Adventures in Homeownership: Movin' On Up

 Aaron and I have been in our cute little San Jose townhouse for a little over four years. And it's been a wonderful four years. This house will always have special meaning to us. It was the first home we purchased together, just a few short months after we got married. We brought Ethan and Henry home to this house. We've celebrated birthdays, anniversaries and promotions. We've hosted holiday parties and gatherings. We've made friends with our neighbors. Our little townhouse is full of love and cherished memories. 

For the last four years, San Jose has been our home. But it's a funny thing about homes and houses. It doesn't really matter where it is. What matters is that you are with the ones you love.

“Home wasn't a set house, or a single town on a map. It was wherever the people who loved you were, whenever you were together. Not a place, but a moment, and then another, building on each other like bricks to create a solid shelter that you take with you for your entire life, wherever you may go.”
― Sarah Dessen, What Happened to Goodbye

Now that the boys are getting bigger, our needs are changing. As our family grows, it has become increasingly cramped. With two babies, we were running out of space. Our office spaces are encroaching on our living spaces, and our living spaces were quickly filling up with kid-friendly materials. But the community is growing, too. This means our commutes were getting worse, as more and more people moved to the area. Getting to our work places was taking us longer and longer, and sitting in traffic is no fun at all when you know you have super-cute little dudes waiting for you at home. And as Ethan gets older, I find myself longing for at least a little backyard that boys can play in with ease.

The thing is that we weren't really looking for something new, or for somewhere new, it kinda just presented itself. We had talked about moving someday; we knew that our cute little townhouse was not our forever home. We figured on a five year plan. We knew that we'd want to find a single-family home, something with a little more space and fewer stairs, and maybe that cute little backyard. And, if I am being honest, I was always looking at houses online. I liked keeping my eye on the market if for no other reason than so that I wouldn't miss something awesome. But with one eye on the market, we also knew that we had little hope of getting any closer to my work, or Aaron's work. If we wanted our ideal single-family home, we'd only be moving farther away. The big question is how far. 

If you have known us for a while, you know that Aaron commuted all the way to Santa Clara from Turlock. It was three hours. Each way. He loved taking the train to work, but the extra, extra long commute was taking a toll on him. That is how we came to find this house in San Jose. But with the traffic getting worse, the idea of taking public transit (even if it took a bit longer) seemed like a really exciting proposition. And that, my friends, is how we found our new house. 

Yes. The Plattner Family is on the move. Again. This time to Livermore, California. It is exciting. And new. And because there is just so much to say, I will share more details about our new home in another post. 

We are really excited about this new chapter in our lives. As they say, when one door closes another opens. And this door opens to a beautiful new home, in a lovely area. Of course it will be extremely difficult to leave everything we have now. I'm going to miss our San Jose home. It's super cute. The kitchen is fabulous. The house often has a wonderful breeze blowing through it, keeping it nice and cool and airy. I finally feel like I have put my touch on some of the decorating. I especially love Ethan's new big boy room. The location is quiet and really convenient for Aaron to ride his bike to work. We have absolutely wonderful neighbors and a few cute grassy areas for Ethan to play in. But I am sure that the new house will have all of these things and more. And, of course, there is the fact that I will be leaving my job at my wonderful school and leaving my sub status with the big band I love playing in. It's a lot of change. But change is good, right? As they say, without change there would be no butterflies. 

Yesterday, we received an offer on our fabulous townhome. We countered, and the buyers accepted. It makes my heart happy knowing that a cute newlywed couple wanted to call this house their home. Just as Aaron and I started our family in this home, they hope to start a family as well. Soon they will get to start filling it with love and making memories of their own.

For those who didn't get a chance to visit, here are some photos of our San Jose home. What wonderful memories it brought us!

The "Upstairs Living Room"

The dining room looking into the upstairs living room

A view of the dining and kitchen

The upstairs living room and half bath	The half bath downstairs
Ethan's Pixar themed big boy room	Henry's Mickey Mouse themed nursery room
The hall bathroom	Aaron's workspace, office
The master bedroom	The master bathroom

Adventures in Home Ownership: A Sign

If you a reader of my blog, you know that my husband and I recently purchased a second home in San José. A home that is our home.

After doing so we needed to make a really big decision. We needed to decide what we would do with our pretty little house in Turlock.

After several phone consultations, two in-person consultations, hours of internet searching, months of candid conversation, and one important phone call to my mortgage company, we decided it was best if we sell the pretty little Turlock house.

I immediately went to the awesome REALTOR® who helped me buy this pretty little house. He had our house listed within less than a week of our phone call to him. Less than an hour after being posted on MLS, people were making appointments to tour our home. Over the course of the next 24 hours we had far more than a dozen couples, families, individuals and their prospective  REALTORS® looking at our home. Within 48 hours, we had at least two offers. Within three days, we had a dozen offers, four of which we countered. Now, we need to be patient and let the process continue as we anxiously await the next steps.

The process has been a whirlwind so far. And I feel truly blessed that everything seems to have worked so smoothly thus far. But, honestly, none of it seemed very real. Until today.... when there was a clear sign of the times to come. A sign that my pretty little house would soon no longer be mine.

A "For Sale" sign doesn't seem like much, but it certainly hit me hard. Don't get me wrong, I am extremely excited about our big move into our new home. But, I would be lying if I said that the process was easy. I would be lying to myself if I didn't admit that selling our pretty little Turlock house, my pretty little house – the house I worked so hard to buy, makes me a little bit sad.

On a happier note, today I signed the agreement to our counter offer. The next step is submitting everything to the mortgage company and hope all goes well. Keep your fingers crossed for us!