Life Update: We Bought a House!

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

We are homeowners. Ekk! It was a dream realized much sooner than expected but we mapped out on paper what we wanted in our dream house and then…we found it! I am so excited for our little family and I wanted to share with you.

Since we moved to Philadelphia, we have been living in a historic rental for nearly five years in the wonderful neighborhood of Old City.

On New Year’s day I asked my entire family what they wanted in a dream house “one day”. Mia asked for a window, Bailey asked for a door (sounds strange but there were limited doors and windows on the 4th floor of our row-home rental), Joey and I wanted a space where the kitchen and living room weren’t on separate floors and he wanted space for a home gym. I wanted, you guessed it, a beautiful kitchen with many many windows. We wanted a small yard and outdoor space and I dreamed of having space for a table with chairs to have family dinners.

I’m not sure if all that sounds reasonable or dreamy but if you’ve lived in small city spaces, you get it!

A few weeks later I saw a beautiful home on Zillow. I showed it to Joey and said “this would be perfect if it was closer to Philly!”

Staying in the City or the Burbs?

After nearly 5 years in our historic rental, we learned that we wouldn’t be able to renew our lease. Still in a pandemic, we started looking at all of our options. With kids, renting and moving around isn’t ideal mainly because of their school.

If you’ve been following anything about the real estate market through the pandemic you’d know it’s on fire. Many left larger cities and moved to cities and suburbs of Philadelphia. Inventory of 3 bedrooms houses in our price ranger were super limited. There are countless pros and cons to living in the city vs the burbs and we thought we’d raise kids in the city their whole lives! We were excited for this.

We moved to the Mainline area of Philadelphia suburbs! The Mainline is a string of smaller towns all in a row outside of the city. I am still learning so much about the area.

A part of us will definitely miss the city but for now we are excited to have a yard, space to stretch and let’s talk about my kitchen filled with windows after living in a kitchen in a basement of a historic home!

Here are some furniture pieces we bought for our new home:

If you’re a long time reader, learning that I’m moving to the suburbs might be a shock. Ha, it was for me! I will still have my office and we are keeping our littlest at her school in the city for her last year before kindergarten so don’t worry there will be plenty of opportunities to capture great moments for @oldcitylove.

I still think raising kids in a city is a great choice for many reasons including and especially introducing your kids to the diversity that a city has to offer. You can read tips about that here.

The House

Okay okay let’s get to the house! The house is a 4 bedroom remodel. It was built in the 80’s and remodeled in 2020. We are quickly learning what it means to be homeowners and the pros and cons that come with it.

The open layout is what was most attractive to us especially having young kids. You might notice my Instagram Page becoming a home decor page now ha. From furniture to decorating, there is so much to do.

We will be turning the 4th bedroom into an office and the basement will become Joe’s home gym. Designing the girls rooms have been so much fun. Check out the peel and stick wall paper we installed and I purchased this chic new white bedframe for Bailey’s room.

We had the best people by our side…

We are so so grateful for the people that helped turn two home dreamers into home buyers! I’ve known the team at She Moves Philly for a few years now and I am so grateful for having the best realty team out there. I can’t imagine going through the home buying process with out them. We were able to let them do what they do best with a trusted relationship. Brittany and Britt make for not only a bad ass team (I mean, hello, getting an offer accepted in this market is a fierce skill!) but are amazing people.

If you’d like to see an example of a buyer’s letter to the seller, email me and I’ll send ours over!

When it came to a lender, we were fortunate enough to have access to a Physician’s loan. I’d love to share more about this process and will do so in a separate blog post but basically a Physicians Loan allows physicians to purchase homes with little to no down payment. This was key for us as we weren’t expecting to buy a home. We ended up using TD Bank as they offered us the best rate with a Physcian’s Loan option.

Lastly, when it came to moving day I went with the company who had the most referrals, Old City Movers! Moving a family of 4 plus a pup is a huge undertaking. I am so glad we hired Old City Movers. At the start of the process they provided an accurate quote and really cared about ensuring we received a competitive rate for moving.

They arrived early and ready to take on the day. Every mover was SO nice and I think on a stressful day like moving day, having kind movers makes all the difference!

Thank you Old City Movers! I hope you will check them out when you’re ready to make your next move in the greater Philadelphia Area.

I hope you’ll keep following along on our homeowners journey!