To move or not to move? This was the question our family went back and forth on in the past couple of years. At first, I was set against it because I really do not enjoy having to pack and then unpack, and I really liked our current neighborhood and area.
However, we quickly realized early on in 2020 that we were growing out of our current home. A lot changed for us in 2019 with welcoming our fourth child and having my in-laws move back in. Suddenly, we were a family of eight and this pandemic had us spending A LOT of time together inside the house. Things felt even smaller as winter and cold weather came around, and being outside wasn’t as fun anymore. It was time to really start the process of selling and buying a new home. We met with our realtor and gave her our must-haves, along with talking about when we would put the house on the market.
My planning mind put out a goal that we would list early in 2021, with hopes of finding and moving into our new house in time for the new school year that next fall.
However, one day after talking to our realtor, my plan went out the window. Without even putting our house on the market, we had a request to have a private showing. But wait! We were not show ready! Things we had planned to do, like paint walls and take down personal items, had not been done. Our realtor was amazing and assured me that was all known and so we said yes to the showing.
Not thinking much of it, the showing came and went the next day and we started to plan on what we would do to get the house ready for future showings. Then I got a message from our realtor: we had an offer. As you can imagine, we were shocked and happy all at the same time. It was meant to be and so we accepted the offer, which was only three days after we first spoke to our realtor.
Next came figuring out where we would be living next and coordinating a move. After much thought and consideration, we made the decision that we would build our next home. If I was going to move again, I didn’t want to worry about house projects for a long while. We were excited to make this decision, but then came the pesky timeline. Our new home would not be finished until July of this year, yet we were set to close on our current house at the end of January. Where would we go?
Fortunately, I am really lucky in that my parents live within a thirty minute drive from us. My parents were excited about the idea for us to move in for six months until our new house is done, and they even have plenty of space for our family of six. However, this plan did mean we would essentially move twice… so we started to look at storage options for items we were going to keep for our new home, but would not need at my parents’ house when we move out.
Let me tell you – this is a process. Add in the fact we are still in the midst of a pandemic, and selling, buying, AND moving looks different than the last time we walked through this process. Precautions are being taken everywhere and planning becomes extra handy when you need to have people in and out of your house. Things are being done differently than what I remember from five years ago when we first bought this home, so everything FEELS new. I will tell you though that the people I have met and are working with have been my saving grace. Helping us navigate these new waters would have been much more challenging without their help and I cannot say thank you enough to everyone who has been in the process with us.
Moving during a pandemic and in the middle of the winter wasn’t my original plan, but in the end, it was meant to be and I am so excited to start our next chapter with our little family.
If you are considering a move right now – and if you are like me and a little nervous about how different it will look during a pandemic – know that it can be done in a way that is still safe for you and your family. Here is to new adventures in 2021!
