It’s Sunday afternoon here in our new home! The house was “delivered” to us on Tuesday afternoon after a few days of wondering if we would fund in time. Even though I knew that it would happen, it was still nerve-wracking. Moving day was Thursday with The Handy Movers, the same exact crew who moved us last year almost to the day. (They are fantastic!) Friday was us moving the rest of our stuff from the rental and then cleaning up. By the end of the day, we had given up our keys to the rental.
Scenes from the rental:
The last ten years of renting was through a property management company that was fair and responsive, the rent reasonable for this area. I’d talk them up but I think the business is winding down. Renting always felt temporary to me, even though we did it for so long. Every November/December, I felt like the company would tell us, sorry, the owners want to sell. When it finally happened, we knew that after our next rental, we would be making a change.
We were contacted about the house a week after Dad died so the emotional aspect was interesting to navigate. I don’t know how well I went through it. I feel like I compartmentalized much, perhaps focusing on the excitement and anxiety of the whole home buying process more than the very real, very heart-twisting grief. We didn’t want to share too much online about the house because there was always that little bit of doubt, that “what if it doesn’t happen,” and it seemed best to not say anything until we had keys in hand.
The house was set to be ready for us late February/early March, the timing matching the end of our rental lease. What are the chances? We got to visit the house while it was still in construction. We did not pick any of the touches for the house, so no upgrades and the like. Honestly, it took a lot of the pressure off for us. We are fine with all of it.
We drove by the house at random times and I would take pictures whenever I could. It was fun watching it go through its changes. It was exciting when the scaffolding was down. When the driveway was being prepped, it started to look more and more like a real house.
We had a “tile walk” in January. It was like a “pre” walk thru of the house. The tile was installed but not yet the carpet. It gave us a chance to check out the appliances and cabinets and such. It was really coming together and the excitement was steadily ramping up for us.
The main walk thru was two weeks before getting our keys, in mid-February. The carpets were in and the house looked ready for us to move in. It was a rainy day, so we couldn’t go our to the backyard, which was fine since it was all just mud. The backyard will have to wait.
Home Delivery day aka Keys in Hand Day finally arrived on Tuesday. We signed the loan docs the day before and were funded in time to get our keys at our appointed meeting. FINALLY!
Moving day was Thursday. We had the same crew from The Handy Movers that we had last year and they did a great job, as always! The armoire was the piece that they had to take apart to bring upstairs. Otherwise, they moved everything as needed up to the second floor.
Friday we moved the rest of our stuff then cleaned out the rental. We were finished by the afternoon and ended up getting In-N-Out to bring back to the house. It was our first meal eaten in our new home! (My last meal at the rental was a chef salad from Mr. Pickles.) Moving our stuff from the rental and cleaning the house was EXHAUSTING. But hey, we’re done!
And some random stuff:
- The first movie we watched in our new home was Spider-Man: Homecoming.
- First DoorDash – Big Bear Diner today (Sunday). Yum!
- We’re slowly unpacking but there is so very much to do. But hey, we have LOTS of time to get it done. Can’t wait to get the downstairs looking presentable enough for visitors. Soon? We shall see.
- We ordered one of those spineless couches for the downstairs bedroom as it can convert into a bed. I’m sitting on it now here in the living room, wondering if it’s going to puff up more.
- We were able to hit the farmers market on Saturday morning, which was a nice bit of normalcy. I got to have my corn in a cup, washing it down with some Jameson and ginger. As one does. 😉
- I look forward to the day when I don’t feel the burn when going up the stairs. Whew! Our first place together was two story but since then we lived in one story homes. I suppose we’re going full circle with our last place being two story.
- It feels good being a homeowner again. No one can ever tell us, “Sorry, we’re selling the place, you have to move.” SWEET GOODNESS.
- The view from our bedroom is so cool. So I’ll end it here with a shot I took the first morning waking up here.
