Category Archives: Moving

Moving (On)

Posted in House Hunting, Life, Moving by

So you know how a little while back I mad mentioned that we had not only found a house but also had our offer accepted? Well, things have kind of gone down the crapper since then …

One of the subjects of our offer was that we had to sell our home before we could close the deal. We had about a month to do so, and we figured we wouldn’t have a problem selling since the market is hot in Kamloops. We listed the day after our offer was accepted and in the first week we had just over a dozen showings. In two weeks, we had about 20 showings but no offers. Zero. Zip. Nada. Not even 2nd lookers. Our hopes were dwindling, but we still had two more weeks to attract a buyer.

Then, we get word from our realtor that the owners of the house we “bought” received another offer but had not yet accepted it. We removed as many subjects as we could, but unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough to let our offer stand. The owners accepted the other deal, and we lost out. Again.

This isn’t the first time our offer on a house has been declined because of the “contingency” clause of selling our house first. There was another house that we fell in love with and even offered MORE than the asking price, but the seller was nervous about that clause and opted for a different offer.

It’s frustrating, to say the least. We’ve thought about just putting our place up for sale to rid ourselves of needing that contingency, but we don’t want to end up homeless, so to speak. What if we sell our place but there’s nothing out there that appeals to us? We don’t want to settle on a new house because we’re forced to move. Renting for a short period of time isn’t feasible with two big dogs and two kids, nor is staying with family. We have a set list of things we need/want in a house, so settling isn’t really an option.

For now, we’ve decided to stay put. We pulled our house off the market and will wait things out. No more aggressive house-hunting, no more offers, no more showings. Unless an absolute home run of a home comes up for sale, we’re tired of the search. It’s depressing and feels like a game we can’t win, at least not right now.

We’re not moving anymore, we’re just moving on.

Home Sweet New Home

Posted in House and Home, Moving by

Tomorrow, we gain possession of our new house. Actually, we may even get the keys tonight, which would be perfect because we’ll be able to clean it a little bit before we move in.

It’s really been a whirlwind. In less than a month we’ve made an offer, had our financing set up, had a home inspection, signed the paperwork at the notary, set up home insurance, AND had a couple issues found in the home inspection fixed. Oh – and the people we bought the house from live in Australia, so the time difference definitely made things a bit more challenging.

Even with boxes packed up all around me, it’s hard to believe that Kyle and I have bought our second house. It’s all so surreal that we’re going to have an amazing, big house to grow in. I seriously can’t wait!

Really, it’s hard to believe that anyone at the age of 25 owns two houses. A lot of people think that we’re just renters in our townhouse, which is annoying but understandable. Not a lot of 20-somethings have their poop together well enough to buy a house, let alone two. How do we do it? Patience, and sacrifice.

It took us almost two years to save up for our townhouse, which was relatively easy since Kyle’s mom was giving us a good deal while we rented her house. We also didn’t waste our money on things we didn’t need. We’re very much a “make do” couple where we have to be.

We don’t go on expensive holidays (neither of us have passports!), we don’t have expensive car payments, we’re not loaded up with student debt, our credit card balances are almost always zeroed out when the bill comes. Savvy, we care.

That being said, our luxury is food. We eat well and generally don’t skimp out on satisfying food cravings. Kyle did buy a new truck, but after getting a great deal and really doing his research. We’re firm believers in not living outside of our means. Ever watch “Til Debt Do Us Part?” The host would be proud of our money managing skills.

So, how the hell did we manage to buy another house? Well, add the above to Kyle’s new job and more sacrifice. I’d really like a new car, but there’s nothing wrong with the one I have (at least nothing that warrants a new car). Every chunk of change we put away into our savings account brought us that much closer to a new house. When we want something, we go for it!

So, here’s to our new house. I really hope renting the townhouse works out, at least until the rental agreement is up in June. If the tenant wants to stay, that’s fine. If not, we’ll try selling.

Bye bye townhouse!

Packing, packing, packing!

Posted in House and Home, Moving by

You know how much stuff fits into a 1,300sq/ft townhouse? A LOT! Seriously – where did Kyle and I get all this stuff?

Needless to say, my weekend was filled with packing while Kyle was at work. It feels like there’s SO much more to do, but really, there isn’t. I think all that’s left is the kitchen stuff, our clothes and the bathroom – stuff that’s still kind of needed until the day we move! It’s hard to believe that it’s only a few days away.

I’m not sure if I’ll have internet access right away since I’m having issues getting my cable/telephone/internet services transferred over to our new house, so I don’t know how much blogging will be done in the near future. (Not that I’m much of a blogger now anyway.)

Fingers crossed that everything goes okay!

I’ll leave you with a video of my dog “talking” to me. Seriously. She’s so sassy, it’s not even funny.

How was your weekend?