Before I go into writing more about our new home, I have to share how we found it! Firstly, I should mention that the market at the time we bought our home was nothing like it is right now. We weren't exactly in a buyers market but there definitely wasn't an issue finding homes that we could view. I knew that I didn't want to live in Wauwatosa where we lived for the past four years, even though we had made great connections there and loved our kiddos school! But we wanted more yard and space for us to grow into. And although we didn't want to live in the country, we wanted to feel further from the hustle of the city. We also had to keep in mind that Benjamin could not be more than 30 miles away from his new job in the city of Milwaukee because of call/and or emergencies.
This seemed kind of like a unicorn situation, but I didn't rule out any areas and kept an open mind. It was the beginning of February 2020 when I officially started my home search. At the time, I still had my old Instagram page (you can follow my new one here) and was sharing some of the process. I started searching online for areas of interest and then a friend suggested her realtor and I went ahead and started sending him suggestions of houses I wanted to view. After touring two houses, I was already feeling like we wouldn't find our 'forever' home haha but it gave me an idea of what I wanted and didn't want in terms of home styles. After several hours on Zillow, I saw our current home and to be completely honest the pictures weren't amazing, it looked like someone haphazardly took their cellphone and started snapping photos of the house. What struck me, however, was that it said the home felt like a retreat on five acres. And as someone who was living in a completely urban place, I was curious to see what that looked like. So we scheduled our first visit not thinking anything special about the house itself, only the property around it.
It had snowed heavily for the past few days and our realtor got stuck at the beginning of the driveway, luckily Benjamin always packs the cars with shovels and he was able to scoop himself out! Once that was out of the way, we began driving down the driveway and I was immediately smitten. It felt like I was driving into a nature reserve. The driveway was winding all the way down until we reached the circle drive. I swear my jaw had dropped, and it was my turn to scoop myself out! Benjamin was at work that day and it was just me and the kiddos. The moment I stepped out, I looked at our realtor and told him "this is our house!" I just knew it. It felt like home. When we walked in, it was not the same house that I saw in those crappy cellphone pics online lol It was a completely different vibe and I was blown away. I got so excited and sent a message to Benjamin saying I don't want to get too excited, but I think I found our home and that he had to see it.
As the kids and I left the house, I looked over to the east and saw what looked like a small shed and the remains of a garden. I was in disbelief and asked our realtor if that was a garden. I felt like my soul leaped and reached the garden before my body did! It was covered in packed snow, that covered another large layer of weeds and trees, but that space sealed the deal for me. We had found our home. It took a few days of negotiations, but we signed the contract and closed in the spring! It felt like a dream those first few days we woke up in our new home surrounded by so much lush wooded acreages and plants. The reality set-in, however, when we began to do the yard work 😂 But it's been an amazing growing and learning experience! I'm excited to share more as time goes on and will surely write up a post on before's and afters of the garden + property.
And if there's any unsolicited insight or advice I would share to anyone shopping for homes in the current market: if you can, WAIT! It is a sellers market right now and the odds of finding a home for the price it's actually worth are really slim. This current bubble we're in will pop soon, and you don't want to be in over your head if you buy a home that's worth less than you invested and that may/or may not need more work, which I find is every home unless it's brand new. And even then, you want to have the income to maintain and make whatever space your own. Okay, off my soapbox now ;)
If you follow me on IG, then you know that I'm working on a home summer project list. I wanted to share it here too, along with a quick overview of the colors and textures I'm dreaming up!
Wishing you a great rest of your week!
xKeila
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