We Moved (again)!
OOPS, WE DID IT AGAIN.
It’s time to spill the not-so-well-kept secret! After more than a decade away, we are filled with all of the emotions to share that we're ✨ home. ✨ Yes, we moved… again!
Vaila Marigold arrived and almost instantly every priority, hope, dream and goal changed for Kyle and I. On just day 5 of her life, I shut the door after waving goodbye to my mom and couldn't bear the just 80 minute drive between us. I want our Goldie Girl to have what I was so blessed to benefit from growing up - what my mom selflessly gave to me. A village.
Thankfully, Kyle had been feeling the same way even before she was born. I've always been in awe and immensely grateful that we are constantly on the same page - most times without knowing it. Since about 6 months after we moved in here he has been telling me things about our “next house” and I begged him to just wait until we had a baby and that baby turned 1 at least before bringing it up. We had JUST moved in here! But then she arrived and my wants better aligned with his ideas.
We had moved farther east in the fall of 2019 to shorten his daily commute and then just 5 months later, a pandemic hit and changed the way we all work anyway.
So with a new baby and a hot real estate market, we decided to take a leap (albeit not a very adventurous one).
This all started out so calm and thoughtful. We knew the market was hot. We’ve watched friends try to find houses and buy things sight unseen, 20% over asking price, all cash, competing with dozens of other offers, less than 1 hour after something hits the MLS, waiving inspection, no contingencies, completely outside of what they were looking for… everything you can imagine.
It seemed like a total shit show for people trying to buy. Which is why we said, we refuse to list our house until we are under contract on a purchase, until it wasn’t my busy season and until we had surpassed the 2 year mark at our current home to avoid paying capital gains tax.
The universe laughed. We immediately started looking, we got under contract and we were set to close right in the middle of my busy season.
We listed our house and sold in 4 days with 9 over asking price offers after 25+ showings.
And then the universe laughed again.
After the sellers and their agent failed to disclose a potentially $20k+ and multi-year issue, we exited the contract on our purchase leaving us with a huge time crunch to find another house in a market that feels like a rodeo and a trial by combat at the same time.
Every day was a balancing act of thankfulness and panic.
I was managing 4-6 sessions a week, weddings on the weekends, lots of editing, mountains of emails, POD logistics, stalking the MLS hourly, packing our house, leaving for appraisals and walk throughs, and full days of seeing potential houses with an infant and a dog. It took 15 days of wondering if we were going to end up living in my grandma’s basement but it all came together.
So, after some slight panicking and a lot of plan pivoting, we found a house. But…
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, motherhood is just me doing a bunch of shit I swore I'd never do.
I swore I’d never move back to my hometown. Honestly, I did this entire move kicking and screaming in private and second guessing. In a way I still am. Growing up, my mom always told me - you can come back, but you cannot stay. So I left. And two counties was as close to “back” as I ever planned to come.
We are blue voting, mask wearing, vaccine believing, equal rights advocating, democratic policy supporting, Medicare For All wanting, educated and politically active far-left, progressive liberals. (Hi, Bernie and Liz.) We intend to raise our children with these values.
➡️ Where we do it, doesn’t matter. ⬅️
Make me repeat that ⬆️ to myself over and over and over when it feels like I’m drowning in a sea of conservative bullshit. We’ve been living in a deeply blue, liberal bubble for the last DECADE. The differences became VERY stark during the pandemic.
What makes our home most special is our people. There are likeminded people in our new area… they’re our people!
They are what I’m most looking forward to - pack walks with the dogs, play dates with dear friends, spontaneous evenings out and about with my favorites, porch drinking on summer Friday nights, Sunday family dinners and help to make raising Vaila just a bit easier.
I know it will be worth it when I get the *hey, we’re doing ____ today, want to come?* text and I can actually say YES.
AND! We know our blue votes will matter more where we are now! 💙🏳️🌈✊🗳🌊 Moving To Do #1: Change Voter Registration
Also, thank f’ing god for grocery pickup.
I know right about now is when people start realizing they have A LOT of curiosities. We didn’t keep this move a secret and just about every person I talk to on a regular basis and a bunch of clients knew about it! I got a lot of…
1️⃣ DIDN’T YOU JUST MOVE? This announcement came at absolutely no surprise to everyone who knows that we finish all of the worthwhile projects on a house and then pack up. I put the listing before and afters of the listing photos in my story if you want to see some of the house in 2019 and 2021!
I live my life in a perpetual state of chaos. Ya’ll… buying, selling and moving is SO stressful but we just 👏 keep 👏 doing 👏 it. 👏 When it’s over, I always think - ok, that wasn’t so bad. Thank god for my mom this time! She took 4 days of PTO to be our childcare, helped clean and move and at the last second coordinated a deep clean of the new house when the sellers left it filthy. Thanks, Mom!!!!!
2️⃣ HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO EVEN FIND A HOUSE? I know guys, it’s rough out there. Explaining this housing market to our families who haven’t moved in 20 years was… less than fun. The team of people we have serendipitously assembled around us have been an integral part of our 3 homes in 5 years and we’re never saying “forever”. I have to publicly acknowledge how much they make this all possible. Erinn, Tricia, Andrea, Bridget and the whole team… your hard work allows us to give our daughter a little more than we could yesterday.
3️⃣ BUT WHAT ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS? Nothing changes except my address! Delaware and Philly area clients, I am still your photographer! It will just take me a little bit longer to get to you. I actually don’t plan on changing where I’m marketing and who I’m marketing to.
4️⃣ BUT WHAT ABOUT KYLES JOB? This is probably what I’m worried most about. And it will take a while to find out. He’ll be working partially remotely and commuting the rest of the time. Please send all the good vibes that he finds some podcasts he likes, can enjoy his alone time on the long drive and doesn’t get too burned out. I am so grateful for this sacrifice and he acknowledged that the positives outweigh the negatives right now.
5️⃣ WILL THERE BE HOUSE PROJECTS? Come on guys, it’s like you don’t even know me! Buying in this market meant our options were limited. Of course that just means sweat, paint, time and transformations lie ahead! I’m glad to have our families nearby for this part too!
6️⃣ ARE YOU FINISHED MOVING? DON’T YOU GET TIRED OF THIS? 🤣 You’re going to hate me… keep scrolling.
BUT WAIT. WE’RE NOT FINISHED…
We don’t believe in forever homes. It works for some but not for us. We’d rather have a home that serves the season of life that we’re in. Be it 3 years, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years at a time… just not forever.
The third time isn’t the charm for us. We actually don’t plan on staying in this house. Twice now we’ve basically done live-in cosmetic flips without knowing it because we didn’t ever go into it planning to leave. This time, we know it upfront. We’re moving in but we’re not staying.
Because… thanks to the sale of our previous house, we finally have the ability to BUILD! It’s a dream we’ve had together for many, many years. After my busy season and the holidays, when things calm down a bit, we’re going to be looking for land.
We have looked at a lot of houses and spent countless hours on Zillow.
We have never seen a house that we’d call perfect for us.
So, we’re going to make one.