Wow. What a week it has been. I don’t know that I’ll even be able to explain the roller coaster ride of emotions I’ve been through this week. Excitement, disbelief, fear, faith, hope, wonder. You name it, I felt it.
Basically, about a month ago we went on a trip to Maine using a groupon-type deal that we bought back in April. We like to keep our eye on property up there, as we’ve always had a dream to move up there one day.
During that trip we took a look at a couple properties, and found that we compared each one to the first one we went to. The first one happened to be in a FABULOUS spot in Cape Neddick where you could see the ocean from the property. In my wildest dreams of moving up there, I NEVER imagined that we would be able to find (and afford) a property like this. We saw the house all 3 days while we were up there, and honestly, kept thinking about it when we came back, and talking about it.
We found out that the owners were going to pull the property off MLS and turn it into a rental, so it was now or never at taking a stab at it. We put in an offer that we were comfortable with, but with a lot of contingencies since the holidays (and a new baby) are coming up for us. I think we figured they wouldn’t accept it, and we would say we tried. BUT, they accepted it, with basically no changes. We were shocked. We just bought a house we weren’t expecting to!
Now we had just 20 days to get our house on the market, and 40 days to sell it. We have to finish work on the current house, we have to get inspections on the new house (to make sure there are no unexpected red flags). We have to tell our families and friends our news.
Are we crazy? Yes. Are we excited? Yes. Are we a little scared? Hell Yes.
Do we have faith that this is exactly what we were meant to do? Yes.
We’ve had plenty of tears, the roller coaster of emotion has been up and down, but deep down we both know it’s the right thing to do.
As an adult, if you found out your parents had the opportunity to move you within walking distance to the beach and they didn’t would you be upset? I sure would.
Yes, Maine is cold. I am probably most nervous about getting through the winters up there. Between the cold, and the quiet, it could get lonely. But, even when you are surrounded by people in NJ it can get lonely.
However, I’ve always dreamed about living by the ocean. I never thought I could actually afford to make it happen in my 30s.
The hardest part is leaving our home here in NJ. The home my dad painstakingly designed for us, thinking of how to optimize every square inch of it. The home he put his blood, sweat and tears into (as well as a very thick cable). He laid the stone on the fireplace, made custom built-in bookcases, a custom mantle, put up the moulding exactly like I wanted, even though it was a pain in the ass. And never complained to me, and now here I am listing the house for sale. It’s really hard. It’s the hardest part.
I keep reminding myself it’s things. Things can be built again. If it weren’t for his help with this house, we wouldn’t be in a position to make this move. And, of course I want him to help me renovate the new house. My dad always thinks of things that no one else has. He has such a talent at space planning, I hope it rubs off on me someday!
As I declutter my house for showings, and paint molding that hasn’t been painted for the 3 years that we’ve lived here, I cry. I cry as I write this post thinking of all the work we’ve done to make this house our home.
But, I keep thinking about how lucky I am to have this opportunity to carry out a dream I’ve always had. And, I know it won’t be perfect, but I know it’s the right step for our family. I’m excited to embark on this new journey, even if it’s hard right now.
I’ll be writing about it all the way — especially through all the renovations — as we turn this next house into our home. I hope you enjoy the ride along with us.
