Selling Our First House

Kyle and I had been married a couple of years and had been living in a 600 sq ft apartment and we were ready for a change. It really wasn’t the size that was the issue. It was an upstairs apartment with outside entry and a shared washer and dry with other two tenants in the building. 

We began looking and it wasn’t long until we found exactly what we were looking for. It was a brick, 2800 sq ft home on almost 3 acres! It was in a subdivision, but the lots were big, and this particular lot was tucked in the very back of the neighborhood. The best part, it was a foreclosure, so we were able to get a deal on a home of that size and that much acreage. The downside was it was built in the mid 90s and had not been updated since that time. The previous owner had enclosed the garage, so Kyle and I put our bed, couch and tv in the garage to live in while we were making updates in the rest of the house! Not a big deal when you’ve already been used to living in 600 sq ft! 

Through the 11 years we lived in the home, we repainted every square inch of the house (and in some cases more than once), installed new flooring throughout, replaced all the 90s gold fixtures, and completely upgraded the kitchen. On top of that Kyle and his Dad built a 2200 sq ft steel building on the property. He found a great deal on a building someone didn’t need anymore. He also helped tear down an old farm house and used the wood to put an office in the shop. Side note: he also used this same wood to build a mantle for our fireplace and shelves for the living room. A friend of ours also used this same wood to build an entertainment center for our living room! Needless to say his hard work was really worth it!

Kyle is a real estate broker at Carter Group Real Estate, but he mostly sells large tracts of land. He has a girl that works for him that can sell houses like nobody’s business! We called her out to list the house for us, and we had a number in our head of what we thought the house might go for which was already a good bit more than what we paid. Shawn knows her stuff, though, and when she got here she said she thought it’d go for more than that and gave us a number that was more than double our original purchase price. We were blown away, but I thought there was no way it would ever sell for that. I figured it’d be on the market about a month and then we’d have to drop the price a little.

Well, to my surprise in less than 1 week from our list date we had an offer that was very close to our asking price! I couldn’t believe it! So naturally we jumped right on that and signed that contract! We were so excited!

Then it hit us hard that we hadn’t purchased land yet and that we needed to get on this fast. More on that process in a later blog! Another bump in the road was that our son tested positive for COVID the day after we signed our contract! We were concerned the buyers may want to back out, but they were still good to go. Termite inspection stayed as scheduled because the inspector had appropriate protective gear. It did bump out the home inspection a little, but nothing to really mess things up. 

And if you want to know something else crazy! My parents are doing this same thing with us. They will actually be building on our property too. But they sold their house at a full price offer before they ever even signed their listing agreement! If you’re thinking of selling, now is the time! With the prices of lumber so high and all that is going on in our country, it’s a seller’s market! So if you’ve been on the fence, jump on in to this journey with us! We’d love to have you!