We handed over the keys, and off we went!

It is such a relief that the selling process is officially over. It was overwhelmingly stressful, but in the end we had limited hiccups and made a decent profit on the house. And now, all we have to focus on is the fun part, MOVING INTO OUR NEW HOME! I will be posting about that once we get into our new home. Currently we are looking at an August 11th settlement date, so stay tuned!

xo, Jen