So, we closed today on our house in Wisconsin. I've been waiting to give details until that point, but here we are.
First off, I want to thank
@Chadstroma . He spent a phone conversation with me going over a lot of information regarding mortgages and rates and costs and everything. Extremely, extremely nice human being. Answered every question and was very easy to talk to - like we had been friends for years. We even got through the whole Raiders/Chiefs thing with a lot of laughs. Ultimately, we decided to go with a local credit union in the town where we will be living.
This town is small - less than 8800 people. So we decided that we wanted to establish some roots there from a banking standpoint and just from a "let's do business with a local agent" scenario. That was really the only reason we did not choose Chadstroma. But I can honestly tell everyone here he was a professional through and through, and would recommend him to anyone here.
So, to tie things up in Kansas City, we closed on that house in early May, and the new homeowners were kind enough to let us stay in the house until this next week when the kids are done with school. We ended up with 19 offers and ended up with about 55K over asking. A windfall we didn't expect but which gave us enough funds to get what we really wanted: either lakefront or land.
We ended up with land. About three years ago my wife and I came up here to poke around so she could see the area. We hooked up with a local agent and she was kind enough to show us a couple of houses even thought we weren't quite ready yet. Fast forward to now and I reached out to her in the fall of 23 giving her a heads up that we were coming and we would like to use her as our agent. We kept in touch all winter and spring as our dates started to firm up. Lucky for me I found a job quickly and moved up here about a month ago and started work. I commute an hour each way every day from my uncles house, and we were bracing for a long house quest.
The market as also competitive as hell up here, and lakefront is getting really expensive unless you want a dump that needs a ton of work. About a week before I came up, she texted me that she had a place that she was listing in about 10 days, and the owners agreed to let me in to see it before we hit the market. It had some land and some outbuildings and sounded pretty good. So I was like "oh hell yeah."
Head over there, and its amazing:
4BR
2BA
8 Acres - 50% timber and 50% grassland
Two Outbuildings: one is 65' x 30', and the other is 20' x 45'. The big shop has a pellet stove in it.
House is completely finished - comes with all appliances including washer and dryer. All of the good stuff is on the main floor so we can retire comfortably here. Hardwood floors throughout. Pellet fireplace in the living room. Nice big deck. The house faces west for beautiful sunsets. And it's in the middle of nowhere. About 22 minutes from work and the school the kids will go to. I won't have to lift a paint brush in this house. A massive relief after remodeling every house I've ever lived in.
I love it here. Back to KC tomorrow to load up the house and family will come up next weekend. Onward and upward.