I CANNOT believe this day is finally here. Like the song lyrics above, I’ve got a lot of mixed emotions. I’m excited about this new chapter that’s starting. I’m thankful that things came together for me to find a new place to live. I’m exhausted from juggling all the moving pieces of contractors and the details that needed to be done before the move. I’m also a little sad to close the door on my townhouse for the last time.

Last year at this time, I wasn’t really ready to let go of my townhouse and put it on the market. I wasn’t ready to take down picture frames, and repaint walls to get it “picture” ready for the listing. I had put so much of myself into this place that it was all so personal. I eventually got my house ready to list and it eventually sold. Then the clock started ticking for me. I had a 90 day lease back to find a new house. It was a rough summer.

I finally found something I wanted 2 weeks after my house sold and had an offer accepted. It had a lot of the things I was looking for. There was a 2 car garage, it was a ranch, there were original hardwood floors throughout the house, and it didn’t have weird 1990s architecture with half-walls and weird angles. On the surface the house was great, but underneath, in the crawlspace, it was a different story. There was so much water/termite damage, mold growth, mold in the hvac ducts, etc. It wasn’t a practical investment. I walked away from it.

In late July I found another house I liked that fit a lot of my must haves. The owners were nice enough to have the house tested for asbestos. After talking with the asbestos remediation company, the costs to abate were too much for my budget. There was no way I could safely remodel that house without asbestos abatement. I put an offer in on another house right across the street from some friends in Cary. It was a fixer upper, but the price was great and I could remodel reasonably. My offer was verbally accepted by the owner and then they wouldn’t sign the paperwork and accepted another offer. Another house I lost out on because another buyer put in a crazy amount of due diligence money. After losing my due diligence money on the termite house, I wasn’t willing to do that. I couldn’t seem to catch a break. I was beyond frustrated and upset with the situation.

By the time the end of August rolled around I was beginning to lose hope that I’d find a new house. I was fortunate that the people who bought my place planned on using it as a rental property and agreed to allow me to rent it from them until I found a house. I know my situation could have been more challenging if I had to temporarily move. I also got tired of looking at houses. They all seemed to run together and I was no longer confident that I knew what I was looking for. I probably looked a 100 houses during my search. It was exhausting. It use to be fun to go look at houses, and tour the parade of homes. But I’ve seen enough houses for a life time. It was really hard to do everything I could to make something happen and be at the mercy of waiting for houses to come on the market. The uncertainty of when/if I would find a house was very stressful and hung over me like a cloud.

In mid – September a ranch house came on the market. It needed some work, but it had a lot of the things that I was looking for. It reminds me a lot of my childhood home with the layout; it is very similar. There was some back and forth on getting an offer accepted. But at least it was finally accepted. The inspection came back with decent results. But there were some critical items that needed to be updated. After getting quotes for the major repairs, the sellers agreed to take care of those items. After everything I had been through, I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief on closing day.

It’s been a whirlwind the last couple of weeks. All of the major repairs have been completed. It’s take a little bit to get adjusted to moving into this house. At first it did not feel like home. I don’t know if this feeling was because other people have lived here, and my townhouse was new construction and childhood home was all I ever knew before that. Maybe it’s because it’s unconventional in society for a single gal to own a single-family house. I don’t know for sure, it’s hard to pin-point the source of my feelings. It’s probably a combination of a lot of things. Change is hard, even when it’s what you want. It doesn’t mean that I’m not going to keep moving forward. I’ve been able to change a couple of rooms with some paint. The floors have been refinished too. It’s starting to feel like this place is mine. It’s starting to feel like home. I’m really happy to be moving forward and starting a new chapter. I guess it’s going to take some time to get use to everything.