Closing on Our Dream House: Overcoming Challenges in 30 Days or Less

Our journey in which a getaway to the historic hotel turns into a shared candid reflection on outgrowing our downtown condo and kickstarts an exhilarating quest for our dream home... all in under 30 days.

One thing we have learned time and time again over the past many years is that it's important in our marriage and our partnership to take time to get away as often as we can. By nature, we are both builders who like to keep busy working on our own ambitions, which means it's easy for us to put on blinders and focus on the tasks at hand. However, we've also come to recognize that it is equally as important to come up for air.

A recent example of this occurred during Thanksgiving week when we decided to journey to Charlottesville for a stay at the historical Clifton Hotel. The truth is, 2023 was a very difficult year for us, and we were in desperate need for a breather. It was no wonder that upon arriving at the beautiful hotel, we decided to go for a walk on the grounds and wound up sitting on the dock of the private lake where we began to discuss life as we know it.

As we relished being away from society and admired the beauty of the house built for Thomas Jefferson's daughter, we wound up touching on the subject of our condo. Over the past several months we had shared a few thoughts we had about home here and there but on this trip, we were able to dig deep. It was during this conversation that we realized we were in a rare situation: we were both on the same page when it came to how we felt about our current living situation—likely for several months—but we had not had the chance to discuss it until now. As we discussed what we liked about our condo, we also started to hit on the things we thought needed some improvement.

Over the past year, both of us had gotten in touch with our independent nature (Gemini, Aries: very independent folks), and at the end of the day, we both felt as though we had started to outgrow our one-bedroom, one-bath condo. Between the two of us doing our thing on different schedules with different needs, we also considered that we were making a small condo work with three dogs. Basically, despite leaving New York City seven years ago, we were still very much in a New York state of mind (no space, no problem), but the reality of our context in Roanoke, Virginia just didn't make sense. On top of that, as it turns out, HOA Boards are not for us, but in hindsight, that actually makes sense.

So over the course of 2 days, we did what we do best. We dreamt about what house living would be like. We discussed what areas of the city/county we would entertain. We discussed what sorts of hour layouts we were attracted to. We discovered things about each other like James's dislike of three-level spits and Pedro's confusion of two-level splits so… no split-level houses for us! We discussed what the purpose of a house was for us. Were we looking to entertain? Did we need separation between entertainment and living? Did we need working space? What about a yard?

By the time we wrapped up our trip and embarked on our traditional Trader Joe's pilgrimage before heading back to Roanoke, James was already reminding Pedro to send realtor Thomas Fellers a message so we can get the ball rolling. If you've ever had the privilege of knowing James, after all, you would know that once a decision is made he can be trusted to get it done. In fact, because of his strengths in executing a plan, Pedro has traditionally taken the back seat when it comes to execution, but this endeavor would remind us of the power we hold when we both get behind something.

We met Thomas at Pedro's co-working space, The Quarters, on a Monday. We discussed our condo and our aspirations for a house. Thomas lent some valuable insight into the market, what a sale of our condo would look like, and what buying a house would look like in 2023. We discussed our needs and our wants. The very next morning, we found ourselves touring a house Pedro couldn't stop thinking about since James spotted it on Zillow. Pedro was so obsessed that part of him wanted to view it ASAP simply in the hopes of being disappointed so he could clear his head and move on. Well, disappointed he was, and thank God.

From then on, things happened quickly. After meeting on Monday and seeing a house on Tuesday, James spotted a historic 1920s American foursquare on the market 12 blocks from our downtown condo and a mere three blocks from our beloved greenway on Wednesday, and the obsession truly began. We wanted to see it badly; luckily for us, the sellers were planning an open house on Saturday so we connected with our realtor and made plans to go see it.

Every once in a while, we align so passionately on something that we know before getting into it that we are either going to love it or hate it, with no options in between, and that was the exact case with this completely renovated move-in ready house. Within 15-20 minutes of touring the house, we both knew what we wanted to do. We hardly had to exchange words; we were ready to put in an offer, and that's exactly what we would do when we found ourselves sitting with Thomas at the MKB Realtors office after hours on a rainy Saturday evening. After an hour of discussing comps and the market as well as looking into the history of the house, Thomas drafted and submitted an offer and after a few back and forths over the course of just a couple of days, we were under contract on our dream house a mere week after first sitting with Thomas.

And now here we are. Pedro will claim that it felt like an eternity of emails, calls, and inspections, but at the end of the day, we were able to close on our new home in under 30 days, which is quite a feat all on its own.

Now comes the fun parts and with it will come some hard work. Between decorating, moving, and hosting some get-togethers, we are excited to be starting 2024 with a fresh slate, and one thing we can say for certain is that it won't just be the two of us who benefit from this move. We are excited for our three pups to have a yard to play in, and we're excited to welcome friends and family to share in the beauty of this new place we'll call home.