Friday, October 29, 2021

The End of an Era

If you follow me on social media (or even click on my blog from time to time), you've probably noticed I've been pretty quiet lately... but that doesn't mean my life has been... In fact, the hubby and I have had A LOT going on, which is why I haven't had much extra time to dedicate to things like posting. Don't worry, I won't leave you in suspense any longer... WE ARE MOVING! Not to fret, we aren't leaving SoCal (or even Oceanside), but we did sell our condo and bought a house. 

Let's just say selling our condo and buying a house has us feeling a little overwhelmed...

So now that the "cat is out of the bag (why is that even a saying in the first place?!)", let's see how we got to this point.

Source

The hubby and I bought our condo back in 2010. At that point we were renting an apartment near the beach in Oceanside and found this great deal on a 2-bedroom, 2-bath a couple miles away. We had no idea that we would be able to afford buying something in Southern California (I mean, have you seen the prices here?!), but thanks to being in the right place at the right time and having a nest egg in the bank, we were able to score a mortgage that was cheaper than what we would pay monthly in rent (not to mention the tax breaks). Sure, we might have liked having a standalone home, but not having to deal with a yard, having amenities like a pool/ tennis court/ basketball court/ etc, were pretty nice as well. 

Source
Okay, okay, we aren't as cute as Carl & Ellie, but we still had a great time making our condo a home!

When we bought the condo it was move-in ready, but wasn't really "our style". The cabinets were dark, the countertops were dark, there was carpet, the colors were pretty blah, etc, but it was liveable! We actually made it work FOR YEARS but then around 2019 we started throwing around the idea of possibly updating the condo or selling it and putting that renovation budget towards a new place. We went back and forth and eventually decided (due to the market) that it was better for us to renovate and stay put for a while. [If you're interested you can check out our DIY Condo Renovation post HERE to see before and after shots, see everything we updated, get a list of the products we used, etc.]

Well, apparently the hubby never stopped looking at properties and would still send me places that peaked his interest from time to time. With the market as it is (definitely a sellers market, at least in SoCal), we realized that we had a decent amount of equity in our condo and if we were thinking of potentially selling it someday, it would probably make sense to jump on it while the selling was hot. Back in August we met with a recommended realtor (more just testing the waters to see what our condo would sell for if we did list it) and really liked him. We figured we'd at least start the process (getting pre-approved for a loan, looking at potential places to buy that were in the price range we felt comfortable in, etc) to see what options we had and could always stay put if we didn't like what we found. You never know if you don't try, right?!

Source

Come to find out, the condo was worth a decent chunk of change (but, remember, if our price has increased in value, the houses we would be looking at would also have higher price tags on them) and our realtor actually had a potential buyer in mind before we even decided to list it. The potential buyer came to check it out one morning and loved it (YAY!). At that point we had gone to see a couple places, but nothing that struck our fancy or would actually close for a price we would want to buy them for. We prayed about it, talked it over with our realtor (as well as friends and family members) and decided that we would sell our condo but would want a stipulation in the contract that stated we could stay in it until November 1st. The thought process was that hopefully in that time we would find a place to buy, but if we didn't, at least it gave us adequate time to find a place to rent (or friends to stay with while we found something more permanent). 

Source

Let's just say it is a little stressful going under contract to sell your place with nothing on the horizon, but we weren't too worried about it. We figured the perfect thing would come up or maybe it'd be the nudge the hubby needed to do VanLife for a while, hehe. I'll spare you the boring details, but suffice it to say WE FOUND A PLACE. It ticked most of the boxes we had (our realtor suggested we make a list of the Top Ten wants so that we had something concrete and objective to look at to see if something was "really" an option or not) so we put in an offer and they accepted - WHOOO HOOOOO!

Source

We were able to officially close on our condo on September 20th (it ended up being about a 28 day escrow, if you are into the nitty gritty details) and became the owners of our new place on September 24th. [I'm not sure if you remember, but the hubby and I were able to pay off our mortgage at the beginning of 2020, which means we could use the entire sale price of the condo towards the purchase of the new place... which is why we needed the closures to happen in that order.]

You may think I'm "cheap"... but I call it frugal and financially responsible!
This was from when we were able to pay off our condo's mortgage 19 YEARS early!

Originally we had that buffer of not having to move out of the condo till November 1st because we wanted to give ourselves time to find a place (oh yeah, the new owner wouldn't have to pay her first mortgage payment until November, which is why she was okay with it), but let's just say the house had a lot of work that had to be done... You see, it was built in the 70s and we were only the third owners. There was quite a bit we wanted/ needed to do, so the fact that we had five weeks between closing and having to move in was HUGE! Not having to live in a construction zone is always preferred.

A picture from during the condo renovation... We literally were sleeping on a futon 
mattress on the living room floor for a while during the renovation process... 

If you noticed the date of this post, you see this weekend is THE WEEKEND we have to move out of the condo. I'd be lying if I said everything was done at the new place. You see, COVID hasn't only impacted the health of the people around the world, it's also effected trades folks, the cost of building materials, etc. We were able to do a lot of the renovations ourselves on the condo, but we have been "outsourcing" the majority of the work for the house because the hubby and I are both working full time and wouldn't have had the time (or energy) to be able to do half as much as has gotten done thus far. With that said, I joke with the hubby that it's a good thing we like camping because these first few weeks we will definitely be "roughing it" till things are done. (Thankfully we can sleep in the driveway in our AdventureMobile {and can even shower at the hubby's climbing gym, hehe} or stay with friends who have graciously offered up a spare room.) 

Source

I'll share process photos/ videos soon (I'll probably wait till we have most things complete to give you a better idea of the real before and afters), but at least now you have a better idea of why I've been radio silent for the past few months. 

Source

PS I believe I sent our new contact information to everyone in my phone, but in case you need it, let the hubby or I know. 

When was the last time you moved?

No comments: