We’ve been keeping a bit of a secret for the last three months, but it’s finally time to break the news! If you’ve gotten this far, I’m sure you already know (the title gives it away a bit), but WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

I know, I know. You’re probably sitting there thinking, “Uh, yeah. You guys buy, like, a lot of houses. What’s so special about this one?”

Answer: it’s just for us!

It’s the first place we’ve moved into in the last four years that wasn’t either a rental or intended to become a rental. We went back and forth a lot on whether buying a home of our own was a smart decision or not, because we could have just bought another rental property and washed/rinsed/repeated that process for the next few years, but the last few years have been HARD, so we ultimately decided it was time to take a step back, stop living next to our tenants/in our business, and just enjoy life a bit.

The Process

We’ve been looking for the perfect neighborhood and house for the last two years. Grayon is a little obsessive (in the best way, love you dear!) when it comes to looking at Zillow, so he was constantly scouring the site and we had near constant conversations to figure out which neighborhood we wanted to be in, what our wishlist was, and what our budget was and how far it would get us. We went to LOTS of open houses the last two years (until COVID squashed that habit) to really get a feel for the different areas around town and what was important to us, along with what the market was doing price wise.

On our wishlist:

• -hopefully- on the water or with close access to water (or some acreage if that wasn’t an option)
• about 2500 square feet so it can accomodate a family one day
• lots of natural light
• a yard for our pup and my plant babies.

We ended up putting offers in on a few houses but between the fact that our financing was a little weird because we own so many properties and that the housing market is just so dang expensive and competitive, we kept losing out. We also knew we wanted something that was dated but not decrepit, so that narrowed down the pool quite a bit as well.

Once we moved into our latest live-in flip, we had access to a whole new section of town on our daily walks, so we ended up walking through our new neighborhood almost daily and knew this was where we had to buy!

Then back in April Grayson happened to spot a newly listed home in our dream neighborhood when he was on one of his Zillow/Realtor.com/Redfin checks. Luckily for us, the seller’s agent had listed the zipcode incorrectly, so it only displayed on Redfin, which most people don’t use. We had a tour that afternoon and put in an offer that evening. We were so fast that we were the only offer on the table!

The Offer

We ended up going in at asking price with no repairs and no contingencies. We knew the house was dated but mostly functional, plus it sits on the water and has a decently sized yard. The outside needed quite a bit of love and curb appeal, but the bones are solid and the house was in pretty good condition!

We went back and forth once with the seller because we asked for some closing costs to be wrapped back into the loan, but he accepted the offer quickly and then we were officially under contract!

Under Contract

We ended up being under contract for a little over 70 days, so it’s been a hard secret to keep! Luckily the seller was really flexible with a far off closing date because we had to wait on a few financial items to fall into place before we could sign the papers.

The seller was absolutely amazing throughout the entire process and it was the best transaction we could have ever asked for. He offered to repair and refinish the wood floors and split the cost 50/50 before we even closed, and we got to pick the new color! He also left us a piano and the pool table, which has already gotten a lot of use, and gave us a great deal on a beautiful formal dining room table. We saw him the night before our closing while we were on our nightly walk and he and his wife called us over to chat over a drink in the front yard. Even now he still texts Grayson to check in on how things are going with the move and to invite us for dinner after he gets settled in. How amazing is that?!

On to the Good Stuff: All About the New House

So, here’s a bit about our new digs!

Neighborhood: We’re in the Lakewood neighborhood, which is on the north side of Lee’s Summit. There are two lakes in the neighborhood, with “pleasure docks” (I think that name is hilarious) scattered throughout for resident use. There are two marinas and the lakes are no wake lakes, so it’s quiet and safe to go paddleboarding, kayaking, and swimming. We get to see lots of wildlife in our own backyard including furry foxes hunting along the shore, graceful herons gliding across the water, hawks soaring above our heads, migratory Canadian geese, lots and lots of squirrels, and the occasional watersnake (not my favorite) to name a few. Fun fact: apparently this was where a lot of the Chiefs and Royals players used to live, so our neighbors have fun stories about seeing old players around the neighborhood back in the day.

Our home:

Our new home sits on a quiet tree-lined street and has soooo much potential. I pretty much already have plans for every single space, both indoor and out. It’s weird and quirky in all the best ways and I can’t wait to show you all around and take you along as we renovate it! (We’ll still be renovating the fourplexes too).

The exterior has a solid base, but it definitely needs some curb appeal. The views from the backyard are amazing though!

Listing photos (not taken by me).

The house was built in the late 80s and the current decor definitely reflects that, so we’ll have a lot of updating to do. It also has some crazy features, like a central vac and a trash compactor.

The main floor is what I really fell in love with. It has clearly defined rooms instead of just one big open space (I really hate it when noise travels throughout the house and I love having walls to decorate), but it doesn’t feel closed in, probably due to the massive amount of beautiful windows.

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It’s a bit larger than we thought it was, because honestly everything looks gigantic after you live in 1000 sq foot places or smaller for a few years; it was listed as 2900 square feet, but apparently around here finished basements don’t always count towards square footage, so it’s closer to 4,000 square feet (eeek that’s a lot of house to fill and clean). It has 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, and 2 half baths, and pretty much every space needs some degree of work.

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The bathrooms will probably be the first thing that we work on, because they’re in pretty rough shape. Only one shower is functional; the main bathroom has mold and it’s uh… mirrored and pink and kinda ugly… and the tiles are falling off the wall in the other spare full bath, but hey, we’ve seen worse, right? Also, the bathroom in the main bedroom suite is COMPLETELY open to the rest of the room. I don’t think that the builder valued privacy too much.

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The basement will definitely be the cool hangout spot one day and we have BIG plans for it. Right now it’s just a lot of blue carpet and a saloon style bar. Did I mention the blue carpet runs into the bathroom? The bathroom that’s next to the bar? Yeah… gross.

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Throughout every day I find myself saying, “I just can’t believe I get to live here.” I have so many dreams and plans for this house and you’d better believe I’ll be sharing all of this along the way. I can’t wait!