HUGE News: We Sold our House!

This is a post that has been literally three years in the making. We have officially SOLD our house. Yes, the one that we spent the last three years of our life pouring blood, sweat and many tears into. I know it seems kind of sudden, so I want to answer a few questions that people around me have asked. SO much to share!

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Why did you sell?

To put it simply market conditions and commute time. When we bought this house, the neighborhood was about to be up and coming. Even though Scott wasn’t a full time realtor at that point, he loved/loves to study market conditions and make predictions. This one was spot on. We worked with a great realtor/friend (who is now Scott’s broker!) and got a good deal on our house. The neighborhood has risen steadily over the past several years and we had an opportunity to cash in on it (more on that later!). Secondly, my full time job is in North Plano, which a few years ago was a 45 minute commute from East Dallas. With the insane growth Plano (and all of Dallas!) is going through, there are new highways and buildings shooting up everywhere. My 45 minute commute doubled to become 90 minutes each way. I really love my job and told Scott I was going to stab my eye out if I had to make that drive anymore. It was time to move a bit more north!

When did you know you wanted to move?

We had talked about it way back when we bought the house. Neither of us ever considered this our “forever home” but we weren’t sure of the timeline. It certainly happened faster than we thought. It wasn’t until February of this year we started talking seriously about it. That’s when we decided to bite the bullet and make the move to hire out the bathroom and all the little finishing details we hadn’t gotten around to.

Did you make a profit?

This is the big question. YES. We did very, very well. We sold our house for over double what we purchased it for. That isn’t accounting for the money we put in, which we are thinking was about $40,000 over the past few years. If you counted up all the hours of labor we spent, we probably made $1 an hour. Maybe not that extreme, but this was certainly a second full time job for us with our nights and weekends filled with DIY. With the profits we were able to do quite a bit—pay off all my student loans, our car, purchase a new (used) car, donate to several ministries, put a bunch in savings and put a downpayment on our new house! Speaking of…

Where are you moving to? 

We are moving back to Richardson, which is a suburb directly north of Dallas. We used to live there when we first got married and both have always felt like it was home. There was a neighborhood we used to bike past and day dream about moving into…well, we did! 🙂 The story of how we got this house is totally insane and I can’t wait to share with you all in an upcoming post…with pictures of course! The area is a great spot—walkable to a ton of places, super bike-friendly and—best of all—only about 25 minutes from both our offices!!

Would you do this crazy remodel stuff again?

Everyone has asked us this! From our parents to random coworkers! The answer is YES—but smarter. We learned so much during this house flip and I’m so grateful for all the lessons. It’s great we know how to re-plumb a bathroom and do drywall and fix electric fixtures, but those are all things we will hire out a lot of in the future. Sometimes it’s totally worth it to spend extra money to have extra time in your life! I really have enjoyed my free weekends over the past month and will be greedy to keep them as much as i can in the future. With that being said…we bought another fixer-upper! 🙂 So there will be plenty of before and afters to see that will be a combination of our hard work and our contractors. 🙂

What was the selling process like?

You guys. I won’t lie to you. It was nuts. Buying AND selling a house at the same time is NO JOKE. This was our first time selling—the other houses we have are all being rented out right now. So this was an experience. And, to be honest, it wasn’t smooth sailing. There were some cool parts though. Like, the first day we listed the house, we got multiple offers. I didn’t even have a chance to write a post begging you guys to buy our house!! It was a total shock (although a pleasant one!). There were a few hiccups after that, but nothing that was a deal-killer. What made the entire thing bearable were the professionals we worked with on both the buying and selling side!

I highly recommend getting great, local professionals to work with you if you are buying or selling. I’d be happy to give anyone the contact info for our lender, our listing agent and of course our buying agent/my husband. 🙂

Did you stage your house?

Of course! 🙂 Being an interior blogger married to a real estate agent made it an easy decision. I’m putting together a post about this too with lots of pictures. We went super minimalist. We were like, living in a museum or something! 🙂 We packed a lot, gave a ton away and threw out a lot! Feels so good!!!!

What does this mean for this blog?

MORE DIY GOODNESS!! It won’t stop! 🙂 I’m sure you guys have noticed I’ve been a bit MIA over the past few months—now you know why! 🙂 I plan on filling your screens with more blogging, more before and afters, more witty copy (hah!) and more fun projects! So excited. I feel like this new house is going to be SO fun to work on and I can’t wait to share it all!

What are you most excited about?

So many things! I’m excited about having a much shorter drive and having an extra 2 hours plus of my life back! I’m excited about our new neighborhood—being able to walk to places again, having bike lanes, being in an area we love. I’m super excited about being almost completely debt free thanks to the sale of our house! If I had to narrow it down, though, I’m most excited about having a new home to work on, and viewing this house as our long-term home. We can never say never, but unlike the last three houses, we have no plans to leave this one. I’m excited to have somewhere I can view as a home instead of a project. I’m excited to have a place that I can decorate with reltively little thought to resale (although my real-estate husband might object, lol). I’m also super excited about our swimming pool! YES, we have one now!!! Weeee!

Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!! You guys have been a constant voice of support, feedback and help for the last three years. So grateful. And SO EXCITED for the next chapter! 🙂 I keep hearing the voices from HGTV in my mind. Christina and Tarek (from flip or flop) are all like, “TIME TO FIND ANOTHER HOUSE TO FLIP” and then Jojo from Fixer Upper (my favorite!) is like “COULD YOU HANDLE A FIXER-UPPER?” And I’M like YEAH BRING IT ON!!!!! LET’S DO ALL OF IT! 🙂

I think I covered most things, but if you have any other questions, leave them in the comments!! We’ll be loading up the Uhaul! 🙂

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Tania Griffis is an accomplished writer, blogger, and interior designer with a Journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma. She started her popular blog, Run to Radiance, in 2011, demonstrating her design expertise through the personal remodeling of six houses to millions of readers across the globe.

Tania also owns The Creative Wheelhouse, a respected ghostwriting agency for bloggers, further showcasing her talent for creating engaging and informative content.

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29 Comments

  1. So exciting Tania! It is amazing to see how our lives can change in a few short years. Best of luck with the new home and possibly making it your forever house. 🙂

  2. Wow!!! Congrats!!! I loved reading all your answers to the great questions too! I am sad, because I love that house (haha silly right).

    I don’t think I realized or remembered you worked in N Plano – what part?

    Excited for your next adventure!!

  3. How totally awesome!! Amazing how quickly your house sold…so many languish on the market for months. My daughter is moving to Hawaii and is in escrow for a house she has never seen in person…she has never even been to Hawaii, so this has been a very interesting ride to be on with her! I’m looking forward to seeing the transformation of your new house!! Maybe I can steal some ideas for her house and mine!!

  4. YIPPPPEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! So happy for you both!!!! The housing market in DFW is in-sane, and although we have no plans to move (ever), it’s nice to know that we’re building some equity. I only work in Richardson, but that counts as being your neighbor, right? Can’t wait to see all the magic you work on the new place 🙂

  5. YEA GIRL!!! Woooo! Great post! So excited for y’all’s new place. I’ll miss the old one, especially now that I’m closer by, but can’t wait for all our fun parties at your new place! 🙂

  6. CONGRATULATIONS!!! Over double what you bought it for is phenomenal! I can’t imagine how good it must feel to pay off those student loans. I work for a mortgage company, so I’m always checking out prices in the area just to make sure my house is increasing in value, lol.

    I just can’t wait to see the new house and your plans for it 🙂

  7. Oh my goodness! Congratulations! I’m glad it has worked out so well and I’m excited for more DIY in new digs.

    But I must confess that my first thought was, “Nooooooo – they can’t leave that new master bathroom!!”

  8. Love your blog and am so looking forward to having such great neighbors with our own new house just a short walk away. I’m sure the hubbies will be sharing tools and vendors soon.

  9. Tania!!! I’m so excited for you! I’m just getting the chance to catch up on my blog reading today – eek! Such awesome news! I can’t WAIT to see the new house and follow along with your renovating adventures in a new place!

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