The lovely Chicago house that we almost bought.
I am not an experienced relocator. I bought my first house in 2002, in Las Vegas, NV, and even though I’ve traveled the whole wide world, I’ve been in the same home ever since. I busted my buns to keep it post-divorce in 2009. Ken moved in with me, Sophia, and Zia in 2016. We paid the darn thing off in 2018. It’s been a great home, but I am aching for a change.
Ken and I have been surfing Zillow and Redfin for a couple of years, mindfully watching for our perfect next home. We searched Las Vegas and the surrounding areas until Ken asked if I would ever consider moving to Chicago. I met Ken in Chicago through work. I used to partner in an animation shop with Las Vegas and Chicago locations. I love Chicago, and while the winters there are daunting for a girl acclimated to 115º summers, the idea of moving, and the weather, is exciting! Also exciting, Ken’s sister lives there. She and Josh are just about to have the first baby in Ken’s family. Chicago is a lot closer to Ken and Angela’s New Hampshire-based parents, too. It’s a beautiful time to be closer to his family. My parents passed on forever ago, my sister moved to New Mexico two years ago, and my kids are old enough now that the timing for a move feels great.
Once this Chicago decision was a Go, we quickly found something we loved. We’d made an offer on a house that needed a lot of work. The home was listed at $385k. We offered $350k. Offer accepted.
On October 3, Ken and I shared our big plan of moving to Chicago sometime in the next year with our social media communities.
@jaimeejaimee
Cool bonus, we were going to be able to buy this one without selling our Las Vegas home. This is a big deal for us because we’ve got pets and kids in school, and mainly because the Chicago house would be a long renovation project. We could renovate without living in a construction zone, make our move without rushing, then decide if we want to sell or rent out the Vegas house.
We figured roughly $150–$200k worth of work to do (with some additional buffer for unexpected surprises or bonus features), which would take around a year of renovation time to complete. We knew the 2-car garage would be a complete teardown. We knew the stairs on the back of the house would be a complete teardown. The house is a 2-flat. The basement and attic are both unfinished; our goal was to duplex up and down, which would nearly double the square footage of the house. We imagined the lower duplex being the family space. Sophia and Zia would have an “apartment” of their own on the first floor with 2 beds/1 bath. We wanted to finish out the basement, add a bathroom, laundry, and storage, and make plenty of space across the two levels to sprinkle our collection of retro arcade machines. The upper 3 bed/1 bath apartment would be all for Ken and me. We were going to convert the unfinished attic into a master suite and keep the second floor close to what it was. It was perfect for us to have our own office rooms (we both work from home now that we’re closing the shop down) and expand the kitchen into the third room.
Everything was moving along, we had a closing date and all the bank stuff rolling, then the inspection came back. The minimal work needed to make it safe and practical came in around $240k. That was the tippy-top of our renovation budget and didn’t even crack into the sweet renovations I outlined above. Those would still take an additional $150–$200k, which would push the total cost of the house a good deal beyond neighborhood comparables, not to mention a bad financial position to put ourselves in. So, we backed out of the deal.
We are still planning to move, and would still love for the timeline to be in the next year, but the home search begins again.
I did say I planned to post all the stuff we’re doing and learning along the way.
Lesson Number One:
Don’t share your big moving news until you have the keys in your hands.
🤣❤️
–Jaimee