The House Across the Street

We're moving across the street! Yes. After renting our skinny little house for almost six years, we have taken the plunge back into home ownership once more. When we sold our house in Grandview and moved to Sunnyside six years ago, we thought we'd rent for a year while looking for a house to buy. When we bought that mythical house, it would be our last move--the place we'd live forevermore. Over the next year, two things happened at the same time: none of the houses for sale were right for us, and we fell in love with our little rented corner of countryside. Over the next few years, we came to love living right next to the canal more and more, with the sweeping vistas and bucolic peace of the Yakima Valley. We didn't want to move back into town. But country houses out on our gorgeous road are notoriously out of our price range, so we continued to rent our little house and share that one bathroom with the whole family, and we were happy. 

A few times per year, I peeked at the real estate market in Sunnyside just in case, and every time I felt reassured that we were still living in the best house in the best location for our family. My dad loves real estate, and a few times per year, he would text us with ideas or house listings that he had found in the area. He's an amazing father, so he respected our decision to rent instead of buy a house, but he also was very interested in the next step for our living situation. He is super generous with helping his kids get into good housing, and he has helped all of my siblings in that regard. 

On Christmas Day 2022, I happened to glance at Zillow and discovered that the house across the street from us had just been listed for sale. The price was sky high at $800,000 (it sold for less than half of that five years ago). The house was in the perfect location and since the interior was ripped up, the price seemed unlikely to hold up. Still, even half of that price was outside of our range. Since this was the first house in six years that even kindled a glimmer of interest in us, I mentioned it to my dad, almost more as a "hey, can you believe that we actually like a house?" than as a "hey, let's make this happen."

My dad was INTERESTED. He was not scared away by inflated asking prices. Jeff and I viewed the house with a realtor and a contractor. But the house was a mess inside and the contractor's renovation estimate came back with a total that was more than we spent on our first house. And the seller was adamant about the high asking price. So we backed off and kind of gave up, recalibrating our brains to continue living in our rental house indefinitely. Two months later, the seller suddenly wanted out, and contacted our excellent realtor, dropping the price into a more plausible range. My dad's offer of $600,000 was accepted! In the space of one week, we went from thinking nothing was going to happen to getting a home inspection, home insurance policy, and picking up keys. 

One week?? I know. It's insane.

The house was sold with three parcels of land: 2 acres with the house and barn on it, a 2 acre lot in front along the road, and 11 acres in the back. The front and back lots can be sold to pay for the renovation of the house, leaving us with a house, a massive barn, and 2 acres of land. My parents will own the house until the renovations are complete, and then we will get a mortgage for the portion of the cost that we can afford. The remaining balance will be a heftily generous gift from my hardworking heart-of-gold father to our family. I feel emotional when I think about it too hard. It is a humbling feeling to receive such a huge gift. I feel the privilege of this gift at my very core. We are a single income teacher family. We are not half-million-dollar country home material. We prefer to save our money for travel, not home decor. Impostor syndrome is real. But when I go back to humbly accepting the love behind the generosity of my parents, my heart expands. The only thing to do with such an enormous gift is to pay it forward as best we can.

We have big plans and ideas for the big barn! It will be our running headquarters! We can host team banquets and summer practices and workouts and workshops and all kinds of things in that massive space. All we can give to and do for the youth in our community with that space feels like the best way to pay my parents' generous gift forward. 

House timeline:

• Thursday, March 23rd: The listing realtor contacted our realtor with a price drop, which we refused.
• Saturday, March 25th: The listing relator contacted our realtor with another price drop. We did a verbal offer of $600k which was refused.
• Tuesday, March 28th: We made a formal offer of $600,000, contingent on inspection.
• Wednesday, March 29th: Our offer was accepted.
• Thursday, March 30th: The home inspection took place and came back clean, with minor fix-its.
• Friday, March 31st: We got the ball rolling on a home insurance policy.
• Wednesday, April 5th: Closing day! We picked up the keys!

My dad came for an intense one day visit this week. We spent all day Thursday (April 6th) at the house across the street, meeting with a contractor, walking the property and brainstorming ideas. It was a lot! It was fun dreaming and discussing with my dad. I felt very out of my depth with all of this. Going from renting a tiny house and making do with what's there to an almost blank slate of a home renovation was overwhelming! How do we want the kitchen? Where should that bathroom wall go? My dad is so good at all of this stuff, it was comforting to have his experience, brainpower, and backing on board. 

The contractor said that once we decide on the layout and materials, the renovation will take 4-6 months. It may take me that long to get used to the idea of space and ownership! And to learn how to mow a lawn again.

Pictures: 

So many keys!

We took our Easter family picture in front of the new house.

And another one in front of the barn, for good measure.

The kids on the front porch.

The first thing the kids wanted to see was the barn.

View from the front door.

To the left of the front door. WINDOWS FOREVER AND EVER.

The kitchen.

Kitchen from the other side. Send ideas--we are completely redoing this whole part of the house.

Master bedroom at the front of the house--that's the barn out the window.

In the master bedroom: closet on the right, bathroom on the left.

Looking through the master bathroom from the other side. The owner's husband started renovations himself but passed away at the beginning stages.

That circle on the floor is the powder room, haha.

Basement!

Basement from the other side! Those two doors on the right are the doors into Rose's and Amber's future bedrooms. Their two rooms are connected by a jack and jill bathroom.

Jay's future bedroom.

Inside Amber's future bedroom. 

Looking into Rose's future bedroom, which has sliding doors into Amber's bedroom. The previous owner left a mountain of appliances, faucets, toilets, and light fixtures for us.

The kids discovered a firewood box: this locking hatch opens from the living room cabinet onto the side porch steps, for easy firewood access.

This picture is from early February, when I took the girls to the estate sale at the house. It's the only picture I could find of the house and barn together. I'll get a more comprehensive picture sometime soon, I'm sure.

The upstairs of the barn has a basketball court.

This is the only picture we took while my dad was visiting for the day--we went out to Sunnyside's finest taco truck, Taco King, for dinner.

Stay tuned! In the words of Bilbo Baggins, "I think I'm quite ready for another adventure!"