We set a goal to get the sign in the yard and our house on the market the Tuesday after the Yard Sale…we were not ready!! We were NOT ‘staged’ enough, so we just kept plugging away, doing a few things a day WAS making a difference!

Jen’s boss went on vacation the last week in Oct, so Jen had previously decided to also take a vacation. It was definitely a working vacation!! She worked her ASS off getting the house cleared out and staged!

One week after our original goal on Halloween, we put the sign out.

After putting in an offer on the Montgomery Dr house, we were countered…and we accepted their counter. Once this was on paper and we signed our lives away, we needed to set up the home inspection. We hired Eagle Inspections to come out on Saturday 10/14/2023. The house is empty so it was easier to move around and check things and take measurements. (now we need to figure out what’s going where).

The biggest concern in the home inspection was “the roof”…this will be the first project and I am sure will get a few posts.

The background is, the owners knew that a new roof was needed, but it was ONLY near-end-of-life, so we were thinking that we had a couple years to deal with it. Well, we found out that the roof was END of life, there are leaks, some damage from what may have been a felled tree and the attic fan no longer works so there is some moisture in the attic crawl space.

This was something that may have changed the whole deal…we were told by the inspector that we were looking at $25k (minimum)…this wasn’t something that I wanted to put up first thing…there are too many other smaller projects that would be put off too long!!

They got an estimate and allowed us to get an estimate…the real numbers were a lot less scary. They came back with an estimate from an Amish Roofing company and Rich McHugh came back with a number that was in the same range.

We OFFICIALLY bought a house on 10/24/2023 – Settlement is on 12/4/2023!!

A big part of de-cluttering is letting things go…and boy are we letting things go. We rented the 16′ pod, and when I look around, I think, we are never going to have enough room for everything! Even IF we decide to NOT do this move, we will have SO much less clutter!

Today is the day we sell or donate!

Earlier in the week, we thought it was going to rain. I am so glad we didn’t change the day, it started out cloudy, but it’s turning into a beautiful day!

The last time we did this…people were walking in our house trying to buy stuff before we even got it out the door. So far the only weird things that happened is…

I put out ‘full’ state quarter books ($10.50 in quarters) and this guy wanted to buy them in bulk cheaper than face value…sure just give real money away. I was so mad about it, I decided to give 3 of them to Amanda for her kids! If I am going to give them away, it might as well be to the kids next door!! The kids that I like 🙂

It is weird the things that are selling…single measuring cups, cup racks, a couple very plain planters…we made some $$ but we took much more to the GoodWill!

This was exhausting! I am so glad it’s over! NEXT…

let’s put in an offer

N. Lake Drive, Downingtown, PA – this house was just adorable, but it was smaller than what we have now. There was a sign asking us to remove our shoes or put on paper shoe slippers. They even warned of recordings in process.

Goosetown Rd. Coatesville, PA – we didn’t even go in this house, the driveway was like pulling into a golf course, nice feel to it, but the garage door was slanted…but then it looked like the entire garage was slanted (like it was falling backwards).

King St, Downingtown, PA 19335 – this place was interesting, it was big enough and the price was right, there was a cute little breezeway and a pool. But there were some concerns about the integrity of the pool so we couldn’t even tell if it was usable. Some of the other oddities, the toilet was elongated but the seat was for a standard. The bathroom was too small for an elongated. There were curtains hanging in the basement area (but no windows)…and everything was Christmas…so we think they either some sort of a Christmas vendor or someone was completely obsessed.

Montgomery Dr. Coatesville, PA – loved the drive to this house…it felt like we were in the country! We walked through…liked ALOT about it, but saw alot of ‘projects’, so when we left, we were at yes/no.

Debbie Dr. Coatesville, PA – none of us liked this one…no matter how much we wanted to. Everything about it felt ‘sterile’…the floors had the thin wood veneer, the walls were white…there was no real ‘heart’ to this house…even the yard was questionable.

We have been stalking zillow and found some houses we want to see, so we sent the addresses to Mike and he pulled the disclosures. One house was eliminated because it failed the Septic certifications…don’t want to deal with bad water/sewage.

Another was eliminated because of a 50k+ Solar Panel debt, payments until 2047, solar panel company going bankrupt issue. Turns out the solar panels don’t even pay for themselves.

The 3rd house that was dropped was IFFY because there was an apartment complex in the back, so there would never be privacy if we put in a pool

so 3 houses remain…

Manor Ave, Downingtown, PA – We liked this one, very cute, 1 floor (nice size attic, with steps leading up), finished basement, big enough back yard…BUT, the High School is bordering the back yard and there is not enough parking to have a party…eek!

Nevins Way, Coatesville, PA – getting to this place was a long ride down a back road and the driveway was steep. It’s cute and has a nice curb appeal, BUT, None of us thought this house was worth what they were asking for. It’s small, there was a non-existent back yard and no where to put a pool.

Freedom Valley Circle, Coatesville, PA – All of us liked this one…it needed love, and it was priced a little over our budget, but we could have made it work. 2 car garage, lots of yard, fireplace in the middle for 2 rooms. nice size bedrooms, loved it! Mike knows enough about SHORT SALES so even that wasn’t going to be an issue, BUT, the fine print…oh that damn fine print!! There was a 3% fee attached (for the short sale company) after all was said and done. so between buyer and seller and short sale company, 9%…that could have been an ugly surprise!

We have been pre-approved for a decent non-contingency loan. Now that doesn’t mean that we don’t want to sell our house and use that $$ for a ‘down-payment’…so sell in the morning and buy in the afternoon!!

Good until 12/25/2023

I called Mike, the bestie, who just happens to be the best Realtor in the Delaware Valley to come up with a sign of the times realistic number and he sent us these Comps…

of course we have a side lot that will be added in there too and updated kitchen, etc., so, between here and there 🙂

After breakfast, we went back to their house to hang out. Paul was up and moving around once we got there. It was normal afternoon, kids running around, grown ups trying to talk about Adulting stuff…normal!

We went to September Farm to get ice cream and hang out at their playground for a while to wear the kids out! The only sad moment was when we needed to leave.

Driving home, Jen and I started talking about how we had decided to not move and retire in the house that we are in now. But we are so far away from them…and they don’t have a reliable car (right now anyway)!

We are now giving it a second thought!

Kylee’s soccer game started at 9am, which meant hitting the road by 8am at the latest. We took the turnpike, which we normally don’t do and as it turns out there was a giant, multi-family, multi-town yardsale going on 322…we never would have made it. We had no idea this was happening, so we lucked out.

Katt and Remy were the only cheerleaders there for Kylee, the rest of the crew were home sleeping. Watching Kylee play soccer was fun, the kids know how to play, it’s not cut-throat so they all have fun. I’m not even sure they really keep score.

After the game, we went back to the house to pick up all of the kids and take them to Claire’s for breakfast. Paul was the only one that couldn’t make it. He has been working mid-night shift and today is his most weird sleep day because he has off tomorrow. (we brought him home lunch)

We miss them SO MUCH!! They are too far away!