Happy Thursday! Hope you guys have had a great week this week. A lot has changed in the last couple of weeks, so I wanted to share an update on what’s going on. I’ve received many a DM on Instagram asking me questions about this, so I thought doing a blog post I could direct you all to is probably the easiest solution to that. As you all know, at the start of 2020 I decided I wanted to move to Chicago! I flew up for a week and a half in January to look at apartments and really make sure it was the right move (for lack of a better word) for me. After an amazing time there, I made the decision to put my house on the market. While we knew about coronavirus then (at the time I visited Chicago there was one confirmed case there!), it was not clear how dire the situation would become and how much life would change.
Within one month of putting my house on the market, things took quite a turn as you all well know! After speaking with my realtor, I decided it was probably best to take my house of the market for the time being. For one, it seemed like a bad idea to have people coming and going in my house while we’re trying to do social distancing, but it also seemed crazy to make such a major life change amidst so much uncertainty. Oddly enough, the week I made the decision to take my house off the market we actually received a solid offer on it! I was totally torn on what to do. On one hand, with the economy in such a bad place it seemed like a good time to get it sold if the housing market is negatively affected over the next year or two. On the other, it seemed nuts to move out of the safety and comfort of my home into an apartment in a new big city during a quarantine. In the end, I decided to go for it. We were all so hopeful that social distancing wouldn’t last that long, so I figured I might as well risk it! My house was officially under contract on March 27th. Only two days later, Trump extended social distancing guidelines until at least April 30th. Needless to say, I was a bit stressed during the option period.
As with most home purchases, the buyers did an inspection during the option period and ultimately came back with a price decrease request due to some things that they wanted to be fixed. Because I was already on the fence about moving out, I decided to just say “take it or leave it” and not negotiate on price any further. After a long fourteen day option period, the buyers ultimately backed out the night before the option period ended! I truly feel like everything happens for a reason, and I’m so relieved the buyers ended up terminating the contract. As much as I wanted to move to Chicago, I am not confident in doing so at the moment. I’ve decided to postpone my move for the year, if not indefinitely, depending on how I’m feeling at that time. At least if social distancing continues long term, I know I have family and friends close by here in Texas, space to spread out in my house and backyard and the comfort of the familiar here in Dallas.
As with most things in life, the situation with COVID-19 is fully out of my control and in no way did I think something like this would get in the way of my move. I’m planning to stay put in my Dallas house for the time being, and may reevaluate a move once things calm down… but for now, I’ll be here! While I may look back on this decision as an overreaction, I want to feel happy and confident when I make a big life change like moving to a new city, and I can’t say I was feeling that way when my house was under contract. I feel as if a weight has been lifted! As always, thank y’all for being so supportive and following along on this journey – especially those of you who were excited for me to make the move! I hope you’ll stick around even though I’m staying in Texas :)
PS: I was already planning on doing some redecorating anyway if/when I moved, so I may have some new home content coming at you soon! I’m finally going to decorate my guest bedroom (it contained all of my old 2009 apartment furniture!), and make some changes to my master bedroom as well. I had some fun last weekend moving furniture around and have a good idea for what’s going to happen in my guest room, so the real fun begins with the changes in the master! In the spirit of that, below you’ll find some pieces inspiring me right now! Still don’t know what direction I’m going in with the design, but stay tuned for updates!
