It was a long and stressful process but the moment has come – we bought a house!
On The Hunt
Having talked about taking this step since we started renting two years ago, Paul and I had an idea of what we wanted in our first home. We looked at many different properties online (hey, Zillow) and drove by several but, partly because of COVID and its effects on house-hunting, we did not sign up for many open houses. We looked at one house that was a hard no and then a second… which we bought! Sometimes it really does feel like the stars line up just when they should.
We did not expect to find our first home so early in the search. But, thanks to the perfect mix of budget, work required, neighborhood, and circumstances, things worked out for us shortly after we started. It is in the area we wanted to stay in and checked off the majority of our boxes.
Because Paul is a General Contractor, he wanted to find a home that needed work but that wasn’t so dilapidated that it would cost us an unbearable amount of money. Our 1950s ranch has all of the 1970s updates including pink toilets and sinks, a yellow stove, an orange kitchen sink, a red upholstered bar, and so much more. Our family members really enjoyed stepping into our newly acquired time capsule for the first time.
Our Not-So-Spectacular Experience
Just about everything that could go wrong with our sale did.
For starters, the septic system needed to be redone and the sellers wanted no part of it. Everyone was scraping for a solution including our real estate agent who had never been in a situation like this before (she’s been in the business for years). With some creative bargaining, Paul was able to find a resolution that worked for all of us, including the town.
Your typical closing takes 30 to 45 days and ours took 90… yes, 90!
We were negotiating and passing paperwork for about three months. It was three months of stress and anxiety as we didn’t want the sale to fall through. Crucial paperwork was never sent in for our signing date, there was a water leak that happened while nobody was occupying the house, and the sellers kept trying to renegotiate halfway through.
I find it hard to believe that any home buying journey is easy, but it’s worth it. Once we had the keys in hand, we were just happy to be inside the walls of our first home together.
Decoration & Renovation Plans
The very first thing we did when we moved in ripped up all of the wall-to-wall carpets and got rid of the floor-to-ceiling mirror situation. Paul and I are big fans of hardwood floors and area rugs for cleaning and aesthetic purposes. Lucky for us, the carpets exposed a beautiful wood floor that had little to no damage after being hidden for all that time.
My mom, sister, and I took to painting every single wall and ceiling throughout the house. We went with neutral colors that would match whatever decor we chose to go with. At some point, I hope to add accent walls and spice up the color but that will be down the road when we have the budget and new furniture. The mudroom/entry was the most drastic difference where a day-to-night paint job made the space feel 100% more friendly.
Our plans for the future of our first home:
- Update the kitchen with paint, hardware, and a new floor
- Build new front steps and a front entryway
- Remodel both our upstairs and basement bathrooms
- Remodel the finished half of our basement
- Replace windows and air vents throughout the house
We had to replace the septic system when we first moved in which was an actual nightmare. Living in New England, the weather was not on our side so everything took light years longer than it should have. Though it is finally done, we are not pleading with our grass to grow so we can beautify our outdoor space. Let us also pray that the septic lasts an estimated 15 to 30 years so we can forget about it for a while… and hopefully not go through that process again.
Many of our long-term plans (not listed above) will not happen until well over a year from now. We will continue to chip away and post progress on our new Instagram for the house | Our Hanson Home.